WASHINGTON — Elected lawmakers in five states have a message for the federal
government: Don’t interfere with state medical marijuana laws.

In an open letter to the federal government, lawmakers from both sides of the
political aisle called on the government to stop using scarce law enforcement
resources on taking pot away from medical marijuana patients.

“States with medical marijuana laws have chosen to embrace an approach that is
based on science, reason, and compassion. We are lawmakers from these states,”
the lawmakers explained in their letter.

“Our state medical marijuana laws differ from one another in their details, such
as which patients qualify for medical use; how much marijuana patients may
possess; whether patients and caregivers may grow marijuana; and whether
regulated entities may grow and sell marijuana to patients. Each of our laws,
however, is motivated by a desire to protect seriously ill patients from
criminal penalties under state law.”

The letter — signed by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-Calif.), Sen. Jeanne
Kohl-Welles (D-Wash.), Rep. Antonio Maestas (D-N.M.), Sen. Cisco McSorley
(D-N.M.), Assemblyman Chris Norby (R-Calif.), Rep. Deborah Sanderson (R-Maine)
and Sen. Pat Steadman (D-Colo.) — comes directly on the heels of a federal raid
in the heart of California’s pot legalization movement: medical marijuana
training school Oaksterdam University in downtown Oakland, where U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration officials on Monday blocked off doors with yellow
tape and carried off trash bags full of unknown substances to a nearby van. An
IRS spokeswoman could not comment on the raid except to say the agents had a
federal search warrant.

The lawmakers called on President Obama to live up to his campaign promise to
leave the regulation of medical marijuana to the states, adding raids would only
“force patients underground” into the illegal drug market.

The president as a candidate promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward
pot clinics that adhere to state law. At a 2007 town hall meeting in Manchester,
N.H., Obama said raiding patients who use marijuana for medicinal purposes
“makes no sense.” At another town hall in Nashua, N.H., he said the Justice
Department’s prosecution of medical marijuana users was “not a good use of our
resources.” Yet the number of Justice Department raids on marijuana dispensaries
has continued to rise.

Read the full letter here:

Over the last two decades, 16 states and the District of Columbia have
chosen to depart from federal policy and chart their own course on the issue of
medical marijuana, as states are entitled to do under our federalist system of
government. These states have rejected the fallacy long promoted by the federal
government — that marijuana has absolutely no accepted medical use and that
seriously ill people must choose between ignoring their doctors’ medical advice
or risking arrest and prosecution. They have stopped using their scarce law
enforcement resources to punish patients and those who care for them and have
instead spent considerable resources and time crafting programs that will
provide patients with safe and regulated access to medical marijuana.

States with medical marijuana laws have chosen to embrace an approach that
is based on science, reason, and compassion. We are lawmakers from these states.

Our state medical marijuana laws differ from one another in their details,
such as which patients qualify for medical use; how much marijuana patients may
possess; whether patients and caregivers may grow marijuana; and whether
regulated entities may grow and sell marijuana to patients. Each of our laws,
however, is motivated by a desire to protect seriously ill patients from
criminal penalties under state law; to provide a safe and reliable source of
medical marijuana; and to balance and protect the needs of local communities and
other residents in the state. The laws were drafted with considered
thoughtfulness and care, and are thoroughly consistent with the American
tradition of using the states as laboratories for public policy innovation and
experimentation.

Unfortunately, these laws face a mounting level of federal hostility and
confusing mixed messages from the Obama Administration, the Department of
Justice, and the various United States Attorneys. In 2008, then candidate Obama
stated that as President, he would not use the federal government to circumvent
state laws on the issue of medical marijuana. This promise was followed up in
2009 by President Obama with a Department of Justice memo from former Deputy
Attorney General David W. Ogden stating that federal resources should not
generally be focused “on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous
compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”
This provided welcome guidance for state legislators and administrators and
encouraged us to move forward with drafting and passing responsible regulatory
legislation.

Nonetheless, the United States Attorneys in several states with medical
marijuana laws have chosen a different course. They have explicitly threatened
that federal investigative and prosecutorial resources “will continue to be
directed” towards the manufacture and distribution of medical marijuana, even if
such activities are permitted under state law. These threats have generally been
timed to influence pending legislation or encourage the abandonment of state and
local regulatory programs. They contradict President Obama’s campaign promise
and policy his first year in office and serve to push medical marijuana activity
back into the illicit market.

Most disturbing is that a few United States Attorneys warn that state
employees who implement the laws and regulations of our states are not immune
from criminal prosecution under the federal Controlled Substances Act. They do
so notwithstanding the fact that no provision exists within the Controlled
Substances Act that makes it a crime for a state employee to enforce regulations
that help a state define conduct that is legal under its own state laws.

Hundreds of state and municipal employees are currently involved in the
licensing and regulation of medical marijuana producers and providers in New
Mexico, Colorado, Maine, and California, and have been for years. The federal
government has never threatened, much less prosecuted, any of these employees.
Indeed, the federal government has not, to our knowledge, prosecuted state
employees for performing their ministerial duties under state law in modern
history. It defies logic and precedent that the federal government would start
prosecuting state employees now.

Recognizing the lack of any real harm to state employees, a number of
states have moved forward. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie drew on his own
experience as a former United States Attorney in deciding that New Jersey state
workers were not realistically at risk of federal prosecution in his decision to
move forward implementing New Jersey?s medical marijuana program. Rhode Island,
Vermont, Arizona, and the District of Columbia are also in the process of
implementing their state laws.

Nonetheless, the suggestion that state employees are at risk is have a
destructive and chilling impact. Washington Governor Christine Gregoire vetoed
legislation to regulate medical marijuana in her state and Delaware Governor
Jack Markell suspended implementation of his state’s regulatory program after
receiving warnings from the United States Attorneys in their states about state
employees. Additionally, a number of localities in California ended or suspended
regulatory programs after receiving similar threats to their workers.

We, the undersigned state legislators, call on state and local officials to
not be intimidated by these empty federal threats. Our state medical marijuana
programs should be implemented and move forward. Our work, and the will of our
voters, should see the light of day.

We call on the federal government not to interfere with our ability to
control and regulate how medical marijuana is grown and distributed. Let us seek
clarity rather than chaos. Don?t force patients underground, to fuel the illegal
drug market.

And finally, we call on President Obama to recommit to the principles and
policy on which he campaigned and asserted his first year in office. Please
respect our state laws. And don’t use our employees as pawns in your zealous and
misguided war on medical marijuana.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano (D-CA)

Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-WA)

Representative Antonio Maestas (D-NM)

Senator Cisco McSorley (D-NM)

Assemblymember Chris Norby (R-CA)

Representative Deborah Sanderson (R-ME)

Senator Pat Steadman (D-CO)

The Huffington Post, 02.04.2012

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/02/lawmakers-in-5-states-tell-feds-medical-marijuana_n_1397811.html