WHEREAS, The State of California has recognized medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives as retailers required to collect, report, and remit tax on the sales of medical marijuana and the revenues derived from those sales to the Board of Equalization and the Franchise Tax Board; and

WHEREAS, The Drug Enforcement Agency of the United States Department of Justice has conducted raids and shut down dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives in California since 2005, with 28 of these raids occurring since June 2007 in 11 different counties; and

WHEREAS, The medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives in California shut down by the Drug Enforcement Agency had been licensed by local governments and reporting and paying sales taxes to the Board of Equalization and reporting and paying income taxes to the California Franchise Tax Board and the federal Internal Revenue Service; and

WHEREAS, Seizures of assets of these medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives effectively have blocked payments of taxes to the State of California; and

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WHEREAS, The recent, escalated activities of the Drug Enforcement Agency to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries and collectives by targeting their landlords and seizing their landlords’ properties will have serious consequences, including, but not limited to: thousands of California patients will no longer be able to access medical marijuana as recommended by their physicians because these businesses will be forced to close or move underground for unregulated operations; the state and municipalities will lose millions of dollars in tax revenue; and thousands will lose well-paying jobs with benefits; and

WHEREAS, The federal government continues to classify all forms of cannabis as Schedule I under the federal Controlled Substances Act and therefore does not recognize medical marijuana; and

WHEREAS, Historic practice and scientific research have demonstrated medical marijuana alone or in combination with other drugs is an effective treatment for nausea reduction for patients with cancer and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome; increasing appetite for patients with nausea or other conditions causing dangerous weight loss; reducing eye pressure in patients with glaucoma; and controlling muscle spasms, seizures, and chronic muscular pain; and

WHEREAS, In the matter of Gonzales v. Raich: 545 U.S. 1, 125 S. Ct. 2195, 162 L. Ed. 2d 1, the United States Supreme Court upheld the authority of the Drug Enforcement Agency to conduct these raids, but it left state medical marijuana laws intact; now, therefore, be it

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