Chuck Ream
We knew that we would win in the end - but it often seemed
like “the end” was far away. Now we feel victory coming. The center of gravity
has shifted; developments come fast.
With the newly altered opinion of United States Attorney General Eric Holder and the
conversion (with apology) by CNN correspondent and neurologist Dr. Sanjay Gupta the forces of
cannabis law reform can see “light at
the end of the tunnel” for the first time.
As “icing on the
cake” we have:
* Republican leader John
McCain saying “Maybe we
should just legalize. I respect the will of the people”. And,
*U.S. Senator
Patrick Leahy held hearings of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Sept 10 about
marijuana and said pot law enforcement is a “bad use of our limited law
enforcement dollars” and “The federal
government ought to respect” state marijuana laws.
United
States Attorney General Eric Holder
informed the governors of Washington and Colorado that the Department of
Justice would take a "trust but verify approach" to the state laws, (and
is reserving its right to file a preemption lawsuit at a later date).
Deputy Attorney General James Cole also issued
a lengthy memo demanding that states and local governments implement strong and
effective regulatory and enforcement systems. Such a system must not only
contain “robust controls and
procedures on paper; it must also be effective in practice."
Eight priorities are supposed to guide federal
prosecutors enforcing marijuana
laws.
·
No distribution to
minors;
·
No revenue from the
sale of marijuana to criminal enterprises or gangs
·
No diversion of
marijuana from states where it is legal to places where it isn’t.
·
No use of state-authorized
marijuana activity as a cover for drug trafficking or other illegal activity;
·
No violence or
firearms.
·
No increased drugged
driving problems or other public health concerns.
·
No growing of
marijuana on public lands, and
·
No possession or use
on federal property.
Prosecutors intent on targeting marijuana
businesses may still cause trouble.
But Cole stressed that the guidance was not
optional, and that prosecutors would no longer be allowed to use the size
of a dispensary as an automatic reason for harassment.
Holder told the governors as long as marijuana shops “operate within
state laws and don’t violate other federal law enforcement priorities” the DOJ
is looking to regulate those interactions as legal.
Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), a senior
member of the House Financial Services Committee, called
for a hearing to discuss his proposed bill, Marijuana Businesses Access to Banking Act (HR 2652). He raised concerns over “public safety,
crime, and lost tax revenue associated when these legal and regulated
businesses are operating in a cash-only system.”
A senior DOJ official told Huffington
Post “the department
recognized that forcing the
establishments to operate on a cash basis put them at greater risk of robbery
and violence.”
The new approach is a reversal of a DEA policy that had warned banks not to work with
marijuana businesses.
CNN’s Dr. Gupta, once under consideration for U.S. Surgeon General,
said that he realized the studies of cannabis done in the U.S. were designed only
to find harm and “painted a distorted picture.” Looking at studies from other countries
and “meeting the patients firsthand” changed his mind.
In Gupta’s August 11 documentary, he said “I am here to
apologize”. He explored the
true history and usefulness of cannabis as medicine.
Gupta showed a 5-year-old
named Charlotte who had been suffering 300 seizures a month. No medications helped, but since using
medical marijuana she has had two or three seizures a
month. Charlotte had been on seven pharmaceutical medications, any
of which in too high a dose could have killed her.
(Eight former Drug Enforcement
Administration chiefs say the federal government should immediately sue Colorado
and Washington or risk creating “a domino effect” in which other states
legalize. Get a life guys.)
We
now see that we will win this long and brutal struggle for safe access to our
medicine – but only if we maintain the focus and intensity that brought us this
far!
