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Calif. U.S. Attorney Defends Feds Medical Marijuana Crackdown

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Sun Oct 23, 2011 at 05:10:30 PM EST
Tags: medical marijuana (all tags)
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NBC News Los Angeles interviewed Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (Los Angeles) this weekend on the recent federal crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries, their landlords and banks that do business with them.

According to Birotte, the crackdowns are on those who are making a profit, which is against California law. He insists they are only going after the profiteers since they are not in compliance with state law. His soundbite: "The compassionate use act has turned into the commercial use act." [More...]

As to landlords, he justified the civil forfeiture lawsuits saying they were warned first that their tenants are violating state law, but were ignored.

One million people in California have medical marijuana licenses. He insists they are only going after those who are in "clear violation" of state and federal law.

You can watch the interview here. (Interesting sidenote: After he answered the first question, the news interviewer asks him to stop and straighten his jacket. He stands and does so, sits down and they start all over with the first question. To miss that part and just view the final interview, start at 3:00 minutes. I'm surprised they didn't cut out the first two minutes. )

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