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| Feds to stop prosecuting medical marijuana users |
| 2009-10-20 |
| 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. The memo advises prosecutors they "should not focus federal resources in your states on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana." The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes. "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal," Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #13 Ed, I'm well aware the medical pot deal is not about health benefits but Redneck Jim's wife, and others, won't smoke the stuff to get the medical benefit. A pill would also take the lie out of the debate. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-10-20 18:17 |
| #12 Seems to me the feds ought to stay out of this anyway. It is more of a state-level thing. Is the THC itself somehow involved in improving night vision or helping RP patients? |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-10-20 15:53 |
| #11 Pill? You make the mistake that the medical jane movement is about health. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-10-20 14:36 |
| #10 One would think there would be a way to get the helpful effects into pill form. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-10-20 13:50 |
| #9 Hmmmm, My wife has RP and is legaly blind, but she's also staunch Catholic. I read her this article and she thinks it's a joke, there's no way in hell she'll ever smoke "Grass", Pity. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-10-20 13:09 |
| #8 ed: There are a heck of a lot of 20-something retinitis-pigmentosa patients out there, willing to smoke marijuana instead of going blind. Oddly enough, only one kind of marijuana, a subtype called "skunk weed", is known for the effect. This was found out because some native fishermen discovered that it strongly enhanced their night vision for fishing. A female journalist for The Times (London), with r-p, discovered this in Amsterdam, when suddenly her vision remarkably improved. After her article came out, England suddenly relaxed its marijuana laws, for fear that tens of thousands of people would feel it necessary to emigrate to the Netherlands to treat their r-p. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-10-20 10:19 |
| #7 I'd feel a whole lot better about this if the effort would be diverted from medical marijuana to border enforcement, or gang violence enforcement, or.... But I suspect it will be diverted to enforcing restrictions on free speech and other Constitutional rights. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-10-20 09:27 |
| #6 Now you don't see Mexican cartels chopping people up over alchohol or prescription meds, why do you think that is? Give 'em time. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2009-10-20 09:14 |
| #5 Is this what he meant when he said he'd create thousands of new 'green' jobs? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-10-20 08:04 |
| #4 Now you don't see Mexican cartels chopping people up over alchohol or prescription meds, why do you think that is? |
| Posted by: Gaz 2009-10-20 07:04 |
| #3 It's a victimless crime with no direct impacts on society right? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-10-20 05:22 |
| #2 I thought that the President had sworn to protect the Constitution and the laws of the United States. As long as the law has not been abrogated Obama is _not_ free to enforce it or not. |
| Posted by: JFM 2009-10-20 01:14 |
| #1 Great. Like there are not already enough 20-something glaucoma patients. |
| Posted by: ed 2009-10-20 00:55 |