[jump /injack]

https://reason.com/blog/2014/12/16/c...e-ban-on-medic

Congress Did Not Repeal the Ban on Medical Marijuana


Yesterday I argued that it's not clear whether a rider aimed at stopping federal harassment of medical marijuana patients and their suppliers will accomplish that goal. The provision, introduced by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) and included in the omnibus spending bill passed by Congress last week, bars the Justice Department from spending money to "prevent" states or the District of Columbia from "implementing" laws allowing medical use of cannabis. I am not sure exactly what that means, but I am pretty sure it does not mean what the Los Angeles Times claims it means in a story headlined "Congress Quietly Ends Federal Government's Ban on Medical Marijuana":

Tucked deep inside the 1,603-page federal spending measure is a provision that effectively ends the federal government's prohibition on medical marijuana and signals a major shift in drug policy.

The bill's passage over the weekend marks the first time Congress has approved nationally significant legislation backed by legalization advocates. It brings almost to a close two decades of tension between the states and Washington over medical use of marijuana.

Under the provision, states where medical pot is legal would no longer need to worry about federal drug agents raiding retail operations. Agents would be prohibited from doing so.

The Obama administration has largely followed that rule since last year as a matter of policy. But the measure approved as part of the spending bill, which President Obama plans to sign this week, will codify it as a matter of law.

The Rohrabacher amendment is a welcome indication that many members of Congress, including a sizable number of Republicans, are inclined to let states set their own marijuana policies, and it may indeed deter federal prosecutors from targeting patients and suppliers who comply with state law. But it clearly does not end the federal ban on marijuana, which makes no distinction between medical and recreational use. Even if the rider affects enforcement of that ban in the 23 states with medical marijuana laws, it has no impact in the other 27. Nor does it necessarily end tension between the federal government and states that let patients use marijuana for symptom relief.

First, the rider expires at the end of next September and may or may not be renewed. Second, federal prosecution of particular growers or dispensaries does not, strictly speaking, prevent states from implementing their medical marijuana laws, since it does not force states to punish activities they have decided to stop treating as crimes. Third, even if we read the rider as prohibiting raids, arrests, prosecutions, and forfeiture actions aimed at people complying with state law, who those people are remains a matter of dispute in California and other states that do not explicitly allow dispensaries. In those states, where the rules for supplying medical marijuana remain fuzzy, people do still "need to worry about federal drug agents raiding retail operations."

Finally, the Justice Department is not the only source of tension in this area. The Rohrabacher amendment has no impact on actions by the IRS or the Treasury Department that make it difficult for medical marijuana suppliers to pay their taxes and obtain banking services. Solving those problems will require changing the statutes those agencies are charged with enforcing.


Getting Cannabis re-scheduled has to be the main push, if its dropped out of the category that includes heroin and cocaine it would be a tremendous blow to the Prison Unions and their sycophants in the Democrat Party; it would take the profit out of Cannabis incarceration. Drug companies and prison unions are the main proponents of Cannabis prisons, make it tough on Democrats to toady to those that incarcerate for money that goes 100% to the Democrat National Committee.

[Jhhnn]

Mostly true. OTOH, I think it's clear that prohibition is snakebit. It remains to be seen how much pain & drama will be involved before the inevitable end.

Don't expect much from Congress. They'll move only when they see it as advantageous to them, nor much more from the Executive branch than they've already done, which is to begin weaning federal LEO's from the War on Marijuana.

I'm hopeful that the SCOTUS will turn back the bullshit lawsuit by OK & NE against CO retail. If that happens, politicians everywhere will need to wake up & smell the coffee, also the money available thru taxes. Even the staunchest bible thumping conservatives love sin taxes because they don't pay 'em, or pretend they don't, take your pick.

[stoned-trout]

they never stopped raiding dispensaries here in cali...yeehaw

[kayakush22]

They just say they are connected to drug trafficking organizations these riders really mean nothing the asset forfeiture sharing change also gives less incentive for local law enforcement to support these raids but we will see

[yesum]

If Repubs can get a little realistic with pot or the war on drugs in general, they would be well served. I am going repub this presidential cycle but their drug policy is a bummer to be honest. Never liked Reagan and his drug war was a disaster, first amnesty president too.

Not all 'conservatives' believe in this drug war nonsense, a lot of them do not.