| 420 Studios U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy’s pharmacy crackdown? Dueling press releases Friday morning |
It was apparently an entirely new tactic representing an interesting change of pace from her usual war on medical marijuana dispensaries. United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy on Tuesday announced — or seemed to announce — enforcement actions against pharmacies in Southern California. The stores were targeted, Duffy said in a press release, because of “distribution of drugs for illegal purposes.”
According to the press release, which says it is from “Assistant U.S. Attorney Frank Shiner” at (619) 302-5235, “immediate enforcement” will target pharmacies in the Coastal areas of La Jolla, Carmel Valley, and Pacific Beach; chosen for both the high rates of pharmaceutical drug abuse and high property values of targeted pharmacies. Affected pharmacies will have 45 days to shutdown in order to avoid harsher penalties.
“The Pharmaceutical shutdown initiative is aimed at curtailing drug abuse and its associated societal problems in the Southern District of California,” Duffy’s office seemed to announce Tuesday morning.
But another, conflicting release sent just an hour later from Press Secretary Steven T. Frederickson at (619) 306-2854, claims that “unknown individuals have forged documents claiming that this office has initiated a shut down pharmacies [sic]in the coastal areas of San Diego County.
“Many in the community have expressed outrage over the perceived imposition of our department in the rights of San Diego patients to receive their medication,” the second release reads, in what — if it’s real — must be one of the most richly ironic statements in history.