FILE - In this Tuesday Jan. 26, 2010 file photo, a pedestrian walks past a marijuana leaf neon sign advertising a medical marijuana provider along a street in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, Calif. Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state?s 15-year-old medical marijuana law. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
FILE - In this Tuesday Jan. 26, 2010 file photo, a pedestrian walks past a marijuana leaf neon sign advertising a medical marijuana provider along a street in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, Calif. Federal prosecutors have launched a crackdown on pot dispensaries in California, warning the stores that they must shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges and confiscation of their property even if they are operating legally under the state?s 15-year-old medical marijuana law. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Benjamin Wagner, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of California, right, said that "California's marijuana industry supplies the nation" as he discusses the crackdown on medical marijuana dispensaries by the state's federal prosecutors during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. Wagner, accompanied by California's other U.S. attorney's, Laura Duffy, of the southern district, left, and Andre Birotte Jr., of the central district, and Melinda Haag of the northern district, announced they have stepped up a coordinated effort to curtail both marijuana cultivation and retail sales conducted under the cover of California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Laura Duffy, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of California, displays photos of marijuana cotton candy found for sale at a medical marijuana dispensary in her district, during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. Duffy, along with the other California based U.S. attorney's, announced they have stepped up a coordinated effort to curtail both marijuana cultivation and retail sales conducted under the cover of California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Andre Birotte Jr., the United States Attorney for the Central District of California holds up an enlarged copy of a marijuana magazine cover that cites California as the must profitable state for marijuana sales during a news conference in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. Birotte Jr. and the three other California based U.S. attorneys, including Melinda Haag of the northern district, right, announced they have stepped up and coordinated an effort to curtail both marijuana cultivation and retail sales conducted under the cover of California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law .(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
Supporters of medicinal marijuana demonstrate against a federal crackdown that could force the closure of dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries throughout the state, during a protest outside the federal courthouse in Sacramento, Calif., Friday, Oct. 7, 2011. The four California based U.S. Attorney's announced, Friday, they have stepped up a coordinated effort to curtail both marijuana cultivation and retail sales conducted under the cover of California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
SACRAMENTO, California (AP) ? Federal prosecutors announced an aggressive crackdown on California pot dispensaries Friday, vowing to shut down dozens of growing and sales operations and saying that the worst offenders are using the cover of medical marijuana to act as storefront drug dealers.
Officials described it as the first coordinated statewide offensive against marijuana dealers and suppliers who use California's 15-year-old medical marijuana law as legal cover for running sophisticated drug trafficking ventures in plain sight.
"California's marijuana industry supplies the nation," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, citing a 2009 federal study that 72 percent of marijuana plants eradicated nationwide were grown in California. "Huge amounts of marijuana grown here in this state is flowing east to other states, and huge amounts of money are flowing back in the opposite direction."
The actions were geared toward stopping a proliferation that has led to thousands of pot shops opening their doors across the state. The spread was fueled partly by the Obama administration's assurance two years ago that it did not plan to devote federal resources to countering marijuana outlets operating in compliance with state laws.
One example cited by the prosecutors Friday: In one Orange County strip mall, eight of the 11 second-floor suites are occupied by dispensaries and doctors' offices for doctors where healthy individuals obtain "sham" recommendations to use medical marijuana.
It is "a Costco, Walmart-type model that we see across California," said Andre Birotte Jr., U.S. attorney in the Los Angeles-area. Some people making money from medical marijuana openly revel in what some have called "the new California gold rush," he said.
Landlords leasing property to dozens of warehouses and agricultural parcels where marijuana is being grown and retail spaces where pot is sold over the counter are receiving written warnings to evict their tenants or face criminal charges or seizure of their assets, the state's four U.S. attorneys said.
"The intention regarding medical marijuana under California state law was to allow marijuana to be supplied to seriously ill people on a nonprofit basis," said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, the top federal law enforcement officer for the San Francisco Bay area. "What we are finding, however, is that California's laws have been hijacked by people who are in this to get rich and don't care at all about sick people."
The crackdown comes a little more than two months after the Obama administration toughened its stand on medical marijuana. For two years before that, federal officials had indicated they would not move aggressively against dispensaries in compliance with laws in the 16 states where pot is legal for people with doctors' recommendations.
The Department of Justice issued a policy memo to federal prosecutors in late June stating that marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws. The effort to shutter California dispensaries appeared to be the most far-reaching effort so far to put that guidance into action.
Increased federal intervention will likely unify marijuana growers and sellers in a drive to change federal policy, National Cannabis Industry Association spokeswoman Melissa Milam said.
Not all of the thousands of storefront pot dispensaries thought to be operating in the state are being targeted in the crackdown, which also involves new indictments and arrests of marijuana growers and vendors throughout the state over the past two weeks, said Wagner, who represents the state's Central Valley.
The strategies federal authorities are using vary somewhat, with warning letters issued by the U.S. attorney in San Diego giving recipients 45 days to comply and property owners in Los Angeles, Orange County and the Central Coast given just two weeks to evict pot dispensaries or growers.
Haag said she is initially going after pot shops located close to schools, parks, sports fields and other places where there are a lot of children.
Wagner, who represents the state's Central Valley, also is targeting what he termed "significant commercial operations," including farmland where marijuana is being grown. Birotte is prioritizing dispensaries in communities where local officials have been trying unsuccessfully to shut down marijuana businesses.
Moreover, the four said their warnings were aimed at cities and counties that have started licensing and taxing marijuana shops.
The California Board of Equalization has estimated medical marijuana generates between $53 million and $104 million in annual sales taxes on sales of between $700 million and $1.3 billion.
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