Pubdate: Wed, 21 Oct 2015
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388

COURT SIDES WITH POT CLINICS

In a win for common sense - and the evolving rules on marijuana sales 
- - a judge is effectively barring federal sleuths from going after 
medical cannabis clinics. The case could end the threats of lawsuits 
and raids hanging over numbers of California dispensaries.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer comes with blunt 
language aimed at the strained logic used by federal drug enforcers 
who tried to get around a congressional ban on spending money to 
crack down on pot.

The efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration to go after 
dispensaries "defies language and logic" and "tortures the plain 
meaning of the statute," the judge said. His exasperated tone rested 
on a budget directive that bars spending any federal money on 
shutting down the clinics.

Last year, two California congressional representatives, Republican 
Dana Rohrabacher and Democrat Sam Farr, inserted language in a 
spending bill that forbid using federal funds to crack down on 
cannabis clinics in states that had set up their own rules, such as 
California. It was a response to a wave of federal threats and 
charges that shuttered dozens of dispensaries.

But Justice Department lawyers had sought a legal end-run to continue 
going after remaining clinics, including one in Fairfax in Marin 
County, which was at the center of the judge's ruling that should all 
but cancel the strategy.

That's the Washington side of the dispute but hardly the only issue 
on the table. Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law a major overhaul of 
the state's medical marijuana law. The changes should have the effect 
of upgrading California's lax rules, which contributed to federal 
sweeps in recent years.

Up ahead is another huge shift in the pot world. A measure promoted 
by Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is headed toward the 2016 ballot that would 
legalize marijuana, doing away with the medical justification for use.

The judge's ruling stuck to the original issue: a congressional bar 
on law enforcement spending on a cannabis crackdown. But it's hard 
not to see the larger effect. An overbroad effort to eliminate 
marijuana sales by federal authorities is going nowhere: Lawmakers 
and the public won't stand for it.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom