The Los Angeles County sheriff has escalated his war of words against California medical marijuana dispensaries, saying as many as 97 percent operate as criminal enterprises.
Some of the pot shops get marijuana from Mexican drug cartels, and most dole out pot to people with no medical need for it, Sheriff Lee Baca said.
"Millions of dollars are being made for profit, and it's all illegal," the sheriff said.
Baca presented no evidence to support his claim. His comments coincided with a recent announcement that he would lead efforts against a November ballot measure to legalize marijuana for personal use in California. Critics said his claims about the dispensaries were politically motivated and untrue.
"When they run out of scare tactics, they come out with stuff like this," said Michael Backes, a board member of the Cornerstone Research Collective, which provides marijuana to patients in the Eagle Rock area of Los Angeles.
Backes stressed there was no need to buy pot from Mexican cartels because more than enough quality marijuana is legally grown in California to supply the dispensaries.
A Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman, who works in the San Francisco office, said it was difficult to substantiate or refute Baca's claims because of challenges in determining where pot found in dispensaries was produced.
Baca, however, said chemical analyses of pot confiscated during drug raids against street dealers showed similar pesticide content and other characteristics as marijuana sold in dispensaries.
Allegations of criminal activity involving pot shops increased after a string of deaths, including the slaying of three men in West Hollywood, California who police suspect had been buying up bulk quantities of high-grade marijuana from dispensaries and reselling it on the street.
The suspect in that case confessed to killing the men when he didn't have enough cash to complete a transaction. In addition, two workers at different marijuana dispensaries have been killed during robberies in recent weeks.
"It is no surprise that people are going to get killed, drugs and violence go together," Baca said. Despite his concerns about the way dispensaries operate, Baca has been a longtime advocate of medical marijuana use by AIDS patients and people with other chronic conditions.
The 1996 law approved by California voters allows collectives to grow medicinal marijuana, though they are not supposed to make profits and can only charge enough to cover operating expenses.
Baca said the intent of the law was good but had been corrupted almost beyond recognition with most "patients" producing spurious notes from doctors describing vague ailments that don't need to be treated with marijuana.
Thirteen other states have legalized medical marijuana, and many jurisdictions around the country have decriminalized marijuana to the point that low-level possession offenses aren't prosecuted.
At Marks & Brooklier, criminal lawyers Donald Marks and Anthony Brooklier have been representing clients on medical marijuana and other drug related matters since 1976. When faced with medical marijuana charges you need experienced Los Angeles medical marijuana criminal defense lawyers with experience in representing individuals for California marijuana drug crimes. If you have been charged with a medical marijuana drug crime, we recommend you contact us in order to begin to prepare your case for a successful defense.