SF Weekly:  “Melinda Haag, the U.S. Attorney for Northern California. Haag cites the park as a reason why medical marijuana dispensary Shambhala Healing Center, four blocks away on Mission Street, must close.  Shambhala would be the sixth San Francisco pot club shuttered by Haag, whose office has shut five dispensaries since November, and the most politically connected: one of Shambhala’s operators is a former candidate for Congress with connections to progressive politicians. . . . On Feb. 21, Haag mailed to property owner Ebrahim Poura of Beverly Hills a form letter that’s arrived in five other dispensary landlords’ mailboxes since Oct. 7, when California’s four federal prosecutors announced a coordinated crackdown on the state’s medical marijuana industry.  The letter gave Poura 45 days to close or risk ‘enhanced penalties’ because of Shambhala’s proxmity to Jose Coronado such as property forfeiture and ‘a penalty of up to 40 years in prison when operating within a prohibited distance of a school, playground, etc.,’ Haag wrote.”

Marijuana.com:  “Until federal drug agents arrested him earlier this month, Shon Squier was one of Hayward’s most successful and generous young businessmen.  Customers lined up outside his downtown storefront, particularly on Mondays, when he offered free samples to the first 50 visitors. Business was so good that Squier, a former construction worker, was able to donate more than $100,000 to local charities.  But Squier’s success as a dynamic medical marijuana entrepreneur was also his downfall. Federal drug agents raided his home and business, arresting Squier and his store manager, freezing bank accounts containing $1.5 million and confiscating several expensive cars, motorcycles and $200,000 in cash.  Medical marijuana advocates claim the raid constitutes unfair, selective enforcement by the Drug Enforcement Administration of the estimated 170 medical marijuana dispensaries in the state, including 85 in the San Francisco Bay Area. . . . The raids on both the Hayward and Modesto operations support what medical marijuana advocates contend is an unwritten practice by the DEA of being more likely to crack down on an operation that has lost local government support.”

Vallejo Times-Herald:  “The operator of one of Vallejo’s more prominent medical marijuana dispensaries was arrested Tuesday, following a raid on his home, business and associated properties by federal, state and local law enforcement agents.  Matthew Shotwell, operator and founder of Greenwell Cooperative at 616 Marin St., was arrested during the joint operation, Vallejo Police Lt. Ken Weaver said. . . . The U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California is also investigating a potential civil action against the building’s owner, Alan Wofsy, of San Francisco”

The Press-Enterprise:  “Two top Riverside officials are asking U.S. attorneys to enforce the federal marijuana ban in their city, as the feds have in other Southern California communities during a recent crackdown on medical marijuana operations. . . . In October, the state’s four U.S. attorneys began a crackdown they described as targeting commercial distribution of marijuana.  Dispensaries in French Valley and Wildomar have been shut down in recent months, others in the Inland area have received warning letters, and federal officials have filed civil and criminal actions against dispensary operators and property owners who rent to them.”

Los Angeles Times:  “Few standards apply to quality of marijuana, because the federal government considers all use illegal.  Only some top-end dispensaries test their products, and even they can’t be sure the results are reliable. Because all marijuana possession is illegal under federal law — and the Justice Department has been cracking down recently — the nascent labs are as unregulated and vulnerable to prosecution as dispensaries and growers. In Colorado, the one lab that tried to get a license from the Drug Enforcement Administration was promptly raided by that agency.  That very week, Los Angeles passed its marijuana ordinance, which required testing by “independent and certified” labs, without specifying who was supposed to do the certifying. Long Beach followed suit two months later. . . . The more prominent operations in California — including Steep Hill in Oakland, Halent in Sacramento and The Werc Shop in Los Angeles County — have recently formed the Assn. of California Cannabis Laboratories to set equipment standards and methodology and to give a seal of approval for those who comply.”