(CA) US Attorney Defies White House

[Jesus Malverde]

Melinda Haag, the US Attorney for Northern California, is flouting new federal guidelines in her continued attempts to shut down legal medical marijuana dispensaries in the Bay Area

Despite new federal guidelines that purportedly were designed to ease enforcement of marijuana laws in states in which pot is legal for adult or medicinal uses, US Attorney Melinda Haag is plowing ahead with attempts to close two of the most prominent medical cannabis dispensaries in California — Oakland's Harborside Health Center and Berkeley Patients Group.

According to BPG attorney Henry Wykowski, Haag is ignoring the new federal guidelines spelled out in a memo issued on August 29 by the Obama Justice Department and authored by Assistant Attorney General James Cole. Wykowski said he met with a federal judge and Haag's office on October 29 for a case management conference involving Haag's efforts to close BPG. Like in the Harborside case, Haag is attempting to shutter BPG by seizing the property it occupies via a process known as forfeiture. But Wykowski said the "judge questioned why this case was proceeding in light of the Cole Memo. The US Attorney had a very difficult time articulating an answer."

BPG requested the matter be sent to mediation, but Haag's office refused, saying it intended to proceed with the forfeiture case. A trial is set for December 2014, and the next court date is next month. "I just don't understand what's going on," Wykowski said.

Haag spokesperson Lili Arauzhaase didn't respond to questions for this report.

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/us-attorney-defies-white-house/Content?oid=3762161