Obama Administration Gives State Employees the Green Light on Medical Marijuana

The federal government has sent state governments a clear message on medical marijuana: they’re not going to get in the way.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer has been at the forefront of a fight over state-level legality of medical marijuana. This week the Obama Administration handed the marijuana advocates a big win.

In typical style, Brewer approached her opposition to medical marijuana in Arizona in backwards, Orwellian manner. Arizona voted to implement a legal medical marijuana program in in the 2010 midterm elections. Brewer, however, blocked the program from being implemented, saying that it contradicted the federal Controlled Substances Act and that implementing it would expose Arizona state employees to prosecution by the federal government.

“I won’t stand aside while state employees and average Arizonans acting in good faith are unwittingly put at risk,” she said. She then sued the federal government for “clarity,” to resolve the apparent conflict between the law Arizona voters had passed and the federal government’s own stance on marijuana.

On Monday the federal government dismissed the claim as ridiculous and filed to drop the entire suit, promising it has no plans to prosecute state employees for implementing legal medical marijuana programs voted into law.

The Department of Justice motion to dismiss says that in implementing its medical marijuana program Arizona has no “concrete plan to act in violation of the Controlled Substances Act” and that “plaintiffs can point to no threat of enforcement against the State’s employees” on the part of the federal government.

Brewer had tried to use threat of federal prosecution as a roadblock to prevent the state’s marijuana program from being implemented, and the Department of Justice has answered, making it clear that they won’t prevent states from implementing such programs or prosecute for doing so.

A lawyer for the ACLU said, “By taking the highly unusual step of challenging her own state’s law, Gov. Brewer is undermining the will of Arizona voters and unconscionably seeking to prevent thousands of sick Arizonans from being able to access important medicine.” It would seem that with the federal government calling “not it,” Brewer is just about out of obstacles to use in objecting to her state’s medical marijuana policy.

This is good news for pot advocates everywhere, since the brief implies the same policy holds true for all states. Marijuana Policy Project notes that New Jersey Chris Christie recently implemented that state’s medical marijuana program, saying he doesn’t believe the federal government will waste federal resources “on going after dispensaries in New Jersey.”

Turns out he was right. Smoke if you got ‘em, state governments.

[Raw Story]

Federal Attorneys Even Question Arizona Governors Bizarre Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

 By Howard Fischer

Federal attorneys asked a judge on Monday to throw out a lawsuit filed by Gov. Jan Brewer seeking a ruling about the legality of the state’s medical marijuana law.

Deputy U.S. Attorney Scott Risner said there is no legal basis for the lawsuit. Risner told U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in legal papers filed in her court that, absent some actual threat of prosecution under federal drug laws by his office, the question is purely academic and therefore not a proper subject for litigation.

But state Attorney General Tom Horne, who filed the lawsuit in May on the governor’s behalf, said Risner is telling only part of the story.

The fight surrounds the decision by Arizona voters last year to set up a system allowing those with a doctor’s recommendation and a state-issued ID card to purchase marijuana from state-regulated dispensaries.

Since that time, several federal prosecutors, including Dennis Burke, the U.S. Attorney for Arizona, warned that possession and sale of the drug remains illegal under federal law. Brewer then directed Horne to ask a federal court whether Arizona could implement its program anyway.

In the interim, the state health department, at Brewer’s direction, decided not to license any dispensaries, though they have continued to certify patients as medical marijuana users.

Risner said the problem with Horne’s lawsuit is that no state employee involved in issuing licenses — those that Brewer said she was most concerned about — is facing prosecution.

But Horne said that’s not exactly true.

He pointed out that federal prosecutors, in their letters to state officials in Arizona and elsewhere, essentially said that medical marijuana users have nothing to fear. It’s what those letters did not say, Horne said, which amounts to a threat.

“They gave no assurance to state employees, they gave no assurance to dispensaries,’’ he said.

“And they said they were going to vigorously prosecute anyone who is involved in the distribution of marijuana,’’ Horne continued, a category that could include state workers. “What unbelievable hypocrites!’’

Horne also brushed aside Risner’s argument that there can be no risk of prosecution to state health workers since they are neither accepting nor processing applications from those who want to operate dispensaries.

“We asked for the court decision and we said we’ll hold it up until there is a court decision,’’ Horne complained. He called it “sophistry’’ for the Department of Justice to now argue that the state, by putting the license-issuing process on hold, is now not entitled to a ruling on the very issue that is holding up the process in the first place.

Risner did not return a call to his office seeking comment.

It’s not just the Department of Justice trying to have the governor’s lawsuit dismissed. Would-be dispensary operators and the American Civil Liberties Union are making similar arguments in their own legal filings.

Bolton has not set a date for a hearing.

-Article From East Valley Tribune

Arizona’s First Medical Marijuana Collective Opens Its Doors To Patients

Last Monday, an Arizona based medical marijuana group opened the doors to the first Collective offered to Arizona’s registered medical marijuana card holders. Arizona Cannabis Society LLC opened the doors to their first Collective in grand fashion Monday morning at 11am by handing out FREE medical marijuana to the first 100 patients through the door.

The Collective, which is known as Arizona Cannabis Society, launched a program which is designed for medical marijuana patients that are not interested in cultivating their own medical marijuana plants but are approved to cultivate or for patients that do not want to appoint a registered caregiver this early in the states medical marijuana program.

Arizona Cannabis Society accepts “agency rights” in its name from the patients in order to cultivate 12 medical marijuana plants for each patient they sign up. The Collective cultivates marijuana for the patients and in return patients are able to come to the Collective facilities to receive their medication from the staff at the reimbursement cost of the production. This makes it far more affordable for patients to get quality medical marijuana from a legal source. The group gave away free grams of medical marijuana to the first 100 patients that signed up for the Collective.

The Arizona legislation (ARS 28-1) states patients may reimburse caregivers for reasonable production costs of the medication with one exception, labor. The Collective only assists its own members as it cannot cultivate for anyone that isn’t a member. The AZCS Collective offers patients an alternative to Compassion Clubs that are gaining in popularity across the valley and is completely ARS 28.1 compliant.

Arizona Cannabis Society also offers free classes to members as well as the following services; massage therapy, acupuncture, aroma therapy, cultivation consulting, legal consulting and certification services for new medical marijuana patients. The facility also has a paraphernalia room where patients and staff can discuss various usage methods.

Visit or call today for more information regarding membership fee’s or assistance with medical marijuana services.

(Press Release)

Medical Marijuana Clubs Pop Up As Arizona Law is Debated

by Emily Holden

Medical-marijuana dispensaries can’t yet operate in Arizona pending a judge’s ruling on Proposition 203. But that doesn’t necessarily keep cardholders from finding pot.

At least a handful of clubs that provide patients with medical marijuana have opened up in the Valley to fill that void.

Because the new state law allows most medical-marijuana cardholders to grow their own pot and share it with each other – as long as there are no dispensaries near – these clubs have developed as a go-between.

Joe Yuhas, a spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, which led the campaign for Prop. 203, said the law was meant to create a “regulated industry” of dispensaries. Instead, Yuhas said, the pot clubs are an unintended consequence of the state and federal dispute over whether Arizona’s new law conflicts with federal statutes banning marijuana.

“We’re going to see more and more developments like this,” Yuhas said.

The development of marijuana clubs has raised questions about their legality in two areas: the payment for the product and local zoning of the clubs.

The state Department of Health Services said it has “serious concerns about the legality of so-called cannabis clubs.” Health officials have asked the Attorney General’s Office to determine if the clubs are legal.

Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery agreed the clubs are an “untested area” but said he will prosecute anyone trying to operate outside the narrow provisions of the law.

However, club owners said they’re operating legally.

Dispensaries stalled

In November, voters approved Prop. 203, which legalized medical-marijuana use for people with certain debilitating conditions. The law allowed patients – as long as they don’t live within 25 miles of a dispensary – and caregivers to grow marijuana.

The state was expected to issue up to 126 dispensary permits by August.

But U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke, following the lead of other federal prosecutors, warned prospective pot growers and sellers that they could be prosecuted under federal drug-trafficking laws.

Gov. Jan Brewer

In response to the warning, Gov. Jan Brewer and Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne filed a lawsuit in late May asking a federal judge to determine whether compliance with the law would leave state employees, dispensary owners and patients vulnerable to prosecution for violating federal drug statutes.

The ADHS then halted its dispensary-licensing process.

Meanwhile, the state has licensed 5,697 patients with medical-marijuana cards to grow their own.

The department also has approved 270 caregivers to grow marijuana for their patients.

Under the law, medical-marijuana patients can grow up to 12 plants of their own. Patients and caregivers can share it with other cardholders “if nothing of value is transferred in return.”

Patients can pay caregivers for the costs and materials they use to grow pot but not for their work.

Inside the clubs

Caregivers can grow up to 72 plants total for themselves and five others. Some have given excess marijuana to these new clubs.

Since the clubs aren’t regulated, there is no way to say for sure how many operate in the Valley.

But at least seven advertise and operate openly. Others are underground and recruit patients by word of mouth.

Owners of the 2811 Club in Phoenix have heavily promoted their club. Founder Al Sobol said hundreds of people have visited.

Tucked away in a shopping center off Bell Road, members of the 2811 Club lounge on plush-leather couches and gather around small coffee tables to read about strains of marijuana. Smoking is not allowed in the club.

In a back room, an instructor demonstrates how to make Italian salad dressing with pot. And, at a glass display counter, a volunteer hands out 3-gram samples of marijuana to cardholders.

The club scans the cards and verifies the patients’ identity with a thumb-print machine. An armed security guard stands by.

Sobol said that most members are older than 50 and that only a few are in their 20s. Members can consult with volunteers to find the best sample for insomnia or chronic pain.

Mike Miller said he spends his days at the 2811 Club so he can be around people who understand his health problems.

Miller, a diabetic, had to have a leg amputated five years ago after a wound in his foot never healed. He said he has been on painkillers and other medications since then. Miller said he hardly left his house until he got his medical-marijuana card and found the 2811 Club.

“I’m hoping that the only time I would ever need a pain pill again is aspirin,” Miller said.

Donating for pot

There is no set payment arrangement for the various clubs.

The 2811 Club charges members an initial application fee of $25 and a $75 entry fee each visit to attend classes and get a free sample.

The club offers marijuana through the Arizona Compassion Association, a co-op of patients and legal caregivers that has a display in the club. Sobol said the 2811 Club makes donations to the growers to help with expenses of growing marijuana.

Sobol said as long as patients aren’t directly paying for pot, the 2811 Club and the Arizona Compassion Association aren’t acting as dispensaries.

“We don’t sell marijuana here,” Sobol said, adding that clubs that do sell are “absolutely wrong” in their interpretation of Prop. 203.

Yoki A Má, another club in Mesa, has a similar payment arrangement, charging a $65 visit fee and giving members an eighth of an ounce of pot.

Club President Craig Scherf also said he is confident that his club is operating within the confines of the law.

But state and local authorities have not yet determined whether this arrangement constitutes transferring something of value.

Montgomery, the county attorney, said he hasn’t received any cases about medical-marijuana clubs, but he wouldn’t be surprised to get some soon. He said he can’t determine whether they’re all illegal because each case is unique.

“It sounds to me like someone is asking for something of value in order to participate,” Montgomery said. “The closer you get to asking someone to provide money to receive marijuana sounds like a salient violation of the statute.”

Ryan Hurley, an attorney who represents potential dispensary owners for Rose Law Group, said he would advise the potential medical-marijuana dispensary owners he represents against opening clubs.

“At best, it’s a stretch under the law,” Hurley said. “I think it’s very, very risky.”

Local zoning

Aside from the legality of payment issues, there are also some questions about where medical-marijuana clubs can operate.

Because clubs aren’t dispensaries, zoning regulations don’t apply to them.

Ken Strobeck, executive director of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, worked with localities earlier this year to set up dispensary-zoning laws. Strobeck said he hasn’t heard of anyone trying to zone a medical-marijuana club.

Scherf said he is trying to open a second Yoki A Má club in Tempe.

Tempe Planning Manager Lisa Collins said she isn’t sure how local law enforcement would react to a medical-marijuana club, but the club would not need special approval to open.

She said a club might need a sales-tax license to operate as a retail business, but it wouldn’t need one if it was only providing a service for a fee.

A club would need to get construction plans approved, but it probably wouldn’t need to disclose the nature of its business, she said.

Because clubs aren’t regulated like dispensaries, they’re easier to open and run.

Sobol said he initially meant for the 2811 Club to someday become a dispensary, but he has changed his mind, in part, because there are no zoning laws about clubs.

Still, Scherf said clubs are setting up far from residential areas, schools, churches and parks to avoid trouble. His club in Mesa is surrounded by industrial businesses.

Enforcing the laws

Because there’s so much ambiguity, Phoenix police said it’s still too premature to determine whether the clubs are operating legally.

Sgt. Steve Martos, a police spokesman, said his agency hasn’t made any arrests relating to medical-marijuana clubs.

“We are looking into whether or not they are covered by the new law,” Martos said.

Gilbert police have arrested several cardholders for possession but said those arrests involved other crimes.

Robbie Sherwood, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Arizona, recently reiterated his agency’s stance on medical marijuana: Nobody is safe from prosecution.

 

Article From The Arizona Republic

Arizona Commissioner Pushes Drug Tests And Illegal Searches On Co-workers After Marijuana Found On Site

The chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission on Tuesday asked fellow commissioners to submit to drug tests because a small amount of marijuana was found in the utility regulating panel’s offices.

Chairman Gary Pierce made the request during a staff meeting Tuesday. The Republican said he’ll be tested and wants commissioners’ offices swept by a drug-sniffing dog. He also asked his colleagues to be tested.

“I feel the need to prove to the best of my ability that my decisions at the commission are not made under the influence of marijuana, and that I am not responsible for its presence … ,” Pierce said.

A commission staffer found a small amount of a leafy substance in a bathroom located in a secured part of the building on July 7. Police verified it was marijuana.

Republican Commissioners Brenda Burns and Bob Stump volunteered to let their offices be searched.

Democrats Sandra Kennedy and Paul Newman didn’t comment on Pierce’s proposals during the meeting, but Newman later issued a statement saying he refused a search.

“This is a gross violation of legal process, good sense and the constitutional and privacy rights of everyone,” Newman said. “It is excessive beyond reason.”

While Newman was a Cochise County supervisor in 2004, Border Patrol agents found marijuana residue in his county car at a checkpoint. He was not prosecuted.

From – THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ACLU Asks Federal Judge To Throw Out Arizona Governor’s Medical Marijuana Lawsuit

The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit filed in May by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer that seeks to have her state’s medical marijuana law struck down.

In a motion filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the ACLU charges that the lawsuit should be dismissed because, among other reasons, there has been no threat that state employees charged with carrying out the state’s law would be prosecuted by federal authorities.

“On the pretext of protecting her state employees, Gov. Brewer is simply seeking to thwart the will of Arizona’s voters and unconscionably block sick people from accessing their vital medicine,” said Scott Michelman, staff attorney with the ACLU Criminal Law Reform Project. “People should have the freedom to choose the medicine their doctors believe will be most effective for them.”

In May, Brewer filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke and potential dispensary applicants seeking a ruling from a federal court that the law is preempted by federal law and should be struck down. The ACLU, along with the Phoenix law firm Gammage & Burnham, represents the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association (AzMMA), a non-profit, membership-based professional association that seeks to advance the interests of Arizona’s medical marijuana profession and the patients it serves, and that is a named defendant in Brewer’s lawsuit.

Brewer’s lawsuit claims that Arizona officials fear federal prosecution for implementing the law, even though Burke said in the days leading up to Brewer filing the lawsuit that the federal government has “no intention of targeting or going after people who are implementing or who are in compliance with state law.”

Brewer’s lawsuit also claims that Arizona’s medical marijuana law is in conflict with the federal Controlled Substances Act. But three appellate court decisions in California have previously rejected claims that California’s medical marijuana law is preempted by federal law. And the Oregon Supreme Court in May backed away from its previous ruling that a part of Oregon’s medical marijuana law is preempted by federal law.

A majority of Arizona voters in 2010 passed Proposition 203, which allows terminally and seriously ill patients in Arizona who find relief from marijuana to use it with a doctor’s recommendation. The law allows marijuana to be distributed by tightly regulated clinics to patients with state-issued registry cards and creates penalties for false statements and fraudulent cards.

“Gov. Brewer’s efforts to derail Prop 203 are bad for patients and bad for public safety,” said Alessandra Soler Meetze, executive director of the ACLU of Arizona. “This law received broad public support because it was thoughtfully written to give patients access to vital medicine, while at the same time creating a well-regulated system of distribution. By preventing state health officials from doing their jobs, Brewer is actually doing more harm than good and creating chaos in a system sanctioned by Arizona voters.”

Along with Michelman, attorneys on the case are Daniel J. Pochoda of the ACLU of Arizona, Lisa T. Hauser and Cameron C. Artigue of Gammage & Burnham, Flagstaff, Ariz. attorney Thomas W. Deene, who represents the Arizona Association of Dispensary Professionals, Inc. and attorneys from the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Rose Law Group PC, who represent the remainder of the named non-federal defendants in Brewer’s lawsuit.

A copy of today’s motion is available online at: download

Arizona v. U.S. – Motion to Dismiss

Arizona Officials Continue To Stall Medical Marijuana Programs Full Implementation

By Paul Davenport, Associated Press

Arizona officials said a new federal memo they reviewed Friday on possible medical marijuana-related criminal prosecutions leaves unanswered questions as to whether state-licensed dispensaries and state employees who administer a fledgling medical marijuana program are at risk of prosecution.

Like a similar memo issued by the Justice Department in 2009, the new document said users of marijuana for medical purposes and individuals who provide care to other individuals shouldn’t be prosecution priorities. However, significant drug trafficking “remains a core priority” and commercial dispensaries and growers “and those who knowingly facilitate such janactivities” would still be violating federal drug laws regardless of state law, it said.

Expressing disappointment and frustration, Attorney General Tom Horne said Friday that memo states there’s no shield from prosecution for those who “knowingly facilitate” marijuana commercial cultivation and distribution even if purportedly complying with state laws on medical marijuana.

“The federal government knew there was broad concern about whether ‘facilitate’ sale was a term that could endanger state employees,” Horne said.

That means Arizona will continue to press the lawsuit it filed May 27 against the federal government and other parties.

The state’s suit asked a judge to rule on whether Arizona can implement its medical marijuana law despite the apparent conflict with federal law.

Gov. Jan Brewer

While Gov. Jan Brewer and Horne expressed concern that state employees could face legal jeopardy, a League of Arizona Cities and Towns official said Friday he doesn’t see any impact on cities or their workers.

“Cities are not engaged in any level of commerce regarding marijuana,” said Ken Strobeck, the league’s executive director. “They are simply complying with state law regarding local zoning regulations should someone set up a dispensary in their city or town” under the state’s medical marijuana law and state regulations to implement it.

Ryan Hurley, an attorney for would-be dispensary operators, said the department’s stance is consistent both with the 2009 department memo and recent letters from U.S. attorneys.

Hurley said prospective dispensary operators remain at risk of federal prosecution. However, patients and individual caregivers apparently still won’t be prosecution targets, he said.

On June 14, prospective dispensary operators filed two lawsuits challenging the state’s decision to not accept dispensary applications. One of those cases has been dismissed by an appellate court, but it can be refiled with a trial court.

Arizona Governor Can’t Stop Medical Marijuana

Photo: Opposing Views

Jan Brewer was against Proposition 203 before it passed — and now that it’s law, she wants to ignore the voters.

​Prosecutors will still be prohibited from convicting legal medical marijuana patients

The misguided efforts of Arizona Governor Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne to quash the state’s new medical marijuana won’t work, reports Ray Stern at Phoenix New Times.

Authorized patients can possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis legally in Arizona since the passage of Proposition 203 by voters — without or without “state approval,” New Times reports.

“That’s why Brewer and Horne, two Republicans who are putting politics above the wishes of the electorate, haven’t mentioned any plans to stop the state from handing out medical marijuana registration cards,” Stern writes. “The smartly written Arizona Medical Marijuana Act anticipated an anti-democratic reaction like the one we saw Tuesday and included a powerful work-around.”

Arizona law requires:

If the department fails to issue a registry identification card within forty-five days of the submission of a valid application or renewal, the registry identification card shall be deemed issued, and a copy of the registry identification card application or renewal is deemed a valid registry identification card.

The governor understands this self-enacting part of the law, admitted her spokesman Matt Benson.

Though Gov. Brewer and AG Horne have said they’ll likely tell the Arizona Department of Health Services to put the dispensary program on hold until a federal court rules on its legality (stacked deck, anyone?), DHS “will continue issuing those cards as they have been until further notice.”

Which means anyone with a copy of a registration card application can legally possess marijuana, but the state has no record of them.

“Without going into all the hypotheticals of the situation, suffice to say that Arizonans who want to qualify to legally possess marijuana under state law can do so,” Stern writes. “They can keep applying for and receiving state-approved cards, or, if the state stops taking registration card applications, they can just keep their unapproved applications handy.

“Prosecutors will still be prohibited from convicting legal medical marijuana patients,” Stern writes.

Qualified patients will still be allowed to grow up to five plants at home, as long as no dispensary opens within 25 miles. And ”Thanks to the way Brewer and Horne are sticking it to voters, no dispensary will open anytime soon,” Stern writes.

As of Tuesday, the DHS had approved 3,696 medical marijuana applications since April 14 [PDF].

Applications don’t appear to have tapered off after Brewer and Horne’s announcement, according to DHS spokeswoman Laura Oxley.

Obama Still Targeting Medical Marijuana Dispensaries

In 2009, the Obama Administration announced a new federal policy regarding marijuana in states in which medical marijuana has been legalized. The policy statement instructed federal prosecutors not to devote federal resources to prosecuting those who use or supply medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law. At the time, Ilya and I praised the new policy, though Ilya was quite skeptical it would make much difference.

Since the policy it was announced, it appears the policy has been difficult to maintain, and prosecutions of medical marijuana distributors has continued, largely because the federal government fears that some marijuana distributors are serving more than the medicinal marijuana market. As the NYT reports, federal prosecutors appear to be escalating efforts to go after marijuana distributors in medical marijuana states.

As some states seek to increase regulation but also further protect and institutionalize medical marijuana, federal prosecutors are suddenly asserting themselves, authorizing raids and sending strongly worded letters that have cast new uncertainty on an issue that has long brimmed with tension between federal and state law. . . .

Letters so far have gone out to governors in Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, prompting some states — including Rhode Island and Montana, in addition to Washington — to revise or back away from plans to make the medical marijuana industry more mainstream.

In Washington, Ms. Gregoire asked for guidance from the state’s two United States attorneys, Mike Ormsby and Jenny Durkan. In a reply to the governor last month, they said the federal government would prosecute “vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law.”

The changes have angered supporters of medical marijuana, who say the federal government is sending mixed signals, even as they argue that it has not technically changed its position.

The Justice Department claims there has been no change in policy. Marijuana has remained illegal under federal law, and prosecutors have continued to pursue larger and more conspicuous dispensaries without much regard for state law, prompting increasing conflict with state officials. In the meantime, state level efforts to decriminalize medical marijuana continue apace. There’s now talk of a ballot initiative here in Ohio. So the federal state tension will continue.

Is there a better way? Yes, but it would be difficult to implement without legislation. Here’s what I suggested in 2009:

The Justice Department has to set prosecutorial priorities, as there are more federal crimes on the books than federal prosecutors can ever hope to prosecute. The aim should be to focus federal resources in those areas where there is a distinct federal interest, or where the federal government has a comparative advantage of state and local law enforcement. Where federal law conflicts with state law, prohibiting activities state laws allowed, federal efforts should still focus on those instances of alleged lawbreaking where there is a distinct federal interest, including spillover effects on neighboring jurisdictions.

The federal government has a legitimate interest in controlling interstate drug trafficking, but no particular interest in prosecuting those who seek to provide medical marijuana to local residents pursuant to state law. So it only makes sense for the Justice Department to tell federal prosecutors to focus their efforts on those who are not in compliance with state law, such as those who use medical marijuana distribution as a cover for other illegal activities, interstate drug trafficking in particular. California should be free to set its own marijuana policy, but the federal government retains an interest in preventing California’s choice from adversely affecting neighboring states.

Ideally, the federal government would treat marijuana like alcohol, retaining a federal role in controlling illegal interstate trafficking but leaving each state entirely free to set its own marijuana policy, whether it be prohibition, decriminalization, or somewhere in between.

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/obama-still-targeting-medical-marijuana-dispensaries

Feds Throw Weight Around On Washington’s Medical Marijuana Bill

The feds are throwing their weight around again when it comes to Washington state’s medical marijuana law. A proposal to rewrite the state’s medicinal cannabis rules attracted federal attention after Governor Christine Gregoire asked for “clear guidance” about the U.S. Department of Justice’s position on state-licensed medical marijuana dispensaries, which would be legalized under the new rules.

Gov. Gregoire, who sent the letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday, claims she “became concerned” about a “potential federal crackdown” after speaking with the U.S. attorneys for Eastern and Western Washington, Michael Ormsby and Jenny Durkan, reports Jonathan Martin at the Seattle Times.

The prosecutors claim they are concerned that the proposed legislation “would legalize commercial sales of marijuana,” according to state Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, the bill’s prime sponsor.

Photo: Seattle Weekly

U.S. Attorney Michael C. Ormsby likes to run his mouth and throw his weight around.

U.S. attorneys Ormsby, who already started threatening Spokane dispensaries last week, and Durkan noted that the U.S. attorney for Northern California was threatening to prosecute operators of a proposed commercial grow farm in Oakland, even though the farm was licensed by that city and legal under state law, Gov. Gregoire said in her letter to the Attorney General.

The bill in question, SB 5073, would create new state licenses for dispensaries, grow farms and cannabis food processors. State licensing of dispensaries is already in place or is currently being implemented in states like Colorado, Maine, New Jersey and New Mexico, as well as in the District of Columbia.

Gregoire’s letter seeks federal input before considering whether to sign the bill. Some political observers of a cynical bent believe the governor may simply be seeking political cover for a spineless veto of all or portions of the bill.

“The governor wants to make sure that if a law goes forward, it’s done in a way that won’t set up Washington state for an endless battle of court cases,” claimed her spokesman, Scott Whiteaker.

Photo: News Junkie Post

Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles: “Why should our state be treated any differently than other states?”

​ But Sen. Kohl-Welles said she was mystified why the Department of Justice would treat legalized dispensaries in Washington any differently from six other states and D.C., which all currently license and regulate dispensaries.

“Why should our state be treated any differently than other states?” Kohl-Welles rightly asked.

Ormsby, the headline-seeking hot dog of a U.S. attorney in Spokane, last week threatened in a news release to seize property where dispensaries were operating. An estimated 40 dispensaries do business in Spokane.

Ormsby warned that “marijuana stores” are illegal, and threatened property owners who rent to them with forfeiture of their buildings if they refused to evict the dispensaries.

“We are preparing for quick and direct action against the operators of the stores,” Rambo, I mean Ormsby, wrote.

At least 120 dispensaries are operating statewide in Washington, with marked differences in enforcement from county to county. The shops are using a gray area of the voter-approved 1998 medical marijuana law, which neither expressly allows nor prohibits the dispensaries.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law as a Schedule I substance, but the U.S. Department of Justice has taken a mostly hands-off approach to patients and providers in states where medicinal cannabis is legal since an October 2009 memo issued shortly after Attorney General Holder took over.

That memo famously said that patients and providers in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state laws were not a priority of federal law enforcement, but a trickle of federal raids has continued to take place, including multiple raids in the past month in Montana and California.

However, the DEA has to our knowledge, so far at least, never raided any state-licensed medical marijuana growers or dispensaries in states like New Mexico and Maine, which explicitly allow and license the facilities through their state health departments.

http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2011/04/feds_throw_weight_around_on_washingtons_med_mariju.php