Pubdate: Sat, 02 Jul 2011
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Bob Egelko
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

CALIFORNIA MEDICAL MARIJUANA GROWERS FACE PRESSURE

A new Obama administration memo approves federal prosecution of 
anyone in the business of growing or supplying marijuana for medical 
patients even if they are complying with state law, a contradiction, 
advocacy groups say, of President Obama's pledge to let states set 
their own policies.

The memo, issued Wednesday by Deputy Attorney General James Cole, 
insisted that the Justice Department hadn't abandoned the policy it 
announced in a set of guidelines in October 2009.

Those guidelines discouraged federal prosecutors from charging people 
who were following laws in California and other states that allow the 
medical use of marijuana, despite the federal government's absolute 
ban on the drug.

Obama had promised as a presidential candidate, and reaffirmed soon 
after taking office, that his administration would take a hands-off 
approach to medical marijuana and let states chart their own course.

In his memo to local U.S. attorneys, Cole said the October 2009 
policy was intended to spare seriously ill patients and their 
caregivers from prosecution. At the same time, he said, there has 
been "an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, 
distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes."

"Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or 
distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such 
activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, 
regardless of state law," Cole said. Enforcement of that federal law, 
he added, "remains a core priority." Raids on suppliers

Medical marijuana advocates have accused the administration of 
violating its stated policies with frequent raids on suppliers in the 
16 states with such laws, and more recently with warnings to 
officials in at least 10 states that they could face prosecution if 
they authorized dispensaries to sell pot to patients.

They said Friday that Cole's memo comes close to repudiating Obama's 
long-standing promise.

Steph Scherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access, which 
describes itself as the nation's largest medical marijuana advocacy 
group, said the administration is claiming to respect the rights of 
patients to use marijuana while "denying them the means to use it legally."

"It is disingenuous of the Obama administration to say it is not 
attacking patients while obstructing the implementation of local and 
state medical marijuana laws," Scherer said in a statement.

Because federal prosecutions would disrupt state-approved channels 
for supplying marijuana to patients, "the only entity benefiting from 
President Obama's stance on this is organized crime," said Tom 
Angell, spokesman for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, which 
advocates drug decriminalization.

California's voter-approved 1996 law allowed patients to grow their 
own marijuana or obtain it from caregivers but did not expressly 
authorize other sources of supply. Pot dispensaries operate under 
local regulation but have faced periodic raids from federal 
authorities, who describe them as profiteering drug dealers. 
Oakland's bold move

Anticipating voter approval last year of a state ballot measure 
legalizing personal use of marijuana - which was defeated in part 
because of Obama administration threats of federal prosecution - the 
Oakland City Council drafted an ordinance to legalize large indoor pot farms.

Council members retained the proposal after the election as a 
potential supply source for medical patients, but put it on hold in 
February after U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag told them it would violate 
both state and federal law.

The administration's warnings to officials in other states have also 
had an impact, said Kris Hermes, spokesman for Americans for Safe Access.

He cited threats of federal prosecution that led Washington Gov. 
Chris Gregoire to veto a bill that would have legalized medical 
marijuana dispensaries, and prompted Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee 
to shelve plans to license dispensaries under a 2009 state law.

But Hermes said Delaware Gov. Jack Markell signed a law in May that 
legalized both medical marijuana and state-regulated distribution 
centers, and Vermont's governor, Peter Shumlin, brushed off warnings 
by federal prosecutors in June and approved four dispensaries for 
marijuana patients.

"We need local and state officials to stand up and not buckle to 
intimidation," Hermes said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom