“The
DEA and our partners are committed to
attacking large-scale drug trafficking
organizations, including those that attempt
to use state or local law to shield their
illicit activities from federal law enforcement
and prosecution,” said DEA Administrator
Michele M. Leonhart. “Congress
has determined that marijuana is a dangerous
drug and that its distribution and sale
is a serious crime. It also provides
a significant source of revenue for violent
gangs and drug organizations. The DEA
will not look the other way while these
criminal organizations conduct their
illicit schemes under the false pretense
of legitimate business.”
"The
actions taken today in California by
our U.S. Attorneys and their law enforcement
partners are consistent with the Department’s
commitment to enforcing existing federal
laws, including the Controlled Substances
Act (CSA), in all states,” said
Deputy Attorney General James Cole. “The
department has maintained that we will
not focus our investigative and prosecutorial
resources on individual patients with
serious illnesses like cancer or their
immediate caregivers. However, U.S.
Attorneys continue to have the authority
to prosecute significant violations of
the CSA, and related federal laws.”
Benjamin
B. Wagner, the United States Attorney
for the Eastern District of California
stated: “Large commercial operations
cloak their moneymaking activities in
the guise of helping sick people when
in fact they are helping themselves.
Our interest is in enforcing federal
criminal law, not prosecuting seriously
sick people and those who are caring
for them. We are making these announcements
together today so that the message is
absolutely clear that commercial marijuana
operations are illegal under federal
law, and that we will enforce federal
law.”
André Birotte
Jr., the United States Attorney for the
Central District of California, stated:“The
federal enforcement actions are aimed
at commercial marijuana operations, including
marijuana grows, marijuana stores and
mobile delivery services - all illegal
activities that generate huge profits.
The marijuana industry is controlled
by profiteers who distribute marijuana
to generate massive and illegal profits.”
Laura
E. Duffy, the United States Attorney
for the Southern District of California,
commented: “The California marijuana
industry is not about providing medicine
to the sick. It’s a pervasive for-profit
industry that violates federal law. In
addition to damaging our environment,
this industry is creating significant
negative consequences, in California
and throughout the nation. As the number
one marijuana producing state in the
country, California is exporting not
just marijuana but all the serious repercussions
that come with it, including significant
public safety issues and perhaps irreparable
harm to our youth.”
Melinda
Haag, the United States Attorney for
the Northern District of California,
said: “Marijuana stores operating
in proximity to schools, parks, and other
areas where children are present send
the wrong message to those in our society
who are the most impressionable. In addition,
the huge profits generated by these stores,
and the value of their inventory, present
a danger that the stores will become
a magnet for crime, which jeopardizes
the safety of nearby children. Although
our initial efforts in the Northern District
focus on only certain marijuana stores,
we will almost certainly be taking action
against others. None are immune from
action by the federal government.”
Dozens
of letters have been sent over the past
few days to the owners and lienholders
of properties where commercial marijuana
stores and grows are located. In the
Southern and Eastern Districts, the owners
of buildings where marijuana stores operate
have received letters warning that they
risk losing their property and money
derived from renting the space used for
marijuana sales. In the Central District,
where more than 1,000 stores are currently
operating, prosecutors have sent letters
to property owners in selected cities
where officials have requested federal
assistance, and they plan to continue
their enforcement actions in other cities
as well. In the Northern District, owners
and lienholders of marijuana stores operating
near schools and other locations where
children congregate have been warned
that their operations are subject to
enhanced penalties and that real property
involved in the operations is subject
to seizure and forfeiture to the United
States.
In
the Central District and Eastern District,
prosecutors this week filed a total of
seven civil forfeiture complaints against
properties where landlords are knowingly
allowing marijuana stores to operate.
One complaint filed against a south Orange
County strip mall, for example, alleges
that eight of the 11 second-floor suites
in the buildings are occupied by marijuana
stores and that one small city has spent
nearly $600,000 in legal fees in its
attempt to eradicate the illegal operations.
Criminal
cases recently unsealed across the state
reveal marijuana operations that produce
huge profits, send their money and illegal
narcotics to other states, and market
products to young people. In a case involving
a now-closed marijuana store in the San
Fernando Valley, two conspirators allegedly
used encrypted smartphones to coordinate
marijuana sales to places as far away
as New York and estimated that they would
each receive $194,000 in profits per
month. In a San Diego dispensary case
unsealed last week, six defendants were
charged in a 77-count indictment that
alleges a wide-ranging conspiracy that
included numerous marijuana sales to
under-aged persons.
Victor
S.O. Song, Chief, IRS Criminal Investigation,
stated: “IRS Criminal Investigation
is proud to work with our law enforcement
partners and lend its financial expertise
to this effort. We will continue to use
the federal asset forfeiture laws to
take the profits from criminal enterprises.”
Across
California, the federal government will
continue to investigate and prosecute
those whose actions not only violate
federal laws, but also the state laws
regarding the use of marijuana. The problems
associated with the marijuana business
have dramatically increased over the
past two years, even in areas where local
governments and citizens actively oppose
these businesses.
The
statewide coordinated enforcement actions
were announced this morning at a press
conference in Sacramento.