Pubdate: Wed, 20 Jul 2011
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2011 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Cienna Madrid
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Dispensaries

DON'T BUST US!

Pot Dispensaries Scramble to Avoid Federal Raids by Changing Their Practices

This is what some fear: Any day now, the federal government will raid 
several of the medical marijuana dispensaries that have been 
proliferating lately throughout Western Washington. The crackdown 
would serve as an edict to our state, which legalized medical 
marijuana 13 years ago, that we can go only so far in flouting the 
Controlled Substances Act.

"We believe the possibility exists of an ongoing, large-scale federal 
investigation coordinated by US Attorney for Western Washington Jenny 
Durkan," says the blog of Seattle-based Cannabis Defense Coalition 
(CDC), which held raid preparedness trainings in the spring.

One dispensary operator in Seattle, who serves roughly 800 patients 
and asked to remain anonymous, says, "We feel a bit like sitting, 
smoking ducks."

To avoid federal attention, dispensaries in Seattle are shrinking 
their client bases, changing their business models, and toning down 
their advertising. Meanwhile, city officials have attempted to 
provide legal clarity while county prosecutors reassess where they 
stand in a battle between local and federal authority.

Why the big changes now, after the bazaar of new medical marijuana 
shops opened over the past year?

A new state law takes effect on July 22, the result of a bill passed 
by the state legislature in April and then partly vetoed by the 
governor, creating a tangle of rules. The upshot, lawyers say, is 
that the new policy eliminates a legal gray area in which 
dispensaries have thrived. Until this month, the state medical 
marijuana act passed by voters in 1998 allowed a care provider to 
provide marijuana to one patient at any given time; a liberal 
interpretation suggested dispensaries could serve thousands of 
patients, but only one at a time. The new law explicitly limits a 
care provider to one patient every 15 days.

This local policy shift matters to federal law enforcement, which has 
repeated under the Obama administration that it will turn a blind eye 
to medical marijuana cases that appear to comply with state laws. Now 
that Washington State is removing legal shelter for pot providers who 
care for multiple patients, some believe the dispensaries are exposed 
to greater federal criminal liability. Moreover, US deputy attorney 
general James Cole announced in a June 29 memo that anyone growing, 
selling, or distributing medical marijuana is violating federal 
rules, "regardless of state law."

"In a worst-case scenario, everyone associated with a dispensary 
could be subject to federal indictment--from the person watering 
plants to the person working the front desk," says Alison Holcomb, 
drug policy director of the ACLU of Washington. The severity of the 
punishment under federal law, which provides no medical defense, 
"depends on how much marijuana is involved. If you have 100 plants, 
you're looking at five years minimum out the door."

What are operators of the 50-plus dispensaries in Seattle, which the 
city estimates serve 25,000 patients, doing to prepare?

"Quietly freaking the fuck out," says the anonymous dispensary 
proprietor, who is also working with lawyers to establish a 
collective garden grow model that will be allowed. For all its 
drawbacks, the new law authorizes 10 patients to collectively grow up 
to 45 medical marijuana plants. In larger grow facilities, some 
attorneys posit, each collective garden could be separated by a strip 
of tape on the floor. The patients associated with each garden could 
change by the day, week, or year--as long as the dispensary's 
paperwork reflects that.

"Basically, it's an exercise in mental knot-tying," says Ben 
Livingston, a spokesman for the CDC. "The bigger the dispensary, the 
bigger the pain in the ass."

Conversely, smaller dispensaries may have an easier time complying. 
"With the aid of law enforcement, we've found a way to exist that 
complies with the new laws," says John Davis, co-owner of the 
Northwest Patient Resource Center, a dispensary in West Seattle.

But some dispensaries aren't being given the chance. The cities of 
Edmonds, Federal Way, Issaquah, Poulsbo, Yelm, Port Orchard, Hoquiam, 
Snohomish, North Bend, and Kent have all passed moratoriums. If 
dispensaries resist, city authorities may summon the Feds to begin 
raids, as happened in Spokane this year, says Kurt Boehl, a criminal 
defense attorney.

Seattle may be the most striking exception. On July 18, the Seattle 
City Council passed legislation to license dispensaries like other 
businesses and regulate where they can operate. Next, the council 
will set zones where the dispensaries can stay open.

That is, they can stay open provided federal authorities believe the 
interpretation of state and city rules provides a legal shelter. 
Boehl warns, however, that it's not patients who are at risk, but 
"the people operating as cooperatives, collectives, and access points 
who have to be very careful."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom