beware of smoke and mirrors
The DOJ signaled that it will allow Colorado and Washington to proceed with legalizing and regulating the sale and recreational consumption of marijuana so long as they can prevent:
■Cannabis from being sold to minors
■Pot revenue from going to criminal enterprises
■Legally purchased marijuana from being diverted to states where it's illegal
■State-authorized pot businesses from being used as legal cover for drug trafficking
■Stoned driving
■The cultivation of marijuana on public lands
■Marijuana possession on federal property
■Violence related to drug cultivation
"Those are all reasons we've cited for why we should tax and regulate marijuana," the MPP's Riffle points out.
I certainly hope that it applies to us and I certainly think it should, but we will need to wait and see," says Steve D'Angelo, founder of Harborside
Health Center, a large and respected pot dispensary in Oakland that has been the target of federal raids.
Last year, the DOJ filed a civil suit against Harborside's landlords, seeking to seize buildings it rents in Oakland and San Jose. The case prompted the City of Oakland to countersue the DOJ on Harborside's behalf; the matter is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
But other pro-marijuana activists are concerned that the
memo gives federal prosecutors too much leeway. In particular, it's not clear whether the feds will stop prosecuting pot dispensaries in California. Unlike Colorado and Washington, California provides little state-level oversight of its medical pot industry, relying instead on a patchwork of local laws.
It's also not clear how the memo will influence other federal agencies that have targeted California dispensaries.
The Internal Revenue Service has prosecuted the dispensaries under a clause of the tax code that prevents drug traffickers from deducting business expenses such as rent and payroll. The Treasury Department has told credit card processors they can't work with the pot shops. And the Drug Enforcement Administration recently told armored-car companies that they can't carry cash from medical marijuana sales.
"While we're hopeful that the Justice Department will adhere to these policies" in the memo, Steph Sherer, the executive director of a group called Americans for Safe Access, said in a press release, "our experience with the Obama administration so far has been lots of double-talk."
Either way, Riffle believes the DOJ memo will put pressure on lawmakers to amend our national drug policy. "Rather than have the administration ignore a broken law," he says, "it is time for Congress to go in and fix it."
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/justice-department-memo-obama-medical-marijuana-dispensaries
