Prosecutors threaten medical pot clinics

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Federal prosecutors are threatening to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries throughout California, demanding they stop sales of the drug within 45 days.

Prosecutors have sent letters to clinic owners warning them they face the possibility their properties will be seized and they will be charged with a crime, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.

The action comes as the Obama administration steps up efforts to limit the spread of pot stores, which accelerated after the attorney general said in 2009 federal prosecutors would not target people using medical marijuana in states that allow it, the newspaper said.

Medical marijuana advocates say the move comes as a surprise.

"It's coming out of left field as far as we're concerned," Joe Elford, the chief counsel for Americans for Safe Access, said. "I really don't know what inspired this. It's a complete about-face from what [Obama] said when he was campaigning."

California was the first state to decriminalize marijuana for medical use in 1996, but it remains a federal crime to possess or sell it, and the conflict between state and federal laws is ongoing.

Advocates said they don't believe the government has the money or staff to force all dispensaries to close.

"It's a lot of huffing and puffing," Elford said, "but we'll see if they actually blow the house down."