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Medical marijuana: DEA could raid any day, but we go to
work anyway, says dispensary staffer
Return To OnlinePot's
Legal Section Main Page
By Michael Roberts Fri., Jul. 15 2011 at
10:44 AM
Last week, a spokesman for Representative Jared Polis expressed
disappointment with a Justice Department medical marijuana memo that some in the
MMJ industry saw as paving the way for DEA raids on dispensaries (James_Cole_DOJ
Memo_06_29_2011.pdf). Polis doesn't think such incidents are imminent, and neither does
Colorado Dispensary Service's Jake Browne -- although Browne doesn't dismiss the
possibility.
As he puts it, "We know when we come to work that there's the potential of
the DEA
coming through the door. But we go to work anyway."
Concerns about a potential federal crackdown on medical marijuana began rising
following a memo by Oakland-area U.S. DOJ Attorney Melinda Haag
DOJ MEMO PDF , which seemed to contradict a 2009
advisory by DOH Deputy AG David Ogden
The DOJ Ogden
Memo PDF.
The Ogden memo recommended that U.S. Attorneys not devote significant bucks on
prosecuting medical marijuana operations following the law in states that
approved them.
Then came yet another memo, this one from Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole,
who attempted to clarify the Ogden missive. As we noted in our earlier post, the
Cole document reiterates that "it is likely not an efficient use of federal
resources to focus enforcement efforts on individuals with cancer or other
serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regiment consistent with
applicable state law, or their caregivers." But it also stresses that the
term "caregiver" means "individuals providing care to individuals
with cancer or other serious illnesses, not commercial operations cultivating,
selling or distributing marijuana." In other words, a dispensary isn't a
caregiver.
Additionally, the memo maintains that there has been "an increase in the
scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for
purported medical purposes. For example, within the past twelve 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 The
DOJ Ogden
Memo PDF 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 offederal law with respect to such conduct, including
enforcement of the CSA."
Polis communications director Chris Fitzgerald didn't see the Cole memo as
portending an imminent assault on medical marijuana in Colorado, and neither
does Browne, marketing director for the four CDS outlets in Denver-metro and
Boulder
"Ultimately, I think this is a response to what Oakland was trying to do," he says.
"They were talking about 100,000-plant grows on a really industrial scale.
But here, we have a state-regulated system where we have tracking manifests and
every employee is on file. It's a very different scenario than we feel that memo
was responding to."
Indeed, Browne believes state regulation provides people in the industry with
"more protection than if we'd stayed under the caregiver model -- and we're
glad we took part in the regulation process." He's confident the feds
"understand how we've done things, as opposed to the collective businesses
you see in California. We have a little more leverage."
Of course, Browne knows "The Controlled Substances Act" is ultimately the
law of the land, and the federal government can come in and do whatever they
like." However, "we feel there are definitely businesses that aren't
doing things the right way, and ultimately, we think
they'll be the targets" of possible prosecution. "Maybe they're people
who never intended to see the application process through, or people who were
letting things go out the back door."
That's not to say Browne thinks marijuana should be a top federal priority.
"Ultimately, the DEA has a lot of hard work to do in this state dealing
with drugs that do serious harm to people, and that's ultimately what their
enforcement goals should be -- keeping Colorado safe from things like meth,
cocaine and heroin. And I think they realize that as well."
In the meantime, conflicts continue to exist between state and federal laws, as
evidenced by a ruling in Aspen that patient Nathan Benner can't use medical
marijuana on probation. "None of that's been hashed out yet, no pun
intended," Browne says. "But I think the important thing for patients
to remember is that 1 percent of federal marijuana prosecutions end up in
federal court, and the vast majority of those cases deal with people doing either distribution of large quantities of
marijuana or people who have industrial-scale cultivation that's not under any
kind of state guise. So I certainly wouldn't see this as a sky-is-falling moment
for patients."
Moreover, he goes on, "if they want to prosecute a center in Colorado,
they'll also have to prosecute the state employees who licensed us, the
accountant we retained, and many other people. It's not as simple as saying it's
just us. We're all part of a larger structure now, and even if we don't have a
defense at a federal level, there'd certainly be an uproar. If that were to take
place so close to an election, I think it would become a big issue."
Such factors could turn out to be the best security a Colorado center can have.
Look below to read the entire Cole memo, which can also be accessed by clicking
here
James_Cole_DOJ
Memo_06_29_2011.pdf
http://blogs.
westword. com/latestword/ 2011/07/medical_ marijuana_ dea_raids. php
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