Pubdate: Sun, 25 Oct 2009
Source: Record, The (Stockton, CA)
Copyright: 2009 The Record
Contact:  http://www.recordnet.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/428
Referenced: The memo 
http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/dispensaries
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?115 (Cannabis - California)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?253 (Cannabis - Medicinal - United States)

Finding the Middle Ground

WE MUST HAVE AN OPEN DISCUSSION ABOUT MARIJUANA LAWS

Attorney General Eric Holder has told federal prosecutors to not 
waste time, money or energy going after patients, prescribers and 
dispensers in the 14 states that allow the use of marijuana for 
medical purposes.

His is an attempt to find a reasonable middle ground in the conflict 
between marijuana laws in some states and federal law for all states. 
There was a second part to Holder's edict: there is to be no let up 
in the prosecution of those who use the more lenient pot laws as a 
cover for illegal activity.

The Justice Department memo gives prosecutors wide discretion in 
choosing which cases to pursue. Prosecutors are urged to pursue 
marijuana cases involving violence, the illegal use of firearms, 
selling pot to minors, money laundering or involvement in other crimes.

To be sure, there is a growing public acknowledgment that our 
marijuana laws are not working despite years of effort and millions 
spent on enforcement.

There are petitions being circulated to place propositions on the 
California ballot to make marijuana legal. Those, however are issues 
for another day. What we question is the seeming internal 
contradiction of Holder's order.

On the one hand, prosecuting those who prescribe, dispense and use 
marijuana for medicinal purposes - as allowed under California law - 
seems more like persecution. For some, marijuana offers temporary 
relief for what often are chronic health problems. Denying that 
relief seems inhumane.

On the other hand, as any number of police raids have demonstrated, 
there are those who are simply running head shops, illegally 
dispensing marijuana under the guise of the medical marijuana laws 
and reaping hefty profits in the process.

Last month in San Diego, authorities raided 14 medical marijuana 
dispensaries and arrested 31 people. They seized more than $70,000 
cash. Authorities said that at one dispensary alone, more than 
$700,000 worth of pot was sold in six months. That would tend to be a 
red flag for illegal activity.

It's a puzzle just how federal officials are expected to not waste 
valuable investigative and prosecutorial time on legitimate marijuana 
dispensaries while at the same time gathering the information needed 
to pursue illegal dispensaries.

A short-term solution might be to simply remove legitimate pot sales 
from the hands of private entrepreneurs and place it in the hands of 
state officials. This would be something like alcohol package stores 
operated in some states. If we did that, it would mean that all other 
pot sales would be illegal.

The long-term solution, however, requires a calm, measured look at 
the issue of marijuana. To have any chance of working, a law must 
have two key elements: wide public acceptance that it is necessary 
and enforceability.

It's increasingly clear our existing marijuana laws enjoy neither. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake