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Federal prosecutors are breaking federal medical marijuana law in their quest to seize two California dispensaries and imprison Washington patient-cultivators, two California Congressmen charged today.
U.S. Reps. Sam Farr and Dana Rohrabacher released a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today requesting the Department of Justice cease “marijuana prosecutions and forfeiture actions against those acting in accordance with state medical marijuana laws.”
Last week, a Justice Department spokesman told the Los Angeles Times medical marijuana providers remain targets, despite a December law de-funding the DOJ’s war on state-legal medical pot.
That law states no DOJ funds may be used to: “prevent [medical marijuana] States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
In the DOJ’s newly released close reading of the law, the DOJ “did not believe the amendment applies to cases against individuals or organizations” but rather it prevents the DOJ from “impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws.”
“In fact,” wrote the Congressmen, “we can imagine few more efficient and effective ways of ‘impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws’ than prosecuting individuals and organizations acting in accordance with those laws.”
Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, stated that the case should be clear.
“Throughout their debate on the measure, congressional members made it abundantly clear that it prevents the Justice Department from bringing or continuing criminal and civil actions against medical marijuana providers. Even those who spoke against the amendment said as much.
“It’s U.S. attorneys, like Melinda Haag in the Bay Area, who are breaking federal law, not the dispensaries they’re prosecuting. These federal prosecutors have gone rogue, and the attorney general needs to rein them in. Their campaign against medical marijuana is no longer just misguided, it’s also illegal.”
Federal forfeiture cases against Berkeley Patients Group and Harborside Health Center are stalled, pending the outcome of appeals by the cities of Oakland and Berkeley to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The cities state closing the large, state and city-regulated dispensaries would create a public health crisis.
U.S. Reps. Sam Farr and Dana Rohrabacher released a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder today requesting the Department of Justice cease “marijuana prosecutions and forfeiture actions against those acting in accordance with state medical marijuana laws.”
Last week, a Justice Department spokesman told the Los Angeles Times medical marijuana providers remain targets, despite a December law de-funding the DOJ’s war on state-legal medical pot.
That law states no DOJ funds may be used to: “prevent [medical marijuana] States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
In the DOJ’s newly released close reading of the law, the DOJ “did not believe the amendment applies to cases against individuals or organizations” but rather it prevents the DOJ from “impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws.”
“In fact,” wrote the Congressmen, “we can imagine few more efficient and effective ways of ‘impeding the ability of states to carry out their medical marijuana laws’ than prosecuting individuals and organizations acting in accordance with those laws.”
Dan Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project, stated that the case should be clear.
“Throughout their debate on the measure, congressional members made it abundantly clear that it prevents the Justice Department from bringing or continuing criminal and civil actions against medical marijuana providers. Even those who spoke against the amendment said as much.
“It’s U.S. attorneys, like Melinda Haag in the Bay Area, who are breaking federal law, not the dispensaries they’re prosecuting. These federal prosecutors have gone rogue, and the attorney general needs to rein them in. Their campaign against medical marijuana is no longer just misguided, it’s also illegal.”
Federal forfeiture cases against Berkeley Patients Group and Harborside Health Center are stalled, pending the outcome of appeals by the cities of Oakland and Berkeley to the U.S. Courts of Appeals. The cities state closing the large, state and city-regulated dispensaries would create a public health crisis.
