Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2013
Source: Seattle Times (WA)
Copyright: 2013 The Seattle Times Company
Contact:  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409
Author: Bob Young

FEDERAL MEMO NOT A POT PANACEA

Statement Opens Door to Legal Industry, But...

Tax Looms on Medical Sales; Banks, Cities Remain in the Dark

For some laboring in Washington's fledgling marijuana industry, this 
week's news from Washington, D.C., was a policy shift more nuanced 
than bold, more a flashing caution signal than a green light.

The Department of Justice (DOJ)'s long-awaited statement on legalized 
weed in Washington and Colorado offered neither outright support nor 
opposition. Instead the four-page memo to federal prosecutors set 
boundaries on what the feds would tolerate from the two states 
creating recreational pot markets for adults.

At the same time, the memo was clear that all pot remains illegal 
under federal law.

While the new federal direction might eventually lead to profound 
changes in marijuana policy across the country, things on the ground 
in Washington state haven't changed dramatically - yet.

Final rules will be proposed Wednesday by state officials for a 
system that will allow adults to buy an ounce of weed in regulated 
stores. Those rules already contain many of the safeguards the feds 
are seeking: Don't sell or market to minors, don't evade taxes, don't 
divert pot to other states.

But obstacles remain.

Nothing in the federal memo compels resistant Washington cities to 
allow pot merchants within their borders.

And the reluctance of federally insured banks to touch legal pot 
money is still a major impediment, leaving a multibillion-dollar 
industry to deal only in cash.

"That's absurd," said Mark Kleiman, the state's top pot consultant.

"I'm not ready to put the rosy glasses on just yet," said attorney 
Hilary Bricken, whose firm specializes in advising pot entrepreneurs.

No doubt, the feds did suggest some sweeping changes in Thursday's 
policy guidelines, including opening the door to legalization in other states.

The biggest, according to Jonathan Caulkins, another state 
consultant, is that the feds signaled that large, for-profit 
operations are welcome, as long as they adhere to DOJ's policy guidelines.

That will tend to shift the industry from more craft-oriented to 
industrial production, said Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon 
University. In turn, he said, that might move the industry toward 
mass marketing.

The feds' new policy implies major changes for the state's 
medical-marijuana system as well.

Bricken reads the memo as saying the same eight safeguards the feds 
want in the recreational system would also apply to the state's 
largely unregulated, untaxed medical system.

Jenny Durkan, Western Washington's top federal prosecutor, issued a 
statement in the wake of the DOJ memo saying that the continued 
existence of unregulated, for-profit medical-marijuana operations is 
"not tenable" and violates both state and federal law.

"If I'm a medical-marijuana stakeholder I am very worried about how 
the feds are going to treat my industry," Bricken said. "Very clearly 
now they have a tolerance point that they haven't had before and it 
does not include the Wild West, which is what most medical regimes are."

Durkan's statement may be the biggest news to come out of Thursday's 
DOJ memo, Kleiman said.

Alison Holcomb, chief author of the state's legal-pot law, agreed 
that changes are coming to medical marijuana next year when the 
Legislature convenes. Taxes, business licensing and 
patient-authorization rules are likely to be debated, Holcomb said.

Gov. Jay Inslee concurred, saying the medical system needs to be 
"better regulated and more transparent."

Jamen Shively, a former Microsoft manager who wants to create a 
national marijuana brand, sees another big wrinkle in the DOJ memo - 
it should make investors feel safer about getting into the pot business.

"It is extremely good news. The world looks like a completely 
different place than it did yesterday," he said Thursday of the new 
federal policy. "You're going to see a lot of investment."

Legal risk remains

While the DOJ memo might have made it somewhat safer to be in the pot 
business, Kleiman said, "it doesn't make it safe."

The memo is only guidance to prosecutors, not a change in law. It 
creates no rights or remedies, Kleiman noted, and is subject to 
revision at any time. Especially so, he said, if a conservative such 
as Mike Huckabee were elected president in 2016.

John Davis, CEO of two Seattle medical-marijuana dispensaries, 
expects some entrepreneurs to be emboldened by the new policy. But he 
foresees that momentum being tempered by the realization that pot 
remains illegal under federal law.

"Most [entrepreneurs] are going to go to a lawyer," he said, "and 
ask, 'It's legal isn't it?' And the lawyers will say, 'No, you could 
still be prosecuted for simple possession.' "

Bricken said that's exactly what she'd advise clients. "I'd tell them 
it's still a federal crime," she said. "But I will point them to the 
federal guidance memo and say, 'This is your risk-benefit policy. 
Proceed cautiously and accordingly."

The most critical area the DOJ failed to address is banking and 
financial services.

Without banking, credit-card and armored-transport services, legal 
pot commerce is a cash business vulnerable to heists.

A fix could come through a congressional change in the law. But few 
are expecting Congress to act quickly on marijuana.

An easier solution would be an administrative order directing the 
Treasury Department to stop requiring regulatory reports whenever a 
bank handles what it thinks is marijuana money.

That alone would clear the way for banking by legal pot merchants, 
said Aaron Smith, executive director of the National Cannabis 
Industry Association in Washington, D.C.

"It's an untenable situation. It's the elephant in the room. I think 
we'll see a change sooner than later," said Smith, whose group has 
been lobbying the Treasury Department for such an accommodation.

It might be coming quite soon.

A Department of Justice official confirmed that U.S. Attorney General 
Eric Holder told Inslee Thursday that banking would be the next area 
the DOJ would look at. Holder "expressed a willingness to find a 
solution to this very significant problem," Inslee said.

A Treasury Department spokesman said only that "We're reviewing these 
developments."

Local issues unsettled

Another looming roadblock are the cities that have tried through 
zoning or other means to ban marijuana merchants. The DOJ memo does 
little to change that, Davis and Bricken said.

"The attitude in most locations is, 'We don't want to be 
trailblazers. Let's see what happens in Seattle,' " Davis said.

Despite the new federal policy, Bricken expects many cities to stick 
with their arguments that federal grants they receive require them to 
comport with all federal laws, including the prohibition on 
marijuana. But she believes their chances of "prevailing in court are 
much weaker now."

It's hard to know, said Candice Bock at the Association of Washington Cities.

"This is one of those arguments only an attorney could love and a 
judge could decide," said Bock, a government-relations advocate for 
the association.

Bock sees the DOJ memo as a step toward removing some of the 
uncertainty that hangs over cities. But it hardly answers all of 
their questions, she said, such as how many retail stores the state 
Liquor Control Board would license in a given city.

"I'm not sure it's going to have a dramatic impact at this point on 
what cities are doing," Bock said. "It's just one more piece of the 
puzzle. There are still a lot of missing pieces."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom