Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2013
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2013 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Matt Volz, Associated Press
Page: A9

MEDICAL POT INDUSTRY GETS ' STAY OUT OF JAIL' ROADMAP

HELENA, Mont. (AP) - Medical marijuana businesses worried that federal
agents will close them down now have a roadmap to avoid prosecution,
courtesy of the Justice Department's decision to allow legal pot in
Colorado and Washington state.

The agency said last week that even though the drug remains illegal
under federal law, it won't intervene to block state pot laws or
prosecute as long as states create strict and effective controls that
follow eight conditions.

"The DOJ is saying you guys need to color inside the lines," said Teri
Robnett, founder of the Cannabis Patients Action Network, a
Westminster, Colo.- based medical marijuana advocacy group.

"If you color inside the lines, we'll let you keep your
crayons.

"If you don't, we can come in and take your crayons away," she
said.

The DOJ's policy memo comes after voters in Colorado and Washington
last fall passed first-in-the-nation laws to allow recreational pot
use and follows similar agency statements in recent years that helped
spur the creation of medical marijuana systems across the U. S.

In states like California and Montana, an explosion in the use of
medical marijuana spawned a backlash, stricter laws and tougher
federal enforcement.

U. S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner, whose office covers the Eastern
District of California, said more than half of the cases his office
prosecutes comply with the criteria set out by the policy memo.

Wagner said the memo wasn't so much a message to the marijuana
industry but one to ensure there is better collaboration between state
and federal authorities.

In California, "some cities and counties are banning ( dispensaries),
while others are licensing them and encouraging them," Wagner said.

"It's hard to see how the current system fits the description laid out
in the memo."

In Washington, the governor and many lawmakers were already looking to
rein in the state's unregulated medical marijuana market because they
worried its untaxed cannabis would undercut the highly taxed
recreational pot.
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MAP posted-by: Matt