Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Justice Department Issues New Medical Marijuana Policy

Obama's Justice Department has issued a new policy regarding the issue of medical marijuana. Basically, the memo says that the feds should respect the state laws. If the states have laws making medical marijuana legal then the federal prosecutors should not pursue those cases. It stresses that this in no way is meant to give a free pass to people who participate in marijuana production or sales for purposes other then legitimate state sanctioned medical use.

You can read the memo for yourself online at http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/192 or download a PDF version at http://www.justice.gov/opa/documents/medical-marijuana.pdf.

Here is a small excerpt from the memo regarding some conduct that would indicate non-compliance with state law, and consequently would not be ignored by the feds.

"Typically, when any of the following characteristics is present, the conduct will not be in clear and unambiguous compliance with applicable state law and may indicate illegal drug trafficking activity of potential federal interest:




  • unlawful possession or unlawful use of firearms;




  • violence;



  • sales to minors;



  • financial and marketing activities inconsistent with the terms, conditions, or purposes of state law, including evidence of money laundering activity and/or financial gains or excessive amounts of cash inconsistent with purported compliance with state or local law;



  • amounts of marijuana inconsistent with purported compliance with state or local law;



  • illegal possession or sale of other controlled substances; or




  • ties to other criminal enterprises.



Of course, no State can authorize violations of federal law, and the list of factors above is not intended to describe exhaustively when a federal prosecution may be warranted."

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091019/D9BED8500.html

"Pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that allow medical marijuana, prosecutors were told Monday in a new policy memo issued by the Justice Department.

Under the policy spelled out in a three-page legal memo, federal prosecutors are being told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines issued by the department do, however, make it clear that federal agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes.
"

Via the Drudge Report

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