Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2016
Source: Boston Globe (MA)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact: http://services.bostonglobe.com/news/opeds/letter.aspx?id=6340
Website: http://bostonglobe.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/52
Authors: Paul Elias and Gene Johnson, Associated Press

COURT BARS US FROM PROSECUTING MEDICAL MARIJUANA CASES

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday banned the 
Justice Department from prosecuting medical marijuana cases if no 
state laws were broken.

A three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered 
the federal agency to show that 10 pending cases in California and 
Washington state violated medical marijuana laws in those states 
before continuing with prosecutions.

Marijuana remains illegal under federal law, but Congress has barred 
the Justice Department from spending money to prevent states from 
regulating the use or sale of medical pot.

Federal prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that Congress meant only to 
bar the department from taking legal action against states and that 
it could still prosecute individuals who violate federal marijuana 
laws. The court rejected that, saying that medical marijuana-based 
prosecutions prevent the states from giving full effect to their own measures.

"If DOJ wishes to continue these prosecutions, Appellants are 
entitled to evidentiary hearings to determine whether their conduct 
was completely authorized by state law, by which we mean that they 
strictly complied with all relevant conditions imposed by state law 
on the use, distribution, possession, and cultivation of medical 
marijuana," Judge Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain wrote for the panel.

Federal prosecutors could ask the 9th Circuit to reconsider the case 
or petition the US Supreme Court to take up the issue. Justice 
Department spokesman Peter Carr said officials are still reviewing 
the decision.

Marijuana activists and lawyers representing medical pot suppliers 
said the ruling is a significant addition to the growing support for 
broad legalization of the drug. Marijuana is legal for medicinal or 
recreational use in 25 states and the District of Columbia. In 
addition, 10 states have marijuana legalization measures on their 
November ballots.

"This is the beginning of the end of federal prosecutions of state 
medical marijuana dispensary operators, growers and patients," said 
Marc Zilversmit, an attorney representing five people who operate 
four marijuana stores in Los Angeles and nine indoor growing sites in 
Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Yet Zilversmit and other medical marijuana supporters said the Obama 
administration and federal authorities are still fighting the drug's 
legalization.

On Thursday, the Obama administration announced marijuana will remain 
on the list of most dangerous drugs, but said it will allow more 
research into its medical uses.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said the decision came after a 
lengthy review and consultation with the Health and Human Services 
Department, which said marijuana "has a high potential for abuse" and 
"no accepted medical use." The decision means that pot will remain 
illegal for any purpose under federal law.

Representative Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who helped draft 
the language barring the Justice Department and its 93 US attorneys 
across the country from spending money on medical marijuana 
prosecutions, said the "DOJ has been a little slow to pick up on" 
lawmakers' desire that prosecutors go after organized drug rings and 
leave alone medicinal pot sellers and users.

"Congress is increasingly united in the recognition that we should 
not interfere with what states are doing with medical marijuana," 
Blumenauer said. Unfortunately we've got the DEA and 93 US attorneys 
who have people that are still frying little fish."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom