Lit_Match

Dispensary owners fear pot-busting agents
05-11-07|The Bakersfield Californian|BY JASON KOTOWSKI

The raid on a medical marijuana dispensary in Oildale earlier this month has other dispensary owners afraid their business could be next.

Federal agents say they're right to be nervous.

Area dispensary owners said some people abuse the services provided by dispensaries, but by and large the stores are performing a community service.

"It's hard not to be heartbroken when you see the people we're helping," said Jim McGowen, owner of American Caregivers Collective.

Many of his customers are in wheelchairs and unable to eat much or get through the day without marijuana, McGowen said. He questioned why the federal government would bother dispensaries that are properly licensed and following California law.

"It's like Gestapo practices," McGowen said of last week's raid. "To take your stuff and clean out your bank accounts and not arrest you. Is that America?"

But Stephen Peterson, resident agent in charge of the DEA in Bakersfield, said it's possible David Chavez Sr., the owner of Nature's Medicinal Cooperative, could be arrested on suspicion of federal pot possession and distribution crimes sometime in the future.

Chavez was not arrested during the raid and is operating his dispensary again.

McGowen also said marijuana is no more abused than alcohol, but he doesn't see liquor stores being raided.

Nathan Wright, owner of Bakersfield Co-op, said he feels federal agents should leave dispensaries alone as long as they're regulated and paying taxes. He said he believes that years from now, visiting medical marijuana dispensaries won't be any different than visiting a local pharmacy and buying whatever medicine is needed.

The possession, cultivation or distribution of marijuana for any purpose is illegal under federal law, except for approved scientific research, said Gordon Taylor, assistant special agent in charge with the Drug Enforcement Administration. Taylor, who works out of the DEA's district office in Sacramento, oversees operations in 34 counties from the Central Valley to the Oregon border.

A raid on a Modesto dispensary last year resulted in the arrests of two 26-year-old men, including the store's chief financial officer, who could face penalties ranging from 20 years to life in prison, Taylor said. About 400 people were buying marijuana from that dispensary each day, and gross sales amounted to $3.4 million in a six-month period, he said.

"From what we've seen of pot clubs in the Central Valley and Northern California, they're used by young people, most of whom are able-bodied and in some cases even athletically fit," Taylor said.

Scott Gerber, director of communications for U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said the senator does not believe there is support for changing federal law at this time.

Public reaction to the raid was mixed.

Jeremy Salinas, 21, said anyone with a doctor's recommendation should be able to buy medical marijuana as long as it's legal under state law. Cliff Ellis, of Tehachapi, said he hasn't been convinced that the drug has medicinal value.

More people would be against dispensaries if they saw how they affect a community, Taylor said. For example, more teenagers enter drug treatment programs to deal with marijuana abuse than all other drugs combined, he said.

California laws have created a permissive attitude when it comes to marijuana use, but in the end communities suffer, he said.

"I think if the general public could really see what's going on behind those doors, they would be shocked," Taylor said.