FEDS THREATEN MENDOCINO OFFICIALS OVER CULTIVATION PERMITS

According to California Watch, last week federal prosecutors
threatened to sue Mendocino county, put county officials in jail, and
confiscate county property if Mendocino continued to permit legal
medical marijuana grows under its sheriff's office program.

"'They told the county to shut the program down," said one official
who was briefed on the matter. The official said Melinda Haag, US
attorney for California's Northern District, gave the county two weeks
to take action. A spokesman for Haag declined to comment, California
Watch reported.

In a statement released by the Mendocino County counsel, Mendocino
County Supervisor John McCowen said Haag is trying to destroy a
regulated system in the name of doomed federal marijuana prohibition,
which is creating chaos and funding drug cartels. "If the Federal
government is not going to provide the resources to eradicate all the
marijuana that they consider illegal, then they should not interfere
with local regulatory efforts to protect public safety and the
environment," McCowen stated.

"The 9.31 permit program created an above ground regulatory framework
that balanced safe access to medical marijuana with public safety and
environmental protection. ... the Federal crackdown will have the
effect of driving medical marijuana back underground making it more
illegal, profitable and dangerous."

Mendocino County has since paused its innovative cultivation permit
program.