U.S. targets landlords in fight against medical pot

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. targets landlords in fight against medical pot

By Brett Wolf
Thu Jun 14, 2012 6:05am EDT

ST. LOUIS, June 12 (Thomson Reuters Accelus) - Federal prosecutors are targeting medical marijuana shops in California, seeking forfeiture of the properties in which they do business.

The authorities are pressuring landlords to shut down the shops or face possible loss of the real estate through the unconventional and low-key use of a civil statute designed primarily to seize the assets of drug-trafficking organizations.

While some states, including California, have legalized medical marijuana businesses, the federal government does not recognize their authority to do so and has targeted the shops for violations of the 40-year-old Controlled Substances Act.

The goal of the Justice Department's effort, part of a crackdown announced last October, is to fight the medical marijuana industry, estimated at $1.7 billion annually, without confronting it head-on with costly and potentially embarrassing criminal prosecutions, industry sources and legal experts said.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/14/us-usa-marijuana-landlords-idUSBRE85D0JA20120614

[frylock]

1. too cowardly to be up front about it..

shit like this is why obama's most ardent supporters can claim his DOJ isn't cracking down on MMJ.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. There's law enforcement and then there's harrassment by the law

This is the latter. I'm pro-legalization but I admit the law is the law. But this is beyond that. This is petty, vindictive and spiteful and it targets property owners who entered into good faith leases based on their reasonable understanding of their state's laws.

This is intolerable.

[Cali_Democrat]

3. Why?

[Romulox]

4. As long as that stuff that makes you bite off people's faces remains 100% legal and easy to get! nt

[Meiko]

5. What they are doing in ARIZONA

Is petty. I live by myself so I have a small apartment. The last time I paid my rent they made me sigh a marijuana release form. It basically said that I could not smoke marijuana in my appartment, if caught I could be evicted. This is all something new since Arizona passed it's medical marajuana law. why is evereyone so paranoid.