Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2013
Source: Daily Home, The (Talladega,  AL)
Copyright: 2013 Associated Press
Contact:  http://www.dailyhome.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1632
Note:  also listed as contact
Authors: Gene Johnson and Pete Yost, Associated Press

DOJ WON'T STAND IN WAY OF STATES THAT WANT TO LEGALIZE, TAX, REGULATE POT

SEATTLE (AP) - For generations, pot crusaders have called for an end 
to the nation's prohibition of marijuana, citing everything from what 
they say are the government's exaggerated claims about its dangers to 
the racial disparities in who gets busted for drug possession.

Now, they will get their chance in Colorado and Washington state to 
show that legalizing pot is better, less costly and more humane than 
the last 75 years of prohibition - all with the federal government's blessing.

In a sweeping new policy statement, the Justice Department said 
Thursday it will not stand in the way of states that want to 
legalize, tax and regulate marijuana as voters in Washington and 
Colorado did last fall, as long as there are effective controls to 
keep marijuana away from kids, the black market and federal property.

"It's nothing short of historic," said Dan Riffle of the Marijuana 
Policy Project, which backed Colorado's new law. "It's a very big 
deal for the DOJ to say that if the states want to legalize 
marijuana, that's fine. Everybody in this movement should be thrilled."

It won't just be the White House watching to make sure Washington and 
Colorado get it right. Voters in Oregon and Alaska could weigh 
marijuana legalization measures next year, and several states could 
face ballot questions in 2016, activists say.

Meanwhile, Latin and South American countries are also considering 
pot reform, and the Obama administration's stance on Washington's and 
Colorado's laws could embolden them, said Ethan Nadelmann, executive 
director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supported 
Washington's law. Uruguay has already approved plans to license 
marijuana growers and shops.

The DOJ's decision came nearly 10 months after the votes in 
Washington and Colorado, and officials in those states had been 
forging ahead to make rules for their new industries without knowing 
whether the federal government would sue to block sales from ever 
taking place on the grounds that they conflict with federal law.

Licensed, taxed marijuana sales in the two states are due to start 
next year, and officials have estimated they could raise tens or 
hundreds of millions of dollars for state coffers.

The administration's guidance laid out eight federal law enforcement 
priorities that states need to protect if they want to authorize 
"marijuana-related conduct." They include keeping marijuana in-state, 
off the black market, and away from children; preventing violence and 
gun crimes related to marijuana distribution; and preventing drugged driving.

The DOJ noted that it simply doesn't have the resources to police all 
violations of federal marijuana law, and so it would focus on 
entities that threaten those priorities. If a state's enforcement 
efforts don't work, the feds could sue to block the state's entire 
pot regulating scheme, Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in a 
memo to all 94 U.S. attorneys around the country.

The priorities are similar to the factors the Justice Department has 
previously considered in determining whether to shut down medical 
marijuana dispensaries. But the memo also clarifies that just because 
a regulated marijuana operation is big and profitable isn't reason 
enough to raid it.

Peter Bensinger, a former head of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, criticized the announcement, saying the conflict 
between federal and state law can't be reconciled. Federal law is 
paramount, and Attorney General Eric Holder is "not only abandoning 
the law, he's breaking the law," Bensinger said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom