Pubdate: Wed, 17 Aug 2016
Source: Mail Tribune, The (Medford, OR)
Copyright: 2016 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.mailtribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/642
Note: Only prints LTEs from within it's circulation area, 200 word count limit
Author: Paul Elias, Associated Press

Medical Marijuana

COURT BARS FEDS FROM PROSECUTING CASES

Panel Orders Ban Because No State Laws Are Broken

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 U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San 
Francisco 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.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer, an Oregon Democrat who helped draft the 
language barring the Justice Department and its 93 U.S 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 U.S. 
attorneys who have people that are still frying little fish."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom