Feds Green Light Colorado Legalization, With Conditions
The Denver Post is reporting that U.S. Attorneys are receiving new marching orders from the Dept. of Justice regarding pot legalization in Washington and Colorado.
“The guidance — the details of which were provided by a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity — is a significant rewrite of the federal approach to marijuana prosecutions in states that have loosened laws around cannabis,” John Ingold reports.
(Update: Here’s a link to the new August 29, 2013 Cole Memo.)
Prosecutors should not make a state-legal pot businesses a priority as long as they follow state law and meet eight key federal goals:
• Preventing marijuana distribution to minors
• Preventing money from sales from going to criminal groups
• Preventing the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal to states where it is illegal
• Preventing criminal groups from using state laws as cover for trafficking of other illegal drugs
• Preventing violence and the use of illegal firearms
• Preventing drugged driving
• Preventing the growing of marijuana on public lands
• Preventing marijuana possession or use on federal property
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Francisco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
California attorney Omar Figueroa, a cannabis law specialist said, “Wow, that’s big. It’s just mind-blowing.”
“Basically they’re saying, ‘We’re not going to be enforcing this over-broad federal law to the fullest extent of the law.’ I think it’s a pretty nuanced approach,” he said. “What we have is ad hoc legislation by the executive branch.”
The effects in California could be profound, he said. The DOJ’s statement could green-light California efforts to legalize marijuana in the 2016 election.
Figueroa noted that the memo does not change Federal law, so business owners can still be prosecuted under the Controlled Substances Act. “It’s a policy, not a defense. It’s basically going to give law enforcement unfettered discretion.”
Tom Angell, head of the advocacy group Marijuana Majority writes us saying, “It’s nice to hear that the Obama administration doesn’t at this point intend to file a lawsuit to overturn the will of the voters in states that have opted to modernize their marijuana policies, but it remains to be seen how individual U.S. attorneys will interpret the new guidance and whether they will continue their efforts to close down marijuana businesses that are operating in accordance with state law.”
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