Pubdate: Wed, 31 Jul 2013
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2013 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Tom Howell Jr.

CONGRESS TAKES PASSIVE STANCE AS D.C. FIRES UP MEDICINAL POT PROGRAM

Congress, which for years has needled the District of Columbia from 
atop Capitol Hill, watched from the sidelines this week as the city 
launched its medicinal pot program.

Its passivity to this point is significant, since the federal 
government still considers the production and use of marijuana 
illegal and Congress is vested with legislative oversight of the 
nation's capital.

"It's highly symbolic that medical marijuana is being sold to 
patients at the doorstep of the same federal legislature that has 
refused to change a very outdated policy," said Kris Hermes, 
spokesman for Americans for Safe Access, an organization that 
promotes patients' legal access to cannabis.

Despite efforts to implement D.C. home rule in the 1970s through a 
city mayor and council, Congress at times has banned left-leaning 
initiatives that Republican lawmakers object to, such as public 
funding for abortions. Some of the prohibitions, such as one that 
thwarted the city's needle exchange program to fight HIV infections, 
were lifted in later years.

City health officials said the District's nascent program hasn't 
raised the ire of federal lawmakers or Attorney General Eric H. 
Holder Jr.'s Justice Department so far, although only nine D.C. 
patients have registered to obtain the drug and two dispensaries, 
Capital City Care and Takoma Wellness Center, have been cleared by 
city inspectors to sell it.

Rep. Darrell E. Issa, the California Republican with oversight of the 
District, has not raised any public objections to the program to 
date. A spokesman for the congressman could not be reached Tuesday.

And Justice Department spokeswoman Allison Price said the department 
has advised U.S. attorneys that prosecution of significant drug 
traffickers, including marijuana, remains a core priority, but that 
focusing enforcement efforts on those with cancer and other serious 
illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment 
regimen likely is not an efficient use of federal resources.

She noted that the department is continuing to review ballot 
initiatives in Colorado and Washington, both of which have legalized 
the possession of small amounts of marijuana for recreational use.

But the legalization of marijuana in various forms remains a 
lightning rod from coast to coast, as states introduce a patchwork of 
medical-cannabis programs and grapple with the Obama administration's 
unpredictable enforcement of federal laws that prohibit the drug's 
cultivation and use in all cases.

D.C. voters supported a medical marijuana program in 1998, only to 
see it held up by a congressional rider known as the Barr Amendment until 2009.

After four more years of rule-making, a 51-year-old D.C. resident who 
is HIV positive kicked off the city's program Monday by purchasing a 
half-ounce of three strains of marijuana from Capital City Care on 
North Capitol Street, according to The Washington Post.

Nineteen states have medicinal marijuana programs, yet only Colorado 
and Washington adopted recreational use laws.

Both states legalized the use of marijuana by adults through ballot 
initiatives in November, yet Colorado Attorney General John W. 
Suthers still doesn't know how the federal government will treat the 
state's efforts to legalize and regulate the drug's market.

"We are still waiting for the imminent guidance promised in 
February," spokeswoman Carolyn A. Tyler said Tuesday, referring to a 
prior pledge by Mr. Holder at the National Association of Attorneys 
General in the District.

The U.S. government's approach to marijuana laws, or enforcing the 
federal ban, has wavered in recent years.

A 2009 memo, issued by U.S. Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, 
reminded federal prosecutors that "no state can authorize violations 
of federal law" while also advising U.S. attorneys not to target 
individuals acting in compliance "with existing state laws providing 
for the medical use of marijuana."

Federal prosecutors basically looked the other way in states that 
legalized medical marijuana, but a letter sent from the Justice 
Department to U.S. attorneys across the country in mid-2011 signaled 
that law enforcement - despite what the Ogden memo said - would not 
acquiesce to those who cultivate or sell marijuana.

All the while, the District was taking pains to roll out its medical 
marijuana program in a tightly regulated fashion. Its been more than 
two years since the city began to collect notices of intent from 
entrepreneurs looking to enter the D.C. pot business.

But before they could, applicants had to a sign waiver. The document 
released the city from liability if the federal government prosecutes 
the program's participants.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom