Federal Authorities Crackdown on Marijuana Dispensaries in South Gate

A federal crackdown on marijuana dispensaries operating on a for-profit basis in violation of California law is now targeting establishments in 11 Los Angeles County cities, authorities say.

"As part of the ongoing federal enforcement actions against the commercial marijuana industry in California,'' federal authorities this week filed a pair of asset forfeiture lawsuits against two Santa Fe Springs properties that house three dispensaries, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles.

Officials also sent out warning letters to property owners and operators of 34 other dispensaries doing business or recently closed in Santa Fe Springs, Whittier, South El Monte, La Mirada, Diamond Bar, Artesia, Paramount, South Gate, Commerce, Agoura Hills and Malibu, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte said in a statement.

Search warrants were served on Santa Fe Springs Wednesday at the Tri- City Patients Association and the Canna-America Collective, located at a Rosecrans Avenue property named in one of the lawsuits, Birotte said.

The other lawsuit targets the owner of a Telegraph Road property where a dispensary continues to operate after receiving a cease-and-desist order from the city, he said. It is operated by a man with a prior state court conviction for possessing marijuana for sale, according to Birotte.

According to federal officials, the targeted establishments are not just violating federal law, which generally does not recognize the use of pot for any reason, but they also have been flouting California law.

"Under federal law, the distribution of marijuana ... is prohibited except under very limited circumstances not applicable here. The government is informed and believes that at all times relevant to this complaint, the operation of the marijuana stores on the defendant property was not (and is not) permitted under California law,'' according to the lawsuits filed in Los Angeles federal court Tuesday.

Prosecutors contend that California's compassionate use laws do not permit dispensaries to operate on a for-profit basis. 

A total of 12 marijuana-related asset forfeiture complaints have been filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the seven-county Central District of California. Combined with the warning letters, federal prosecutors have targeted a total of 220 dispensaries and growing operations in the district, according to Birotte.

Similar actions have been taken in the state's other three districts, he said. Prosecutors began filing asset forfeiture lawsuits and sending out warning letters in selected areas of the Central District in October, Birotte said.

Three lawsuits have been resolved with the closure of the marijuana stores and court-approved consent decrees in which property owners agreed that they would no longer rent to people associated with illegal marijuana operations or the property would be subject to an immediate forfeiture to the government, he said.

The warning letters give property owners and operators 14 days to come into compliance or risk potential civil or criminal actions.

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