Pubdate: Mon, 29 Apr 2013
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Los Angeles Times
Contact:  http://www.latimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Richard Simon

AN UNLIKELY DEFENDER OF STATE POT LAWS

Orange County Rep. Dana Rohrabacher Is Hoping More Colleagues Are 
Starting to See Things His Way.

WASHINGTON - For more than a decade, conservative Orange County Rep. 
Dana Rohrabacher has formed an unusual alliance with liberals on an 
unexpected topic - the defense of marijuana.

Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) and his allies have so far waged a 
futile effort to pass legislation that would prevent federal 
authorities from interfering with medical marijuana use in California 
and other places where pot use is permitted by state law.

But as more states have moved to allow the drug's use, Rohrabacher 
believes his Respect State Marijuana Laws Act may be gaining momentum 
in Congress.

The recently reintroduced measure would shield from federal 
prosecution people acting in accordance with their states' marijuana 
laws, including new Colorado and Washington laws that allow adult 
recreational use of the drug.

"The prospects are much better now," said Rohrabacher, whose 
co-sponsors include Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), a Bay Area liberal 
who is usually about as far apart ideologically from Rohrabacher as 
anybody in Congress.

Still, Rohrabacher has his work cut out for him. The House last year 
soundly rejected, by a 262-163 vote, an effort he led to block the 
use of federal funds to prevent states from implementing medical 
marijuana laws. Only 28 Republicans supported the measure.

Rohrabacher has a libertarian bent but became more interested in the 
medical benefits of marijuana after having to spoon-feed his dying 
mother because of her loss of appetite. He has talked about the 
relief that marijuana might have afforded her.

He has been emboldened by a recent Pew Research Center poll that 
showed respondents, by nearly 2 to 1, believe the federal government 
should not enforce federal laws prohibiting the use of marijuana in 
states where it is legal.

Perhaps as important as the shifting public opinion, he said in an 
interview, is his colleagues' eagerness to erase Washington's red 
ink. Substantial majorities of Republicans and Democrats in the Pew 
survey regarded federal enforcement of anti-marijuana laws as not 
worth the cost.

"If people of the states recognize what a waste of limited resources 
this is, then the federal government should respect what the people 
of those states want for their own criminal justice system," Rohrabacher said.

Since 1996, when California became the first state to legalize the 
drug's use for medical treatment, 17 other states and the District of 
Columbia have approved medical marijuana measures. Last year, 
Colorado and Washington state voters opted to allow recreational 
users to possess an ounce of marijuana. A move is underway to put a 
measure on the Alaska ballot to permit recreational use of the drug.

Efforts are underway in other states, including Idaho, Illinois and 
New Hampshire, to allow medicinal use of marijuana.

Rohrabacher also is hoping to convince GOP colleagues that his bill 
fits with the party's traditional support for states' rights.

"It is time that we respect states' rights, get serious about 
prioritizing our federal government's activities, and show some 
common sense and compassion when dealing with the sick among us," 
Rohrabacher said last year when he proposed his measure.

However, Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the appropriations 
subcommittee that oversees Justice Department spending, responded at 
the time: "If a state said sex trafficking is OK, would we honor 
that?... States, in the past, have done some things that have not 
been good in this country."

The president's drug czar, R. Gil Kerlikowske, recently said at the 
National Press Club that the Justice Department was responsible for 
enforcing the Controlled Substances Act, and "that remains unchanged. 
No state, no executive, can nullify a statute that's been passed by Congress."

Kevin Sabet, a former advisor to Kerlikowske, said Rohrabacher's 
latest attempt would "likely suffer the same fate as his several 
previous attempts that have failed over the past decade."

Steve Fox, national political director for the Marijuana Policy 
Project, which promotes legalization, regards the bill as a long shot 
in this congressional session. But he said the legislation "sends the 
message that it is simply not a rational use of federal law 
enforcement resources to prosecute and imprison individuals who are 
acting in compliance with state marijuana laws."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom