Stop Illegal Pot Shops

coalition of concerned San Diegans

Archive for category Commentary

It’s all about selling lots and lots of pot…

Dec 21

Posted by admin in Commentary, Cooperatives?, Marketing Illegal Drugs, Un-Permitted Retail Storefronts | No Comments

Wasn’t one of the intentions of laws regarding medical marijuana dispensaries intending to allow their members to save costs by growing and distributing their own marijuana? So, why is it these co-op’s of sick people are spending so much time and money marketing to gain new customers?

These groups are acting far more like marketers trying to gain walk-in new customers than a cost-saving non-profit trying to save money for it’s membership.

For instance:

  • Lease costs for retail locations, where a significant majority of San Diego illegal pot shops are located, are far more expensive than less-trafficked areas.
  • Add to the expensive lease costs the retail store displays, signage and staffing, security equipment and, in some cases guards, and you can imagine the monthly costs. Here’s a picture of one shop, who’s owner just plead guilty of several offenses:

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Just What is a ‘Pot Shop’?

Dec 21

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A pot shop is a phrase we use to define the obvious. That is, most if not all of the medical marijuana dispensaries we have seen, operate as retail storefronts – selling highly potent strains of marijuana to people who have an enormous incentive to feign ’sicknesses’. Unfortunately, and no surprise, significant abuses of the well-intentioned law have been uncovered.

Evidence of abuse? The most glaring is that the range of ’sicknesses’ seem to be plaguing young adult men – as, from all observers accounts, are over 95% of the clientele that visit these drug dealers. There are hundreds of such ’sicknesses’ one can use to get these drugs ‘legally’. Isn’t that amazing – the statistical percentage these young men represent who have this wide range of illnesses and that believe marijuana is the temporary remedy? Are women much more healthy or, do statistically large numbers believe marijuana isn’t the answer? Not likely.

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Rx for dope – Pot dispensaries should be police-regulated businesses

Dec 8

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Union Tribune Editorial

The San Diego City Council today begins consideration of how best to regulate the mushrooming collection of medical marijuana dispensaries. But the council is going about it all wrong.

Consider this stunning comment by Steve Walter, assistant chief of narcotics for the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, as reported in Sunday’s San Diego Union-Tribune: “Based on the investigations we’ve done so far, I’m unaware of any (medical marijuana) storefronts operating legally.” He acknowledged not all dispensaries have been investigated, but his comment mirrors that of Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley, who has said “about 100 percent” of the marijuana storefronts in that county operate illegally.

Given this astonishing circumstance, it should have been obvious that the first question the San Diego council should have asked months ago is whether these dispensaries should operate in the city at all or whether they should instead be banned outright, as in more than 100 other California cities, including Escondido and El Cajon.

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California Looks to Put Reins on Medical Marijuana Sales

Oct 7

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Cooperatives?, In The News, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments

October 7, 2009

California officials are seeking greater control over medical-marijuana sales, as pot dispensaries have proliferated in cities like Los Angeles and concerns are rising about drug dealers posing as medical-marijuana providers.

USA Today reported Sept. 30 that the law on medical-marijuana sales remains vague 13 years after its passage. San Diego District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis said that all of the dispensaries her office has investigated have been operating illegally, and some “appear to be run by drug dealers who see an opening in the market and a way to make a fast buck.”

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has issued guidelines stating that nonprofit cooperatives and collectives can legally sell marijuana to patients. But some programs are pulling in hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly profits. Meanwhile, some cities have had hundreds of storefront marijuana shops open since the law went into effect — 400 registered programs in Los Angeles alone, for example, with many more unregulated shops also in operation.

“The practical reality has proven to be these facilities have by and large opened without any kind of registration, application, nothing,” Jane Usher, special assistant city attorney in Los Angeles.

Source: JoinTogether.org – Article

The Debate on California’s Pot Shops

Dec 30

Posted by admin in California Dispensaries, Commentary, Federal Enforcement, In The News, Marketing Illegal Drugs, Other State's Dispensaries | No Comments

Morley Shafer reports on Proposition 215

60 Minutes

December 30, 2007

(CBS) Hindsight. One more image in the hall of mirrors that medical marijuana in California has become. The Supreme Court has upheld the DEA’s right to go after dispensaries, no matter what state law might say. And even one of the key proponents of medical marijuana says things have gotten out of hand.

“It’s just ridiculous the amount of money that’s going through these cannabis clubs. It’s absolutely ridiculous,” says Scott Imler, a minister in the United Methodist Church who has long been active in promoting medical marijuana.

Eleven years ago, he was working to pass proposition 215, the ballot measure that legalized it. Today, Imler has second thoughts.

“The purpose of proposition 215 was not to create a new industry. It was to protect legitimate patients from criminal prosecution,” Imler says.

The aim back then, reflected in television spots, was for a highly regulated system in which licensed pharmacies would dispense medical marijuana to the seriously ill. Proposition 215’s backers had people with AIDS, cancer, and glaucoma in mind.

“What happened when we were writing it was, as you can imagine, every patient group in the state and they all have their lobbies. You know, the kidney patients and the heart patient. Every patient group wanted to be included in the list,” Imler recalls. “And so we didn’t wanna get in the position of deciding what it could be used for and what it couldn’t be used for. We weren’t doctors. We weren’t scientists. We weren’t researchers. We were just patients with a problem.”

Imler says they were forced to make the proposition vague.

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