Pubdate: Wed, 28 Oct 2015
Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal (NV)
Copyright: 2015 Las Vegas Review-Journal
Contact: http://www.reviewjournal.com/about/print/press/letterstoeditor.html
Website: http://www.lvrj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/233

ENDING DEA OVERREACH

Congress tried to end the Drug Enforcement Administration's war on 
medical marijuana last year. The DEA ignored the clear language of a 
new law in pursuit of a now-illegal agenda.

Now a federal judge has called out the DEA for its unaccountable 
overreach. Will the DEA ignore a second branch of government to 
continue one of the country's great policy failures?

As the nation's attitude toward marijuana has changed - first with 
acceptance of medical marijuana and then with the gradual 
decriminalization of recreational marijuana - the DEA's approach to 
pot hasn't shifted at all. It relentlessly prosecutes individuals and 
businesses engaging in commerce legal under state laws.

Recognizing that almost half the states (including Nevada) now have 
legal medical marijuana, lawmakers took the deliberate step of 
protecting medical marijuana cultivators and dispensaries from 
federal crackdowns. The Rohrabacher-Farr amendment to last year's 
federal spending bill prohibits the use of federal funds to "prevent 
such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the 
use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana." 
The record makes the intent clear: Congress wanted the DEA to stop 
going after dispensaries that are in compliance with state laws.

But the word twisters at the Justice Department, through creative 
interpretation, decided the law merely prevented federal action 
against state governments - an approach the DEA and other agencies 
haven't embraced at all. The DEA assault on dispensaries continued 
unabated, especially in California.

Congress and the marijuana industry cried foul. And on Oct. 19, U.S. 
District Judge Charles Breyer, who is based in Northern California, 
delivered a ruling that left no doubt the DEA was breaking the law 
when it continued to prosecute dispensaries.

As reported by The Washington Post, Judge Breyer said the DEA's 
cynical reading of the bill "defies language and logic," "tortures 
the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with the 
fundamental notions of the rule of law."

Lynette Shaw, the dispensary owner who brought the case against the 
DEA, told the San Francisco Chronicle "we won the war. And I'm the 
first POW to be released."

Ms. Shaw might be getting ahead of herself. The federal government 
never gives up authority without a protracted fight. And it won't 
withdraw from the costly, counterproductive war on drugs until 
Congress takes additional clear steps ordering as much.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom