Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana
The Obama administration’s stunning betrayal of medical marijuana patients claimed a new victim today. Delaware Gov. Jack Markell announced that he would halt the implementation of the state’s medical marijuana dispensary program following a vague and threatening letter from U.S. Attorney Charles Oberly III.
Oberly’s letter, dated February 9 but made public today, says that patients and individual caregivers would not be federal enforcement priorities, but that entities distributing marijuana “could” be targeted. It also says that state employees would not be immune from liability under the Controlled Substances Act for acts mandated by the Delaware medical marijuana law.
Mr. Oberly’s intimidating sentence about state employees is particularly outrageous given that the Delaware law does not require any violation of federal law. Mr. Oberly does not say what actions he believes would constitute violations of the CSA.
In Delaware, state employees would not possess, cultivate, or dispense marijuana. They would merely register those entities that would no longer be criminalized under Delaware law and set up rules dispensaries would abide by for such protections. No court has found that such conduct would constitute a federal crime, and the federal government has not taken any criminal or civil actions against states with medical marijuana programs.
U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby in the Eastern District of Washington state sent a similarly vague letter, which was used as a reason for Gov. Christine Gregoire to veto a dispensary regulation bill. Yet, when an Arizona paper asked why state employees would be at risk in Washington but apparently not in Arizona, U.S. Attorney Ormsby said his concern was that state employees would be grading and handling – and thus possessing – marijuana under the Washington proposal. However, this was likely not even an accurate understanding of the Washington bill.
Following a two-year campaign led by legislators, patients, and MPP, Delaware became the 16th medical marijuana state last May. An affirmative defense went into effect on July 1, allowing qualifying patients who possess marijuana to prove the defense in court to avoid a conviction. The Markell administration was expected to release rules for dispensaries in the coming weeks, with three dispensaries being registered by the end of the year. The rules would also provide for ID cards to protect patients from arrest. Halting the dispensary program forces patients to the criminal market, or leaves them with no access to their medicine at all.
If you live in Delaware, please urge Gov. Markell to reverse course, to stand by patients, and to fully implement the compassionate law. Regardless of where you live, please let President Obama know it’s past time to live up to his word. If the Obama administration’s hostility to medical marijuana patients and providers will affect your vote in November, or your willingness to donate or volunteer for him, please let his campaign know.
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What an absurd usage of resoruces. I hope everyone reading this article is aware of jury nullification. What it is is a jury not being a rubber stamp for the government persecuting someone for possessing drugs, especially marijuana. The government does not want you to know about this issue, of course. The government wants you dumb, blind and stupid to your right as a juror not to rubber stamp an unjust prosecution.
Jerome McCollom
The American tobacco and alcohol lobbies have a really strong interest in keeping cannabis illegal, (namely eliminating competition that anyone would be able to grow themselves) and they pay their congress people well to keep it that way. It's also very handy to have a ready legal boot to press on folks' throats when you need to.
Whatever [dubious] harm is done by using cannabis is far insufficient to justify the outrageous amounts of money spent to enforce its prohibition, nor the damage done to the lives of the people incarcerated for its use.
@ ED Steve of CannaCare,
The article below is an example of your theory being a bit misinterpreted, if not, completely wrong.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/13/146826169/mendocino-ending-its-medical-marijuana-experiment
.... Mendocino Given An Ultimatum
But Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman says the federal agents were meddling in county affairs.
"It made me a little bit distrustful. I'm hoping this wasn't intentional saber rattling," he says. "I'm hoping they weren't saying, 'Well if we show Mendocino County that we mean business, then all these other counties are going to back off.' Really?"
[b]It wasn't just saber rattling. Last month federal prosecutors gave Mendocino an ultimatum: end the program or face costly litigation and possible criminal action.[/b]
The issue finally came to a head at a board of supervisors meeting. In a packed conference room, dozens of anxious growers spoke out in support of the regulations, including Unsworth.
"I voluntarily would do anything to keep the program going," Unsworth said. "And I think I speak for most of the other people who were in my position, that would run in the woods when the helicopters came flying."
But support wasn't universal. Dispensary owner Mike Johnson urged the county to abolish the program
"This ordinance has subjected the entire medical cannabis community of Mendocino County and the state of California to intense federal scrutiny, which we don't want or need," Johnson says. "To me, it wasn't worth the trouble it caused."
@ CannaCare ED steve,
This tells you what this law is about.. I believe you have misinterpreted this section wrong.
who "shall be lawfully engaged in the enforcement" of any law or municipal ordinance relating to controlled substances.
That connotes "enforcement" of a criminal law relating to controlled substances under the CSA.
One would have to be engaged in "enforcing" a criminal law, not a decriminalization law..such as any states medical marijuana laws.. as they are only remedial in nature.
That is so law enforcement can check controlled substances into evidence or personal property of a suspect without running afoul of any criminal laws relating to controlled substances.
This is strictly speaking federal law, not state law enforcement whom seizes property known as medical marijuana under state law and must return it under due process of law.. like in the Kha case in California.
Apples are red, oranges are well.. orange.
When you mix the two, you get fruit salad.
And not to mention, the DOR is immune because they are collecting taxes from a illegal drug mandated under the CSA, there is plenty of case law in regards to the DOR of each state is authorized to collect taxes from illegal sold drugs. That part has been challenged in federal courts.
Again, I believe your misinterpreting this section .
I believe that governor has a license to practice law being she was the evil AG at one time controlling her minions.