DEA Threat Shutting Down SF Pot ClubsSAN FRANCISCO -- Nearly a third of the 28 medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco are closing or have closed since the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration sent out letters threatening landlords of buildings that house pot clubs.
The closures come after the DEA started sending letters in late December telling landlords they could lose their property or face prison time if they allow pot dispensaries to stay open.
"It's like a dagger in the heart," Wayne Justmann, a medical marijuana advocate, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We're barely holding on right now."
Among the pot clubs that have been impacted are the Mason Street Dispensary in the Tenderloin district, which has closed, and the San Francisco Patients' Cooperative on Divisadero Street that is planning to shut its doors at the end of the month after being open for nearly 20 years.
DEA officials say about 50 landlords in 14 Northern California counties were sent letters, which are the first step in a new campaign to shut down pot dispensaries.
In the letter sent to San Francisco dispensaries, DEA Special Agent in Charge Javier Pena wote the his agency "has determined there is a marijuana dispensary operating on the property. This is a violation of federal law." Pena goes on to threaten landlords with the seizure of the property and other assets and up to 20 years in prison.
The letters have "definitely caused a panic," said Nathan Sands, a spokesman for the Compassionate Coalition, a medical marijuana education group.
Federal law bars marijuana sales, but California voters in 1996 approved a measure legalizing medical pot.
The DEA has issued similar letters in the Los Angeles where pot club supporters say they have prompted about three dozen dispensaries to shut down.
http://www.ktvu.com/station/15243329/detail.html
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