[420 Girl]

The city of Oakland's plan to license four medical marijuana production and processing plants might be snuffed out before it starts.

The Oakland Tribune reported Friday that the district attorney for the Northern California county that includes Oakland sent a letter to city officials this week warning that the kind of large-scale commercial growing operations they want to authorize are probably illegal under both state and federal law.

State courts already have found that California's medical marijuana law allows patients or their designated caregivers to grow pot, but does not provide legal cover for storefront pot dispensaries that nonetheless have flourished, Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley wrote.

Growing facilities are likely to be just as illegal and the people associated with them, including city officials, should not consider themselves immune from prosecution by her office, she said.

"Persons should not rely solely upon pronouncements by city officials or enactment of the ordinance as proving any legal or equitable defense to criminal prosecution," O'Malley wrote. "Nor should persons rely on pronouncements of city officials or the ordinance as an accurate interpretation of the state laws regarding marijuana cultivation, possession, sale, etc., and/or the defenses available to those charges."

The Oakland City Council voted in July to make Oakland the first city in the nation to license and wholesale pot cultivation. The city has received more than 300 applications for the four permits it plans to issue initially and started processing them last month with the aim of selecting the winning licensees early next year.

O'Malley's warning is not the first Oakland officials have received. City Attorney John Russo refused to sign the ordinance passed by the council, saying he had been told by federal law enforcement officials that "is in violation of law."

Jason Overman, a spokesman for Councilwoman Rebecca Kaplan, says the City Council was scheduled to discuss the situation next week. Kaplan, who sponsored the pot cultivation plan with Councilman Larry Reid, was open to amending it "to strengthen the city's position on the issue," Overman told the Tribune.


NewsHawk: MedicalNeed: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: DA: Oakland's Pot-Growing Plan May Hit Legal Wall - News Story - KTVU San Francisco
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