[RaNgEr RiCk]

From California to Arizona, Colorado to Maine, states across the country are legalizing the sale of medical marijuana. Recent warnings from U.S. attorneys, however, are making local governments rethink their plans.

Seth Bock stands in what's supposed to be one of Rhode Island's first medical marijuana stores. His group was going to install grow lights and a ventilation system this week, but not anymore.

"We can't really invest any money into the carpentry and the building process until we know that this will go on," he says.

But that could take a while. Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has put the program on hold indefinitely. The reason: a letter he received from the U.S. Attorneys' Office that said Rhode Island's so-called compassion centers could face federal raids, fines or criminal prosecution if they open.

"The U.S. attorney was very direct," governor's spokesman Michael Trainor says. "The governor believes that if we proceed on the present course, he'd be putting the compassion centers and people associated with compassion centers at great risk."

Rhode Island's letter is similar to those sent to at least eight other states with medical marijuana programs. Advocates believe the threats are a dramatic change from the Obama administration's original stance on medical marijuana. The Justice Department has refused to clarify its decision, saying only that its policy remains the same. It says the U.S. attorneys assigned to each state have "discretion" about how to enforce that policy.

The Ogden Memo

What the policy is, exactly, depends on how you interpret what's called "the Ogden memo."

"In 2009, the Department of Justice indicated that it would be a low priority to prosecute anyone who was complying with state medical marijuana laws," Jay Rorty of the American Civil Liberties Union explains. He says the 2009 memo from then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden made advocates think the federal government wouldn't interfere with state medical marijuana stores.


EnlargeKevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Marijuana buds for sale at the Sunset Junction medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles, Calif.
U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby from Washington state disagrees with that interpretation. "I think the ACLU takes that statement out of context," he says. According to him, the memo means the federal government won't go after patients who are growing their own marijuana — but retail stores were never part of that exception.

"We're talking, in some instances, about thousands of dollars a week being generated by these enterprises," he says.

It's a problem familiar to Colorado's Attorney General John Suthers. He says Colorado's more than 800 dispensaries are probably not what the federal government had in mind when it issued the Ogden memo.

"We've had just a plethora of retail dispensaries develop. We've got grow operations; we're now at 125,000 patients," he says. "And it's a joke."

That's why he asked his U.S. attorney for advice. Suthers guesses that the letters from other U.S. attorneys are an attempt to prevent more states from becoming like Colorado.

Meanwhile, States Have Patients

How each state interprets those letters is different. Some are going ahead with their programs despite the warnings. Others are in the same limbo as Rhode Island, where patients are getting frustrated.

"I don't know about you, but I feel mad. Do you?" Ellen Lenox Smith is a familiar face at the podium in the Rhode Island State House. She testifies in favor of dispensaries at every opportunity, with her wheelchair and service dog nearby. She says marijuana helps lessen the pain of her two incurable diseases. She grows her own plants, for now.

"I have to wonder, as I progress with my two conditions, where am I going to be headed? What happens when I can no longer grow? Where am I supposed to turn?" she says.

For now, the answer to Lenox Smith's question is unclear, as states weigh the new risks of opening dispensaries. Local governments are looking to a lawsuit filed by the governor of Arizona to clarify the federal government's stance on state marijuana programs. Meanwhile, the sale of the drug continues to follow a pattern of fits and starts across the country.


https://www.npr.org/2011/05/28/136726...om?sc=fb&cc=fp

[hazy]

Already lots of conversation about this in the legislation forums.

[immaculate]

This country sucks. The federal government is despotic. When will people just stop participating? When? That's the only way change can come.

atleast your not in oklahoma or texas...

[pip313]

Is it wrong to not like dispencery's? I mean in az if you live within 25 miles of one you can't grow your own or have a caregiver and i'd never want to pay retail when growing your own is cheaper and so much fun. Not to mention any joe shmo needs to look at your card to enter a dispencery and I'd rather not be forced to show where i live to random poeple just to get meds. (and no having to show id to get prescription drugs is not the same as any low life can sell weed but pharmacy techs have to go to college.

Long story short I like oboma's policy of you should grow your own or have 1 responcible person you know and trust take care of it for you.

[MIway]

Likely some of you aren't aware, but the application that CO had all dispensary & commercial grows sign... it required that people list out every single asset, in every single place... and all the nitty gritty details right down to identifying birth marks... along with a firm signature right above their consent for everything in the application, and anything not on the application, to be legally investigated.

These folks turned in application files that were carried in boxes.

Basically, it was pre-booking, but voluntarily by these folks. Many just dropped out during this round of ordeals.


So, the Fed gets a hold of these, if they don't have copies already... and away they go. From this gov't... dunno, maybe. But sure as shit, those files are going to be used against the ones they don't like.


Patient files anyone???

[budlover123]

Originally Posted by immaculate

This country sucks. The federal government is despotic. When will people just stop participating? When? That's the only way change can come.

How can change come by doing nothing?

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" Edmund Burke

We choose the lesser of two evils with a promise of change, and people get mad if they don't get change if they sit on their asses hard enough.

Listen, making sure you get yours isn't enough, people need to start looking out for people around them. You know, if you feel conversation going down some pointless path about some recent sporting event instead of something recent thing that you know people are trying to avoid because they want to put it out of their heads, talk about it, force the issue. Surely there are more significant things that can be done, write a local politician about the disconnect between state and federal laws, and between federal laws and reality. Do something more than nothing

[MrBluntfaced]

Originally Posted by pip313

(and no having to show id to get prescription drugs is not the same as any low life can sell weed but pharmacy techs have to go to college.

Not hating, but you're just flat wrong and spreading wrong information is never good. You do NOT need to go to college to work as a pharmacy tech. I have 2 friends who have worked as pharm techs, one currently still does...neither of them have even taken a single college class.

[Canna-Bass]

Grow the herb.
The more people are exposed to the truth the better.
Greed kills.

[Maria_Vanessa]

Originally Posted by MrBluntfaced

Not hating, but you're just flat wrong and spreading wrong information is never good. You do NOT need to go to college to work as a pharmacy tech. I have 2 friends who have worked as pharm techs, one currently still does...neither of them have even taken a single college class.

Education requirements for pharmacy techs can vary, depending on where you live at.