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dispense, and do not sell marijuana, a patron will not receive any marijuana until an amount of money acceptable to the dispensary has changed hands. D. ORGANIZED CRIME, MONEY LAUNDERING, AND FIREARMS VIOLATIONS Increasingly, reports have been surfacing about organized crime involvement in the ownership and operation of marijuana dispensaries, including Asian and other criminal street gangs and at least one member of the Armenian Mafia. 16 The dispensaries or "pot clubs" are often used as a front by organized crime gangs to traffic in drugs and launder money. One such gang whose territory included San Francisco and Oakland, California reportedly ran a multi - million dollar business operating ten warehouses in which vast amounts of marijuana plants were grown. Besides seizing over 9,000 marijuana plants during surprise raids on this criminal enterprise's storage facilities, federal officers also confiscated three firearms, which seem to go hand in hand with medical marijuana cultivation and dispensaries . 59 Marijuana storefront businesses have allowed criminals to flourish in California. In the summer of 2007, the City of San Diego cooperated with federal authorities and served search warrants on several marijuana dispensary locations. In addition to marijuana, many weapons were recovered, including a stolen handgun and an M -16 assault rifle. 60 The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that marijuana growers are employing armed guards, using explosive booby traps, and murdering people to shield their crops. Street gangs of all national origins are involved in transporting and distributing marijuana to meet the ever increasing demand for the drug. Active Asian gangs have included members of Vietnamese organized crime syndicates who have migrated from Canada to buy homes throughout the United States to use as grow houses. Some or all of the processed harvest of marijuana plants nurtured in these homes then wind up at storefront marijuana dispensaries owned and operated by these gangs. Storefront marijuana businesses are very dangerous enterprises that thrive on ancillary grow operations. Besides fueling marijuana dispensaries, some monetary proceeds from the sale of harvested marijuana derived from plants grown inside houses are being used by organized crime syndicates to fund other legitimate businesses for profit and the laundering of money, and to conduct illegal business operations like prostitution, extortion, and drug trafficking. Money from residential grow operations is also sometimes traded by criminal gang members for firearms, and used to buy drugs, personal vehicles, and additional houses for more grow operations, and along with the illegal income derived from large -scale organized crime - related marijuana production operations comes widespread income tax evasion. E. POISONINGS Another social problem somewhat unique to marijuana dispensaries is poisonings, both intentional and unintentional. On August 16, 2006, the Los Angeles Police Department received two such reports. One involved a security guard who ate a piece of cake extended to him from an operator of a marijuana clinic as a "gift," and soon afterward felt dizzy and disoriented . 66 The second incident concerned a UPS driver who experienced similar symptoms after accepting and eating a cookie given to him by an operator of a different marijuana clinic. © 2009 California Police Chiefs Assn. 10 All Rights Reserved