US President Barack Obama’s administration is heading toward an ugly confrontation with California’s medical marijuana dispensaries after the federal government ordered dozens of outlets to close by Saturday or face an immediate crackdown.
Growers and sellers say the threats are a betrayal of promises by Obama in 2008 and fear a nationwide attempt to destroy the burgeoning industry.
Partly encouraged by Obama’s campaign messages that he would not use federal force against practitioners complying with state laws, dispensaries have spread over the past two years across 16 states and now have a combined annual turnover approaching US$100 billion.
California is by far the leader in the field, with some reports suggesting it has more dispensaries than Starbucks coffee houses. No one knows precise figures, given the still murky nature of the business, but there are thought to be more than 1 million people in California registered with doctors to grow and consume cannabis, and hundreds of thousands more across the country.
The Obama administration has steadily toughened its approach to medical marijuana, saying it has become a front for illegal distribution of the drug.
This summer it sent out letters to towns across the US that have passed regulations permitting the medical use of marijuana. Prosecutors said cannabis remained illegal under federal law and warned the municipalities not to allow cultivation on their land.
On Oct. 7 federal prosecutors announced they were extending their threatened action to landlords who provided rental space to dispensaries, giving them 45 days to evict tenants or face the consequences. For many of those outlets, the deadline runs out on Saturday.
“This is a clear case of the federal government overreaching itself,” said Morgan Fox of the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project. “It goes against what Obama said many times in his presidential campaign, so either he has lost control of the Department of Justice or he is betraying his election promises.”
It is not known how far the federal authorities will go in enforcing their threats; the sight of SWAT teams going in to smash dispensaries used at least in part by seriously ill patients may not produce the most sympathetic headlines. Several outlets are understood to have shut their doors or been evicted by landlords.
Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, the largest pro-medical marijuana group in the US, said Obama’s administration was being substantially more aggressive on this issue than its predecessor.
“Political will in this country is changing, and it’s about time the administration caught up with it,” he said.
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