WASHINGTON (Huffington Post) — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.

In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or other crimes.

This is a fantastic development that puts onto paper what Obama and Attorney General Holder have already said previously.  However, remember that according to San Diego DA Dumanis, dispensaries are “nothing more than for-profit storefront drug dealing operations run by drug dealers hiding behind the state’s medical marijuana law.” According to Los Angeles DA Cooley, “about 100%” of dispensaries are not “in strict compliance with state laws.”  In other words, does Obama’s memo rely on the feds to decide whether someone is following state law, or will the DEA come a-runnin’ every time some anti-pot district attorney has a hare-brained theory that all dispensaries are illegal?  Time will tell.

What we really need is to have this policy enshrined into law.  Please call your federal representatives today and urge them to co-sponsor HR 2835, The Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act.

(Los Angeles Times) The sentencing of a man who has become a key figure in the national debate over medical marijuana was postponed Thursday, with a federal judge saying he was inclined to impose a more lenient sentence than the five years required by federal sentencing guidelines, but questioning whether he had the authority to do so.

“If I could find a way out, I would,” U.S. District Judge George H. Wu said. He gave lawyers in the case until June 2 to file briefs regarding the impending sentence of Charles Lynch.

Lynch, 47, ran a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay on the Central Coast in 2006 and 2007. Despite having the blessing of the city’s mayor and other public officials, he was charged with violating federal drug laws for distributing marijuana and was convicted by a federal court jury in Los Angeles last year.

Cultivating, using and selling doctor-recommended medical marijuana is allowed under some circumstances in California and a dozen other states, but federal law bans the drug altogether.

Though Lynch was not charged with violating state law, prosecutors contend that he broke the law because he was not truly a “primary caregiver” entitled to dispense marijuana to patients and that he profited from the operation of his business.

Much of the discussion Thursday dealt with whether Wu was required to sentence Lynch to a mandatory minimum of five years or whether the defendant was entitled to a lesser sentence under a so-called safety valve.

The next hearing in the case, which the judge said would be the last, is scheduled for June 11.

So the federal prosecutors contend Lynch was violating state law regarding the patient/caregiver relationship, yet since federal law doesn’t recognize state medical marijuana laws, Lynch isn’t allowed to mention state law in his defense.  Got it?  When it comes to federally prosecuting Lynch, his violation of state law is admissable, but when it comes to federally defending Lynch, his adherence to state law is inadmissable.

President Obama, when you promised “What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue”, isn’t the Charles Lynch case exactly what you had in mind?  Attorney General Holder, when you promised “Our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that’s inconsistent with federal and state law”, how do you justify prosecuting Charles Lynch?

Shortly after AG Holder made the announcement on Feb. 26, I wrote this:

Here’s my prediction: we will see more medical marijuana dispensary raids and the Obama Administration will claim they have no issue with legitimate medical marijuana providers, but these providers were operating outside California law and these providers were diverting medical marijuana to the black market and these providers were selling to minors and whole raft of excuses where they emphasize that these providers are a reasonable exception to “using Justice Department resources” because they were outside of Prop 215 / SB 420 / Jerry Brown’s Guidelines and therefore, the DEA is not “circumvent[ing] state laws on this issue”.

If the federal government believes that dispensaries are operating outside California law, then they need to refer those cases to California’s attorney general.  If California decides these people are violating California law, then California should prosecute them.  The promise not to conduct raids unless dispensaries break California law is hollow when the feds get to decide someone broke California law with no trial or evidence before conducting the raid.

From Friends of CCL (Charles Lynch) [newshawking by the Dudemaster]

In a turnabout of events, Charles C. Lynch was scheduled to be sentenced on the 30th of April, but with a recent memo from the Department of Justice, the date has been changed to today, Thursday April 23, 2009. Documents filed on the 17th of April by the Department of Justice indicate a refusal of DOJ to intervene in the case of Charles C. Lynch

In a last ditch effort to secure his release or perhaps lighten his sentence, friends and family of Charles Lynch are asking everyone who has good wishes for Charles to please contact the White House and Department of Justice and ask them to stop the sentencing by sending an immediate letter of support or by calling them. Others who wish to provide and are close enough to drive to the sentencing may do so by attending the event which will take place in Federal Court at 3pm (Pacific time), Federal Court House, Courtroom #10, 312 Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA.

“…The Office of the Deputy Attorney General has reviewed the facts of this case and determined that the investigation, prosecution, and conviction of defendant are entirely consistent with the policies of DOJ and with public statements made by the Attorney General with respect to marijuana prosecutions.”

President Obama, do not let this travesty occur!  Attorney General Holder, this is no sort of justice!  Charles Lynch was following the law in California.  Charles Lynch was welcomed by his city’s civic and business leaders.  Charles Lynch paid his taxes and contributed to his community.  Charles Lynch helped countless sick, disabled, dying, and sense-threatened Californians legally obtain their medicine without having to visit a street corner drug dealer.

Incarcerating Charles Lynch serves no useful purpose to the United States.  Justice is not merely weighing actions against statutes; justice is seeing fair application of the law.  We don’t write laws to harass and punish the people; we write laws to protect and serve the people.  Punishing Charles Lynch for obeying state law will not win the drug war or even deter the next dispensary from opening.

How tragically ironic that Charles Lynch may be punished by our government for alleviating the tortured suffering of others in a week when we learn that our government was clinically detailed in its manufacturing of the tortured suffering of others.  If only Charles Lynch had a memo from the Office of Legal Counsel…

Call President Obama at 202-456-1111

Call Attorney General Holder at 202-353-1555

Tell them to stop the prosecution of Charles Lynch!

At the end of two days of meetings with Mexican officials, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said that cooperation between the United States and Mexico was stronger and “fundamentally different than that which existed in the past.”

Sweet, what new methods are we going to try, AG Holder?

In their meetings with Mr. Calderón, Mr. Holder and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, discussed plans to provide training to Mexican canine teams, and to increase cooperation between the United States Coast Guard and the Mexican Navy to stop the increasing numbers of illegal immigrants and drug smugglers using the Pacific Ocean as a result of increased enforcement along the land border.

OK, I didn’t expect ‘legalize weed and burn one with my Mexican homies’. Go on …

And with marijuana sales central to the drug trade, Mr. Holder said he was exploring ways to lower the minimum amount required for the federal prosecution of possession cases.

via – The New York Times “Mexican and U.S. Attorneys General Confer to Strengthen Cooperation on Drug Violence“

Wait, what??? I thought you said ‘fundamentally different’? What is busting an end user of MexiBrickWeed with what amount now (a speck, weed breath, what) going to do to hurt the cartels? The only thing you’ll do is put more people that don’t deserve it into prison that we can’t afford to pay for.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano today reacted to a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raid on a San Francisco marijuana dispensary—only a week after the Obama administration signaled it would cease the federal government’s practice of harassing cannabis clubs in states that have legalized the plant for medical use. Ammiano, who in February announced plans to present legislation to legalize and tax marijuana in California, said that the move may have been a warning to him and the Obama administration by what he called the “paramilitary” and “institutionalized” mentality of the DEA.

DEA agents raided Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic on Wednesday, emptying the dispensary of marijuana, cannabis plants, grow lights, and other equipment along with patients. The agency would not cite a specific reason for the raid, saying the warrant is under court seal, but suggested that the dispensary violated state and federal law. Emmalyn’s, which had been operating with a temporary permit issued by the Department of Public Health, had been providing free marijuana to the poor on Wednesdays.

When Examiner.com asked if he thought the raid was a warning because of his legalization bill, Ammiano said he thought it was—but not just to him. He thinks the DEA was also challenging the Obama administration because of Attorney General Eric Holder’s pledge last week to leave cannabis clubs alone.

“They’re going to be very obstinate and very stubborn and do a lot of power tripping around this issue, so even though Eric Holder, the AG, said no more raids of marijuana dispensaries, they’re just going to take that on and see how serious everybody is,” Ammiano said. “It’s infuriating, and it’s also very dehumanizing for the patients who were there, and they just like to rub our nose in it because it’s San Francisco. I find it childish, but I also find it very dangerous.”

via Sacramento Statehouse Examiner: Assemblymember Tom Ammiano reacts to DEA raid of SF cannabis medical dispensary.

Initial reports stated that the feds may have considered sales tax problems as the state law being violated that led to the DEA raids.  According to my sources, the California Board of Equalization and the San Francisco City and County have no pending investigation on Emmalyn’s nor any report of taxation issues.

Tune in to tonight’s Southern California Report with Tere Joyce as we speak with Degé Coutee from the Patients Advocacy Network, who has more details on the San Francisco Raid.

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) — Federal drug agents raided a medical marijuana facility in San Francisco Wednesday night.

The raid occurred at Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard Street. DEA spokeswoman Casey McEnry told CBS 5 the documents regarding the raid are sealed, so the DEA was not able to give many details.

“The documents relating to today’s enforcement operation remain under court seal. Based on our investigation we believe there are not only violations of federal law, but state law as well. As of now we are prohibited from releasing further details of the case. Items of evidentiary value were seized and no arrests have been made. The investigation is currently ongoing,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Anthony D. Williams in a written statement.

Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic had a provisional permit, according to Chris Hermes, spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access, a national advocacy group for medical marijuana issues.

Hermes said at least two people were taken into custody at the facility.

“We’re shocked that after the Attorney General has made repeated statements that raids on California medical cannibis dispensaries would be suspended that we are seeing a continuation of that policy,” said Hermes.

“We call on the Attorney General to explain these actions by the DEA,” he added.

Attorney General Holder was clear that the feds would only go after dispensaries that break state law.  If the feds have the evidence to show violations of state law, perhaps this is the Obama Administration’s way of putting the pressure on dispensary owners to strictly adhere to state law.  However, if the DEA, rather than California authorities, are put upon to enforce California law, this is an unfair enforcement, as defendants in federal court will be unable to use their state’s medical marijuana law as a defense.

(Who has “less than a month” in the “next DEA raid pool”, anyway?  I guess you never lose too many political bets by being too cynical…)

Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy Shift via NYT

We all welcomed the statements by Eric Holder halting raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. But when a policy shift isn’t codified in a law you get different people interpreting the directive in different ways. It’s unclear that anything has actually changed at all.

A spokesman for the drug enforcement agency, Garrison Courtney, pointed out that the attorney general’s statement indicated that the federal authorities would continue to go after marijuana dispensaries that broke state and federal laws by selling to minors, selling excessive amounts or selling marijuana from unsanctioned growers.

So we can most likely expect more raids in the future; this is no moratorium. We can expect local and state law enforcement attempt to entrap dispensary owners with falsified recommendations, fake ID’s, and putting pressure to disclose their supply chain. But at least this is a start, and it appears that the Feds have bigger fish to fry.

Mark Agrast, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning research group in Washington, said Mr. Holder’s statement indicated a more pragmatic and less ideological approach to drug enforcement.

“This is an example of recognizing the limited resources they have, so they have to make decisions about the soundest use of available resources,” Mr. Agrast said.

The attorney general’s comments also indicated that the Justice Department would allocate greater resources for investigations of white-collar crime, including financial crime, and other enforcement areas that received less attention during the Bush administration.

We reported on US Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement regarding the Obama Administration’s policy on medical marijuana providers in states with medical marijuana programs.  The Attorney General said, ”What the president said during (the) campaign . . . is now American policy,” referring to then candidate-Obama’s statement last April.  When asked about medical marijuana on a trip through Oregon, Obama said, “What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.”

Did we celebrate too soon?  Is anyone concerned that nobody has specifically said, “The US Justice Department will not raid providers of medical marijuana in the states where that is legal” or even used the words “medical marijuana” with respect to these statements?  Are you frightened that these statements leave a bit too much wiggle room for clever politicians?  Read this story from the LA Times and then answer:

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles sent a confidential memo to prosecutors last week ordering them to stop filing charges against medical marijuana dispensaries, then abruptly lifted the ban on Friday, according to sources familiar with the developments.

A Justice Department official said Friday that the attorney general did not direct O’Brien or any other U.S. attorney to alter policies regarding the prosecution of such cases.

In addition to being told to stop filing new cases, prosecutors were instructed to refrain from issuing subpoenas or applying for search warrants in pending cases, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Another e-mail came out Friday instructing prosecutors to resume work on medical marijuana cases.

Here’s my prediction: we will see more medical marijuana dispensary raids and the Obama Administration will claim they have no issue with legitimate medical marijuana providers, but these providers were operating outside California law and these providers were diverting medical marijuana to the black market and these providers were selling to minors and whole raft of excuses where they emphasize that these providers are a reasonable exception to “using Justice Department resources” because they were outside of Prop 215 / SB 420 / Jerry Brown’s Guidelines and therefore, the DEA is not “circumvent[ing] state laws on this issue”.

I hope I’m wrong, because if Barack Obama can’t forsee the enormous backlash even one more raid will provoke, he’s not as savvy a politician as I once thought.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-02-26

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-02-26.mp3)

Today on the Stash:

• Hemp Headlines
  Attorney General Eric Holder: ending medical marijuana raids “now American policy”
  Former Drug Czar McCaffrey: “If you’re 40 years old, and you’re living in Oregon, and you have 12 giant pot plants in the back of your log cabin, knock yourself out.”
  Study criticizes Bush drug office for its focus on youths and marijuana, not adult drug users
  UGA Student Newspaper Opinion: Better image key in marijuana debate
• Hooray for Hollyweed: Tere Joyce introduces us to Rich McCabe & Joanne Cates, an elderly couple in San Bernadino County busted for cultivation. 
• Rockin’ Thursday: Seminole County – “Memories”
• Danny Danko, Senior Cultivation Editor from High Times Magazine, on upcoming spring planting.

[More fantastic reporting from MrSpof, especially below the fold.  -- "R"R]

WASHINGTON – Federal agents have rounded up 755 suspects in a wide-ranging crackdown on a Mexican drug cartel operating inside the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday.

The Justice Department said that as part of the 21-month-long investigation, DEA and other federal agents had seized $59 million in U.S. currency; 12,535 kilograms of cocaine; more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana; more than 12 pounds of methamphetamine; approximately 8 kilograms of heroin; approximately 1.3 million pills or 500 pounds of Ecstasy; approximately 120 kilograms of MDMA powder; and more than $6.5 million in other assets, including 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 maritime vessels and 169 weapons.

via MSNBC – U.S. arrests 755 in Mexican drug cartel raids

My presumption is that the DEA expects this will make us feel that they are being successful in their War on US Citizens. Maybe this lends credence to former Drug Czar John Water’s claim that:

“If the drug effort were failing there would be no violence,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. There is violence “because these guys are flailing. We’re taking these guys out. The worst thing you could do is stop now.”

via The Agitator – God Help Us If We Start “Winning” the Drug War, Too

Or maybe the drug warriors have learned nothing from Greek mythology about what happens when you cut the head off the Hydra:

• OPERATION META 1997
  1,765 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS RECIPROCITY & LIMELIGHT 1997
  13,700 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS IMPUNITY & MILLENNIUM 1999
  4,800 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS CONQUISTADOR & COLUMBUS 2000
  1459.5 Metric Tons of Marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  73.4 Kilograms of Hash oil seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION GREEN AIR 2000
  34,000 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION IMPUNITY II 2000 l
  9,526 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION MARQUIS 2001
  23,096 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION GREEN CLOVER 2001
  320 pounds and 4100 plants of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operations Pipe Dreams And Headhunter 2003
  indictment of 50 individuals and national distributors on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia
• Operation Trifecta 2003
  24,409 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Candy Box 2004
  1,370 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Money Clip 2004
  39,265 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Three Hour Tour 2005
  216 lbs. of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Mallorca 2005
  21,650 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Choque, Operation Denali, and Operation Falling Star 2005
  37,055 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Sweet Tooth 2005
  1,777 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Northern Impact 2005
  2,258 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Cali Exchange 2005
  518 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Imperial Emperor 2007
  27,229 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Jacket Racket 2007
  150 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Puma 2007
  33 metric tons of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Imperial Emperor Phase II 2007
  434 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Project Reckoning 2008
  51,258 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Sudden Fall 2008
  50 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  48 hydroponic marijuana plants seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  30 vials of hash oil seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Project Reckoning, Phase II 2008
  57,243 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Albatross 2008
  262 tons of hashish seized, destroyed, or eradicated

So DEA, did you get it all yet? Including today’s cartel raids, that’s a lot of seized marijuana and a ton of arrests to go with it. Surely some dent must have been made in the flow of marijuana into our country …

I know, let’s ask the class. “Excuse me, you bright faced group of 100 high school students chosen at random. Could anyone help me get a bag of marijuana?”

86 hands go up.

Well, I’m glad our current policy of marijuana prohibition thinks of the children, aren’t you? You cannot legislate human behavior and morality. You cannot arrest your way to a victory in the War against US Citizens.