LOVELACE AND U.S. ATTORNEY DISCUSS MEDICAL MARIJUANA CRACKDOWN

Pressure from California Northern District U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag
has led to the closure of an Arcata medical marijuana dispensary,
changes in Arcata's landmark medical marijuana ordinance and a swirl
of fear in Humboldt County's medical marijuana community.

As a result, Humboldt County 3rd District Supervisor Mark Lovelace
met with Haag on Thursday afternoon to express his disappointment
with the recent federal crackdown. In an interview with the
Times-Standard on Friday, Lovelace said the U.S. attorney's actions
"showed incredible disrespect for local governments."

Lovelace said his meeting with Haag, which Humboldt County District
Attorney Paul Gallegos helped set up, was about involving local
governments. Up until now, Lovelace said, the burden has been on
local governments to decide what is acceptable and what is not.

The federal government was "pretty much absent from this issue,"
Lovelace said. "Now that they've decided to get involved, they didn't
bother to pick up the phones and call local jurisdictions. It was not
the way to build a partnership."

Lovelace said he tried to impress upon Haag that local governments
dictate what is agreeable to the community and what is appropriate
safe access to medical marijuana, which is legal in California.

"We've gone through that process, which has been ignored by the
federal government," Lovelace said U.S. attorneys caused a stir last
year when they sent stern letters to cities across the state --
including Eureka -- warning that elected and public officials could
face legal action for enacting and enforcing medical marijuana
ordinances. Eureka received its letter in August warning that its
ordinance -- which allowed for the permitting of four medical
marijuana dispensaries -- ran afoul of federal law.

The letter -- written by Haag -- said the department was concerned
about Eureka's "creation of a licensing scheme that permits
large-scale industrial marijuana cultivation, processing and
distribution." The letter went on to warn that if Eureka were to
proceed with licensing dispensaries under the ordinance, the U.S.
Attorney's Office would consider taking action, including pursuing
injunctions, fines, criminal prosecutions and forfeitures.

Eureka has since declared a moratorium on the permitting of dispensaries.

Humboldt County has not received a letter from Haag nor had an
official meeting with her, but the county also passed a moratorium on
dispensary permitting due to federal pressures and a shifting legal
landscape in the state.

Arcata city officials recently had a sit-down meeting with Haag, and
last week the city council directed staff to draft a moratorium on
issuing licenses to dispensaries.

Landlords of two of Arcata's four dispensaries reportedly received
letters from the U.S. attorney last month stating that they were in
violation of federal law and had a short time to respond before
facing criminal charges and property forfeiture.

Humboldt Medical Supply, which received one of the U.S. attorney's
letters, closed last week. Signs on the building's door state that
the business is closed permanently by order of the Department of
Justice. Humboldt Medical Supply and its landlord, Danco, could not
be reached for comment by deadline. The U.S. attorney's office would
not disclose the contents of the letters.

The signs also say Humboldt Medical Supply was closed because of its
proximity to the Arcata Ball Park. Humboldt Medical Marijuana
Advisory Panel Secretary Charley Custer said he read the letters the
dispensaries received from Haag and that the U.S. Attorney indicated
she was targeting dispensaries within 1,000 feet of public playgrounds.

Lovelace said he had heard of the closure, but he did not bring up
specific closures or cities in his meeting with Haag. Lovelace said
his focus was getting the U.S. attorney to involve local governments.

Lovelace said he understands that there is no acceptable use for
marijuana in the federal government's view but said the federal
government's efforts would be better directed at things other than
dispensaries and local ordinances.

"We'd love assistance on other problem areas," Lovelace said, citing
cartels and environmentally destructive grow practices. "What I tried
to point out is a lot of areas where we're having difficulty."

Lovelace said there is a lot of room for cooperation, even without
tackling the central issue of prohibition.

The supervisor said there was back and forth on the issue at
Thursday's meeting, with a bit of mutual understanding. "I'm hoping
that we'll be able to build some more constructive dialogue on this."

The California Northern District U.S. Attorney's Office declined to
comment on the meeting.