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What "Illegal Activities" are masked in this statement?

From: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n961/a06.html

> "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute
> patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying
> with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug
> traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask
> activities that are clearly illegal," Attorney General Eric Holder said
> in a statement.

If all someone is doing is simply growing pot to sell, what other "illegal
activities" are there, if growing pot, itself, is illegal, unless now,
you're growing it for medical use.  I guess the only thing that would be
considered "clearly illegal" would be things like shooting people who come
around your pot fields: something that would not happen if pot was growing
everywhere.

==================



Here's the whole article:

Marin Medical Pot Dispensaries Laud New Fed Policy

The managers of Marin medical marijuana dispensaries welcomed the news
Monday that the Obama administration intends to honor state laws that
permit the sale of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Pot-smoking patients and their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted
for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana,
prosecutors were told in a new policy memo issued by the Justice
Department.  The memo advises prosecutors they "should not focus federal
resources in your states on individuals whose actions are in clear and
unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical
use of marijuana."

"It's huge.  It's long overdue and I'm starting to feel a great deal of
personal relief, considering I've been in litigation with the federal
government for 12 years over my medical marijuana dispensary," said
Lynette Shaw, who has operated the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana in
Fairfax for 13 years.

Berta Bollinger, co-president of the Caregiver Compassion Group, which
opened at 495 Gate Five Road in Sausalito in August, said, "It's a good
deal.  It will help everybody feel a little bit safer.  It's about time.
Go after those commercial grows that are illegal and leave us alone."

Under the policy spelled out in a three-page legal memo, federal
prosecutors are being told it is not a good use of their time to arrest
people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with
state law.  The guidelines issued by the department do, however, make it
clear that federal agents will go after people whose marijuana
distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical
marijuana as a cover for other crimes.

"It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients
with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state
laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who
hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that
are clearly illegal," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

After California's Proposition 215 in 1996 legalized possession and
cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes by patients who obtain
doctor approval, individuals attempted to open medical marijuana
dispensaries in several Marin cities.  But only one club, the Marin
Alliance, was successful in gaining the approval of the city in which it
is located.

But over the past year new marijuana dispensaries have begun popping up in
Marin: one in Novato, two in Sausalito and two in Corte Madera.  The
Novato dispensary, the Apela Collective, lost its lease after city
officials applied pressure on its landlord, and Gate Five Caregivers in
Sausalito, the first of the new dispensaries to open, also closed.

But the Caregiver Compassion Group in Sausalito and Corte Madera's two
dispensaries - Marin Holistic Solution at 200 Tamal Plaza and Going Green
at 402 Tamal Plaza - continue to operate although without city permits.

Shaw said she had been concerned that the Obama administration might pick
up where the Clinton administration left off.  In 1998, the Justice
Department sued Shaw and several other medical marijuana dispensaries,
seeking an injunction to close them down.  The Marin Alliance was
protected from closure while Shaw appealed an initial decision against her
to the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Supreme Court rejected her appeal last
December.

Now, however, "I think they're going to leave us alone," Shaw said.  "I'm
happy to say at least in my little corner of the world my patients are
safe."

That may not be the case for Marin's other dispensaries.

"We are pursuing the issue," Bob Pendoley, Corte Madera's assistant town
manager, said regarding the two dispensaries in his town.  What does that
mean?

"I don't want to tell you," Pendoley said.  "At this point we're working
on it.  We don't want to go into the details."
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cannabidraake@earthlink.net (no longer valid, but I still like it.  :-)

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