Feds send letters to CO MMJ dispensaries

[BOMBAYCAT]

Denver Post, Jan 13, Page 1. MMJ Closure orders sent to 23 shops. These are MMJ shops located within 1000 feet of schools. The state also has this rule but allows local governments to shrink the distance or allows grandfathering in existing MMJ businesses.

So what comes next? What happened in Cali which had a similiar thing happen?

 

[CheddarProf]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/...-to-seize-23-colorado-marijuana-dispensaries/

They plan to shut down every single dispensary in the country. Every single one of them and their patients are committing drug felonies and openly trading Schedule 1 narcotics.

They see themselves as these drug warriors and every club they shut down another success. Quite proud of themselves after spending weeks and tens of thousands of dollars sitting in front of 'drug store' waiting to raid it. I hear they recently stopped all other illegal drug sales completely ... every crack dealer on every street corner has been arrested... nothing else left to do but bust sick hippies.

 

[Dirty Harry]

... I hear they recently stopped all other illegal drug sales completely ... every crack dealer on every street corner has been arrested... nothing else left to do but bust sick hippies.

Nah, it is just easier and safer for them to target the least violent and weak "drug users".
It's too dangerous for the police to go after the hard drugs, gangs, and cartels...after all, they seize enough money from marijuana busts to keep them in business and make it look like they are after all drugs.
If you had to wrestle a 12ft alligator or a bunny rabbit, what would you choose?

 

[vapedg13]

Lawyer: Marijuana Dispensaries Should Ignore Federal Threats

By Steve Elliott ~alapoet~
Friday, January 13, 2012 at 3:20 pm



The first wave of threatening letters started arriving at Denver dispensaries on Friday.​The federal prosecutor's office sent out letters to 23 Colorado medical marijuana dispensaries this week, starting a promised crackdown on the businesses by targeting those located within 1,000 feet of schools. But one Denver lawyer who represents dispensaries is advising his clients to ignore the threats.

U.S. Attorney John Walsh said dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools have until February 27 to shut down or face federal penalties, including asset seizure or forfeiture of property, reports Meagan Fitzgerald.


Walsh's office refused to release a list of targeted shops, but promised "another wave" of letters in the future.




Attorney Rob Corry: ​"I think this is a colossal bluff on the part of our U.S. Attorney," said Rob Corry, who represents dispensaries. "I don't think he has the stomach or the resources for this kind of a battle."


Corry said the federal prosecutor is "declaring war" on legislators and the governor who enacted some of the strictest rules for any industry in Colorado. He called it a "cowardly threat by the federal government."


U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told Colorado Congressman Jared Polis last month that if dispensaries are following state law, the federal Department of Justice will leave them alone, Corry said.


The Associated Press article, in error, claims that dispensaries closer than 1,000 feet to schools are grandfathered in under federal law. In fact, those were state regulations under which the businesses were grandfathered in. The regulations were passed in 2010, grandfathering in shops which were already open.


One possible complicating factor, according to Denver attorney Warren Edson, is that Colorado and the feds measure differently when determining that 1,000-foot buffer around schools. While Colorado measures from the front door of the dispensary to the edge of the school's property line, federal officials measure from property line to property line as the crow flies -- representing, of course, a considerably shorter distance, and opening the possibility that shops will be in compliance with Colorado law even while violating the federal guidelines.

 

[Hammerhead]

If the owner of the store opened in a school zone thats no surprise. Any dispensary thats in violation of state law will get these letters. Those that are not wont. IMO it should be from property line to property line. To me thats just common sense.

 

[vapedg13]

If the owner of the store opened in a school zone thats no surprise. Any dispensary thats in violation of state law will get these letters. Those that are not wont. IMO it should be from property line to property line. To me thats just common sense.

Most of these stores where Grandfathered in their spot/area before the 1000 ft law was in effect...thats the issue

 

[Kalicokitty]

You know what?
Show me one fucking kid that got weed from a dispensary that was within 1000 feet of his school.
You can't.
But it's easy to show hundreds of kids that have bought weed from another kid right in the school building, happens everyday.(unless something has changed since I was a kid)

I'm so sick of this "what about the children" argument.

 

[HighPlainsToker]

It's just one of those things that the Feds will do to show that they still have some semblance of control over the situation. Colorado was the Wild Wild West of the MMJ scene for a while after the Obama admin said they wouldn't prosecute it; now there's movement back toward reality.

 

[Ohmless]

I wouldn't listen to Rob Corry ever again. he gave me bad representation and abandoned me midway through the course of my proceedings. He may be a fine activist, but lacks as a lawyer IMO and IME.

 

[PoopyTeaBags]

just a hunch but to me it seems obama made a deal with big pharma for his health care bill i wouldnt doubt it if this wasnt part of it...

 

[Sessile G]

yup! sounds true!

scary times if romneys elected!

 

[Alone]

yup! sounds true!

scary times if romneys elected!

Scary Times period! Just be quiet and go to sleep now....it will all be over soon. Sleep tight. Dont let the Fed Bugs bite.

 

[MIway]

just a hunch but to me it seems obama made a deal with big pharma for his health care bill i wouldnt doubt it if this wasnt part of it...

at the conference this weekend the lawyers made it sound like our dispensary bill w the state leg is on hold until next year after the election... id say the ass fuckin is a sure thing... do we get a reach around is the question.