Pubdate: Thu, 23 May 2013
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact:  http://newsreview.com/sacto/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/540
Author: Raheem F. Hosseini

U.S. ATTORNEY SAYS CALIFORNIA BAD MARIJUANA LAWS LEAD TO 'FREE FOR ALL'

Eastern District Head Benjamin Wagner Explains That Colorado, 
Washington Faces Less Fed Intervention Because Laws Are Better

Weed 'Free-For-All'

Sacramento-based U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner drives a minivan.

This may seem like a strange choice for the region's top federal 
prosecutor, handpicked by President Barack Obama to be the scourge of 
financial fraudsters and marijuana growers alike, but Wagner is 
nothing if not practical.

Defending his office's enforcement of federal marijuana laws during a 
speaking engagement last week, the Eastern District of California 
attorney said "loosely described" dispensary operators make up 100 
out of every 3,000 indictments in his office. Washington and 
Colorado, which recently approved recreational use of marijuana, face 
less federal intervention because their laws are written better, 
Wagner added, whereas it's a poorly regulated "free-for-all in California."

A Trinity County man with a large cultivation operation was the most 
recent to be successfully prosecuted by Wagner's office for 
marijuana-related crimes. He was sentenced in March to five years in prison.

The office has announced more methamphetamine-related drug cases in 
recent months.

"The [Drug Enforcement Administration] is one of our biggest 
customers," Wagner acknowledged.

Still, his office continues to make the most hay with financial 
prosecutions. The office collected a record $91 million in civil 
settlements and fines last year. A civil fraud settlement with 
Tenet's Redding Medical Center netted $54 million.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom