I don't know why I suddenly can't insert links but take the time to copy those I've listed into your address bar and they'll come up. They are good links.
The last three posts go exactly to why I feel so strongly about a 'Grow Your Own, Grow Your Mind, Free The Planet' mentality that people should and must adopt. People by and large are lazy. They would prefer to have someone else do the work and just pay for it. Ease of access, as it were, has created the situation where either the narcos win with the street level Mexican dung weed that is sold and all of the associated violence, lost youth, extortion and corruption that takes place or these nebulous state laws get passed that attempt to thwart federal law by having doctors write 'recommendations' that spawn the commercialization of an industry.
What I still have a hard time wrapping my arms around is why the current AG, Eric Holder has not made it crystal clear, in plain fucking English, that no state law could exist which would contradict the CSA? Period. What would have been so hard about that? Instead he gives us The Ogden Memo;
and the follow up 'clarification' Cole Memo; in which both describe an ambiguous relationship that can allow a schedule 1 controlled substance to have states right to exist but not to let the distribution of that controlled substance to turn into a multi-million dollar storefront model.
From the Cole Memo;
The Department's view of the efficient use of limited federal resources as articulated in the Ogden Memorandum has not changed. There has, however, been an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes. For example, within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple large-scale, privately-operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers. Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of millions of dollars based
on the planned cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants.
The Ogden Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA. Those who engage in transactions involving the proceeds of such activity may also be in violation of federal money laundering statutes and other federal financial laws.
The Department of Justice is tasked with enforcing existing federal criminal laws in all states, and enforcement of the CSA has long been and remains a core priority.
I added the bold here because that is as close as I can see the DOJ in expressly denying that there exists ANY legal interpretation which could be made that even the compassionate use of self grown MMJ would not contravene current federal law. It all keeps coming back to the same thing that as currently classified as a schedule one drug cannabis should not be legal in any form at any level. The language within these memos that allow for discretionary enforcement and prosecution is subjective. The law should be equally weighted and applied. It is just a matter of time before every state that has legalized MMJ programs will run head on into this reality.
For example lets take a look at Colorado. In June 2012 our current Attorney General, Eric Holder was testifying under oath, before a congressional subcommittee headed by Darryl Issa on Operation Fast and Furious who was being questioned by Rep Jared Polis as to if the DOJ would enforce the CSA in Colorado where stringent guidelines for the distribution of MMJ had been established (the inference being they were doing right in Colorado what California had been doing wrong) whereby Holder responds, under oath, that those who are 'in conformity and not abusing state law would not be subject to a federal enforcement priority.' Seems like a win possibly if you are predisposed to see it that way....unfortunately it was not to be. 30 days later the plot thickened in Colorado.
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Such Bullshit! Holder could have just given a straight answer that states the official DOJ/DEA policy and been done with that whole line of questioning. Literally 30 days later, 20 Colorado dispensaries where noticed by the DOJ to shut down because they were within 500 yards of a school or playground. Nowhere does the CSA allow for a demarcation that would allow for the cultivation and distribution outside a boundary area. Presumably this would have allowed those outside of this 'boundary' to remain open. I believe a couple of months later that boundary was moved to 1000 yards and more notices to close were sent out by the DOJ. Of course Harborside is not affected by either distance they just made the mistake of getting too large. So tell me where in the federal or state laws MMJ it indicates what 'to big' is? I would like the exact amount in dollars please not square footage.
To anyone who still does not believe fed has not gotten into bed with the pharmaceutical companies to construct synthetic cannibinoids one only need to look back to the 1960's when major university medical studies proved cannabis had uses in empheseyma, high blood pressure, pain relief, etc. When these reports began gaining interest the fed confiscated the studies and in the 70's, then president Gerald Ford moved all THC research over to the drug companies.
This led to the development of drugs that are FDA approved and mimic the high therapeutic index of cannabis such as Sativex;
or my favorite Marinol
oh did that come off the DEA site...my bad.
So to REITERATE Sky Highs point on a patient level:
'It amazes me how many folks keep hammering that we need "dispensaries" and they can't see the FACT that @ some point the Gov't WILL take note...will close ALL mom and pop shops...and will set up the same stringent requirements that follow those who work in a Pharamacy. (serious laws, serious requirements, serious penalties for infractions).' I would only add here that if you need any evidence of to look at the AZ law that prohibits home grow within a 25 mile radius of the licensed dispensary.
keep it at home. Share it. Give it away. This "industry" shit may look good...but every damn person doing it is basically paving the way for the Gov't to take this all over and regulate us...possibly even to a "home" level.
Know your genetics. Grow your own if you can. If not able to get into a small collective as this is presumably still considered legal under DOJ interpretation of federal law. The day of the microgrow is upon us. To make it a microgrow (which begs classification) IMO you don't have hundreds of plants and tens of thousands of watts being consumed.
On a legal/political level change may best come from;
The fraudulent authority to outlaw cannabis was created through the covert use of the Single Convention Treaty, for the unlawful purpose of circumventing the requirement for a constitutional amendment, as was the case with alcohol prohibition. This Treaty really defines the blueprint for our current official federal policy on cannabis. It is unambiguous in that it does not allow for a compassionate use of a certain drugs i.e. cannabis. For over a century, the courts misconstrued the Necessary and Proper Clause, allowing unconstitutional infringements of the 10th amendment, by wrongly conferring upon the Federal government "unlimited authority" when signing treaties.
I suggest that the authority and jurisdiction of the Federal government to enforce laws based upon the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961 should be challenged by California citizens individually in Federal cannabis prosecutions as well as collectively through a voter initiative which authorizes the state to opt out of the Controlled Substances Act until such time that cannabis is rescheduled and/or the fed defines what the exact guidelines and standards are for federal acceptance of the states rights to grant licensing for the compassionate cultivation and distribution of cannabis.
If one of the national organizations gets that initiative on the CA ballot then you can count on my support as it would spell a national opportunity to reschedule or opt out of the CSA.
