Feds threaten crackdown if medical-pot makeover becomes law
Washington's top federal prosecutors have threatened to crack down if the state goes forward with a proposal to legalize medical-marijuana dispensaries and growers, putting in jeopardy a bill that had already passed both chambers of the Legislature.
by Jonathan Martin, Seattle Times
Full text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014777869_medpot15m.html
Washington's top federal prosecutors have threatened to crack down if the state goes forward with a proposal to legalize medical-marijuana dispensaries and growers, putting in jeopardy a bill that had already passed both chambers of the Legislature.
by Jonathan Martin, Seattle Times
In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday, U.S. Attorneys Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Michael Ormsby of Spokane wrote that the bill would undermine drug enforcement and could result in an array of prosecutions or civil penalties against dispensary owners and growers, as well as against state regulators enforcing the proposed law.
The prosecutors were responding to Gregoire's request a day earlier for "clear guidance" about the legislative proposal, a sweeping expansion of the state's 1998 voter-approved medical-marijuana law.
"In light of the Department of Justice's guidance, it is clear that I cannot sign a bill that authorizes our state employees to license marijuana dispensaries when the department would prosecute those involved," Gregoire said in a statement Thursday evening. She pledged to work with lawmakers on a new proposal.
The bill, SB 5073, is the most sweeping rewrite yet of the 1998 initiative legalizing medical marijuana. It is a response to pressure from municipal governments and police unsettled about a statewide boom in dispensaries, which were neither specifically allowed nor banned under existing law.
Durkan and Ormsby's letter indicated no such ambiguity. Citing federal law outlawing marijuana cultivation and sale, they wrote that, in addition to targeting dispensaries and growers, federal agents could go after their landlords and financiers.
And state employees who would inspect and audit dispensaries and growers under the bill "would not be immune from liability" under federal drug laws, the prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutors were responding to Gregoire's request a day earlier for "clear guidance" about the legislative proposal, a sweeping expansion of the state's 1998 voter-approved medical-marijuana law.
"In light of the Department of Justice's guidance, it is clear that I cannot sign a bill that authorizes our state employees to license marijuana dispensaries when the department would prosecute those involved," Gregoire said in a statement Thursday evening. She pledged to work with lawmakers on a new proposal.
The bill, SB 5073, is the most sweeping rewrite yet of the 1998 initiative legalizing medical marijuana. It is a response to pressure from municipal governments and police unsettled about a statewide boom in dispensaries, which were neither specifically allowed nor banned under existing law.
Durkan and Ormsby's letter indicated no such ambiguity. Citing federal law outlawing marijuana cultivation and sale, they wrote that, in addition to targeting dispensaries and growers, federal agents could go after their landlords and financiers.
And state employees who would inspect and audit dispensaries and growers under the bill "would not be immune from liability" under federal drug laws, the prosecutors wrote.
Full text: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014777869_medpot15m.html
Last edited:
feds know they can only do so much even if its illegal people will ALWAYS smoke herb.
