Pubdate: Thu, 13 Oct 2011
Source: Chico News & Review, The (CA)
Column: From This Corner
Copyright: 2011 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.newsreview.com/chico/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/559
Author: Robert Speer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

A LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

The Crackdown on Medical-Cannabis Dispensaries Is a Mistake, Sir

This week I'm turning over my column to Jeff vonKaenel, president and 
CEO of the News & Review papers. This letter appears in the current 
issue of the Sacramento News & Review.

- -Robert Speer

Dear President Obama,

Two years ago, you said your administration would not go after 
dispensaries in states where marijuana is legal for medicinal use. 
But last Friday (Oct. 7), your U.S. Department of Justice attorneys 
announced a crackdown on medical-marijuana dispensaries and 
cultivators in California. In addition, they questioned the right of 
local jurisdictions to regulate this growing industry. I believe that 
this shift in policy will do significantly more harm than good.

Specifically, I'm concerned about the economic impact of this 
decision. Closing California's dispensaries could jeopardize 
thousands of jobs. Not just those that are directly linked to medical 
marijuana, but also physicians, security guards, solar-panel 
specialists, delivery drivers, lab techs, marketing specialists, 
attorneys, insurance agents, specialized government jobs, media jobs 
and many others. Local TV, radio, online and print media including 
The Sacramento Bee, the Business Journal and especially (full 
disclosure) the Sacramento News & Review have been helped by 
medical-marijuana advertising dollars. And the money that's pumped 
into the local economy by these dispensaries is spent on rent, 
groceries and at local restaurants and retail stores.

One of the worst consequences of this crackdown could be to drive 
this industry back underground. The biggest beneficiary of this would 
be Mexican drug cartels. An unregulated underground drug trade would 
potentially leave about a million Californians who now use medical 
marijuana with nowhere to turn but an illegal drug dealer on the corner.

Medical marijuana is one of the few sectors of the economy that are 
growing during these difficult economic times. Our state Board of 
Equalization estimates that medical-marijuana dispensaries have 
annual revenues of up to $1.3 billion and produce sales taxes of as 
much as $105 million. Legal dispensaries can be regulated and taxed. 
Illegal drug cartels can't. Rather than using government dollars to 
close down medical-marijuana dispensaries that are operating legally 
within California state law, let's allow California to regulate and 
tax them. It's change we can believe in.

Just as prohibition of alcohol did not work, prohibition of marijuana 
will not work. The prosecution of medical-marijuana dispensaries has 
worse consequences than the use and possible misuse of marijuana. If 
anyone should know that, it should be you. If our country's marijuana 
laws were strictly enforced, you might have served time in a cell 
along with our past two presidents, rather than serving our country 
in the White House. I humbly suggest our U.S. attorneys have much 
more important things to do than cracking down on medical-marijuana 
dispensaries. Might I suggest looking at banking and securities 
fraud, for example?

One of your strongest supporters who is baffled by your recent shift in policy,

Jeff vonKaenel
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom