Feds Show Little Interest in San Jose, Where Dispensaries Are Illegal
Aside from strikes at the medical marijuana industry's most vocal, visible, and influential leaders, little rhyme or reason has accompanied the federal Justice Department's crackdown on California cannabis.
U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag offered no comment or explanation as her office shut down roughly one-third of San Francisco's licensed and taxpaying dispensaries. City officials in Berkeley and Fairfax complained that the dispensaries shuttered there were model citizens and did nothing wrong. Likewise, all San Francisco clubs shuttered enjoyed full compliance with the law, according to Health Department officials.
And until Haag's office sent an asset forfeiture notice to Harborside Health Center's location in San Jose, as well as its Oakland center of federally illegal marijuana distribution, Haag had paid scant attention to the South Bay. If she did, she might discover that all city dispensaries in San Jose have been operating in violation of city law since February.
We can understand the North and West Bay biases, but then again, we're not prosecutors.
Thus far, Justice Department officials have used only certified letters to shut down Bay Area dispensaries: seven San Francisco dispensaries have shut down after their landlords received letters warning of property seizures and stiff prison terms.
- Read the entire article at San Francisco Weekly.
