Pubdate: Fri, 24 Feb 2012
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2012 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: Dan Freedman

JUSTICE DEPT.: 'NO REGRETS' ON MEDICAL POT STANCE

Washington -- Eight months after the Justice Department appeared to 
reverse course on its apparent hands-off policy on medical marijuana, 
officials there maintain a "no regrets" stance but acknowledge being 
out of their element in the face of blowback from marijuana supporters.

"As U.S. attorneys, it's not our job to go out there and engage in 
public debate," said U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, whose district is 
based in Sacramento. "We let our cases do the talking."

Green light in 2009

A 2009 Justice Department directive to U.S. attorneys nationwide 
appeared to give the medical marijuana industry a green light, 
stating that federal law enforcement should not give priority to 
cases against individuals and caregivers acting in compliance with 
state medical marijuana laws.

But a get-tough memo issued in June left pot backers howling that 
prosecutors had pulled the rug out from under the burgeoning medical 
marijuana industry.

Justice public affairs officials declined to make the author of the 
2011 memo, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, available for an 
interview for this story, but later agreed to answer written 
questions and offered an opportunity to interview Wagner.

In a telephone interview, Wagner said "conditions on the ground" 
changed between 2009 and 2011, not department policy.

"It wasn't a lack of good faith on our part," he said. "We were 
alarmed by explosive growth of these large commercial operations. 
These huge dispensaries are focused on profits, not helping sick people."

For the businesses to characterize themselves as caregivers "seemed 
disingenuous," he added.

Justice Department officials have always insisted the policy did not 
change, pointing to language in the 2009 memo stating that 
"commercial enterprises that unlawfully continue to market and sell 
marijuana for profit" remain a federal law enforcement priority.

But advocates and drug-policy experts continue to insist the Justice 
Department did an about-face.

Marijuana "users and operators went forward in good faith and felt 
burned" by the U.S. attorneys in California who announced a wave of 
tough enforcement actions on Oct. 7, said Craig Reinarman, a 
sociologist at UC Santa Cruz who closely follows the issue. "People 
are confused and bewildered."

Some of the misinterpretation of the 2009 policy was no accident, Wagner said.

"A lot of people had a financial interest in promoting marijuana and 
were probably quite deliberate in misreading it," he said.

Those words are likely to be of little comfort to medical marijuana 
advocates, one of whom was so convinced federal prosecutors had done 
a flip-flop that she even questioned President Obama about it.

Marsha Rosenbaum of San Francisco, former director of the Drug Policy 
Alliance, a group that supports marijuana use for medicinal purposes, 
attended a special dinner for Democratic donors in Washington last 
month and asked Obama whether he was aware that U.S. attorneys in 
California were undermining the 2009 memo.

'Not a fringe issue'

"He gave a nuanced, thoughtful answer," Rosenbaum said in a phone 
interview. "He acknowledged there's confusion, but he didn't get 
specific and he didn't mention California.

"This is not a fringe issue," added Rosenbaum, citing polls showing 
popular support for medical marijuana laws. Rosenbaum said she'd 
continue to raise funds for Obama's re-election bid.

Federal law enforcement officials insist they have no hidden agenda.

"It's not about a moral crusade," Wagner said. "A lot of people in 
this state may think prosecuting marijuana cases is the only thing we do."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom