RAW DEAL: A recent letter from the Department of Justice (DOJ), threatening state employees in charge of implementing medical marijuana laws with prosecution, has forced some governors to re-evaluate and even veto popular legislation — all seemingly in violation of what the medical marijuana community thought was a cease-fire with the federal government.
Facing the threat of seeing otherwise innocent state employees thrown in jail, lawmakers are responding in an entirely human fashion: what Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), called “the old need to CYA — cover your ass.”
Ultimately, the administration’s confusing legal position has led to a stagnation of medical marijuana reform efforts, with some states simply deciding it’s not worth the risk… (more)
We’ve seen a lot of action by US Attorneys lately with letters to state governments and prosecutions of dispensaries that are legal under state laws. It seems like all of this is part of a strategy developed by the Obama Department of Justice to destroy the budding medical marijuana industry. It is pretty sophisticated but in the end the industry will be more sophisticated but it will slow resolution of the issue and ruin a lot of lives in the process. Too bad he is not embracing change.