By DON THOMPSON
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – 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.”