Just Say Yes: U.S. Mellows On Medical Marijuana

[WSJ_law_blog]

The Justice Department told federal prosecutors yesterday to back off medical-marijuana users who comply with state laws.

A memo from Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, affirming a policy disclosed earlier this year, said it was “unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources” to prosecute “individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen.”

Here’s the full text of the memo, and here’s a WSJ article on the news and here’s the LA Times story.

Oh, how the (high) times have changed. Under the Bush administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana dispensaries that violated federal statutes even if they appeared to comply with state laws.

The formal guidelines issued yesterday could encourage more states to partially legalize pot, WSJ reports. Several states are weighing legislation that would legalize medical marijuana, including Delaware and New Hampshire; 13 states currently have medical marijuana laws on their books.

The new DOJ guidelines “certainly lifts a cloud from the people in states that allow medical marijuana,” said Bruce Milken, spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project.

James Pasco, head of the Fraternal Order of Police, said the change in policy on marijuana ─ along with such changes as easing penalties on crack-cocaine crimes ─ “looks like we’re taking a somewhat different approach to criminal justice.”

But the DOJ memo said that the Justice Department continues to view pot as a dangerous drug and that the new policy shouldn’t prevent prosecutors from pursuing cases where state laws are being used as a cover for illegal activity.