Pubdate: Tue, 23 Feb 2010
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Page: AA3
Copyright: 2010 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: John Hoeffel
Cited: District Attorney Steve Cooley http://da.co.la.ca.us/
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Steve+Cooley

DISPENSARY OWNER FACES PROSECUTION

Attorney for Medical Marijuana Distributor Says the Felony Counts Are 
'Politically Driven.'

More than four months ago, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve 
Cooley warned that state law does not allow dispensaries to sell 
medical marijuana and zeroed in on Organica, a popular Venice-area 
outlet, as one possible target.

On Monday, Cooley delivered on that promise.

Jeff Joseph, Organica's operator, was charged with 24 felonies, 
including selling, transporting and possessing marijuana, and a court 
commissioner set bail at $520,000, more than five times the amount 
his lawyer requested. Joseph pleaded not guilty.

Calling the bail "outrageous," attorney Eric Shevin said the 
prosecution was "politically driven" in response to community 
pressure to shut down hundreds of dispensaries that have spread 
throughout Los Angeles. "So they use a very high-profile individual, 
unfortunately in this case, Mr. Joseph, to basically stand up for 
everybody," he said.

Joseph Esposito, who heads the district attorney's major narcotics 
division, said Organica's operator was not singled out. "There have 
been dozens of cases that the office has filed," he said. "We're 
going to evaluate every case differently."

Joseph's case, which was intensely investigated by police and federal 
agents, has the potential to test whether state law permits 
dispensaries to sell marijuana.

Cooley and Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich insist that state 
law allows collectives to grow marijuana and recoup their costs but 
not sell it over the counter, a practice that is widespread. Both 
have sought to pursue cases that could force the courts to settle the debate.

Trutanich won an early round in a lawsuit against an Eagle Rock 
dispensary. A Superior Court judge ordered it to halt sales. Last 
week, the city attorney filed a similar lawsuit against Joseph and Organica.

In court Monday, prosecutor John Harlan said Organica was "an illegal 
drug-dealing operation" that sometimes made more than $100,000 profit 
in a month.

"He is an ongoing threat to the community," Harlan said.

Shevin acknowledged that the facts in the case are "essentially 
undisputed," but challenged the district attorney's position that 
medical marijuana sales are illegal. "It's just in contradiction to 
the law in this area," he said.

Joseph has been a target of law enforcement for two years. Undercover 
investigators have made repeated buys and his dispensary has been 
raided three times, most recently on Thursday, when he was arrested.

He closed his dispensary after the second raid, but said he reopened 
to try to comply with the city's medical marijuana ordinance. That 
law, which has not taken effect, will allow dispensaries that 
registered with the city in 2007, as Organica did, to remain open if 
they are still in operation.

"They felt that Jeff snubbed the nose of the district attorney," Shevin said.

After Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Donald Kennedy 
set bail, Shevin held an impromptu news conference surrounded by 
Joseph's supporters and his tearful mother and sister.

"Medical marijuana, when you are an authorized dispensary, should be 
a mitigating factor that reduces the seriousness of the crime," he 
said, "not used to aggravate bail and improperly stack bail for the 
only purpose of leaving Mr. Joseph in custody and trying to muscle a 
plea from him."

Joseph's sister, Vikki, said he did not have the money for bail. 
Supporters said they would raise it.

"How about George Soros?" Shevin suggested.

Soros, a billionaire investor, was one of the main financial backers 
of the medical marijuana initiative. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake