Thinking Clearly

Medical Pot Vendor Gets 10 Years In Federal Prison

 by Aaron Kase

 

 

 A medical marijuana dispensary owner in California was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison this month for drug dealing, even though he wasn’t breaking any state laws.

Aaron Sandusky, 43, operated three G3 Holistics stores in Southern California that provided medicinal marijuana for 17,000 patients. Drug Enforcement Agency operatives raided Sandusky’s shops in 2011 and arrested him on a number of federal manufacturing and distribution charges.

Medical marijuana has been legal in California since 1996 and Sandusky was not charged with violating any state laws. Of course, pot is still illegal under federal law, and while the U.S. government can’t force California to enforce federal law, it can send its own agents in to do the job and try defendants in federal court.

Sandusky could have faced as much as life in prison but Judge Percy Anderson instead gave him 10 years, the fewest possible under federal minimum sentencing guidelines.

“In this case, as the defendant was warned, the court’s hands are tied,” Anderson said. “Whether you agree with the defendant’s position or not.”

Prosecutors smeared Sandusky as a scruple-free profiteer, writing in a memo, “Defendant built a veneer of legitimacy around his criminal enterprise using his customers’ good-faith search for pain relief. There is absolutely no altruistic component to defendant’s continued and sustained criminality.”
 
Sandusky made a distinctly unapologetic apology after his sentencing. “I want to apologize to those with me and their families who have been victimized by the federal government who has not recognized the voters of this state,” he told the court.