Pubdate: Sun, 17 Mar 2013
Source: Stranger, The (Seattle, WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Stranger
Contact:  http://www.thestranger.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2241
Author: Ben Livingston

HIGH HOPES

State Lawmaker Thinks the Feds Won't Nullify Our Pot Law

State representative Roger Goodman (D-45) is confident the federal 
government won't intervene in Washington State's legal-pot 
experiment. At a cannabis industry event last week, the Kirkland 
legislator said the Feds would have already filed suit if that were 
their plan. The current lack of a federal response, Goodman said, is 
"almost a silent message to Washington State: Rock on."

I followed up with Goodman to investigate his certainty.

"There are very few options that the federal government could pursue 
that would bring the whole program down," he told me. Echoing 
conclusions made in a new report from the federal Congressional 
Research Service (CRS), which is the policy analysis wing of the 
Library of Congress, he suggested three possible ways the Feds could 
mess with legal pot.

Prosecute pot businesses: According to the CRS report, "Criminal 
prosecutions are perhaps the DOJ's most potent tool for undercutting 
the Washington and Colorado laws." But Goodman noted that such 
prosecutions wouldn't take down the legal pot system in Washington, 
just a few cannabis licensees.

Seize private property: The Feds can take any property used to 
violate the federal Controlled Substances Act-buildings leased to 
retail pot shops and cannabis production facilities, vehicles used in 
transport, bank accounts-and they can do it with very little burden 
of proof. But again, Goodman noted, "That would not be a 
federal-state challenge, that would be strictly a violation of federal law."

Civil lawsuit: The CRS report also suggests the federal government 
would not succeed in a legal challenge against the state's reduced 
penalties or taxes on marijuana. The Feds are much more likely to 
succeed in preempting licensing of pot growers and retailers, 
behavior that seems to actively authorize federal law violations. "I 
don't think that is the route they're going to take," Goodman 
concluded, adding that it seems more likely a pot-intolerant citizen 
might sue to enjoin the state from licensing a cannabis store in their town.

In any case-whoever does or doesn't get sued-Goodman thinks the law 
will survive and adapt. "Ultimately, this is really about politics 
and not the law," he said. "I don't think [a lawsuit] is likely to 
suspend the whole program."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom