75A - PH - MEDICAL MARIJUANA - PROHIBIT

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Gorman grew pot in his home for himself and others. Just days before his murder, he spoke to CBS4 of the dangers. "T've had a gun stuck to my head," Gorman said. "I've had people stabbed here, in my house, from people trying to get my marijuana." Gorman called Colorado's amendment legalizing medical. marijuana "a great, great law,"....."You try your luck dawn on Colfax and get shot," May said. "Or, get your car hijacked fora $20 bag." In response to the violence, medical marijuana dispensaries are now opening, like Cannabis Therapeutics Dispensary in Colorado Springs. Matt Schnur of Cannabis Therapeutics said they have bulletproof glass and a steel door for security. There is also an extensive camera system.....But Colorado's Attorney General John Suthers believes such dispensaries may be exploiting the law. "This is the medical marijuana law being abused for purposes of wide scale marijuana distribution," Suthers said. Source: htt~//cbs4denver_com/tc)pstaries/local story OSb17()23H.htm1 As we have discussed in the past, trends in the United Sates appear to follow those from Canada. Canadian. Law Enforcement began to report the increase on "in-door" grows some time ago. They have recently reported the involvement of organized crime in the larger growing operations. Th.e articles below suggest that these trends are already in place within the United States, specifically in the State of California. D.E.A. agent Taylor opines in one of the articles that part of the attractiveness of Marijuana sales in California is due partly to "medical marijuana Iaws that have created a permissive attitude." I partially concur with this assessment. However, I would add into the equation the fact there are at feast 3551a~own Marijuana dispensaries operating in California (CAL NORML website, up from 240 last summer) and these dispensaries are likely selling a couple of pounds of Marijuana each day. Someone has to be supplying the Marijuana to those dispensaries and I would suspect it is likely that a majority of the Marijuana produced in these indoor grows finds its way to a dispensary. The indoor grow business has turned into an industry of its own. Our representative to the local Drug Enforcement Team stated that in all but one of the indoor grow cases he has worked this year, the suspect has raised the defense that the marijuana was being cultivated for a dispensary. The articles below begin to describe the increase in indoor grows as well as the rise in level of sophistication. Tliey alsa provide us with. a glimpse of the involvement of organized crime in these activities. Pot growing moves to Calif. Suburbs Illegal marijuana growers turning hot real estate into hothouses By Jahn Ritter USA TODAY LATHROP, Calif. -Rick Estrada didn't think it particularly odd that he never saw his next-door neighbor or that curtains were always drawn. On his block of new homes, everyone was a recent arrival. In fact, some homes still sit empty, owned by investors hoping to "flip" them at a profit. Never in his darkest dreams did Estrada think the two- story house a few feet from his contained an indoor marijuana-growing operation that authorities believe is the latest wrinkle in drug traffickers' efforts to hide their illegal business..... 6 75A-101