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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
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 Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana 
#15799309 - 02/12/12 05:27 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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Medical marijuana law busted
February 12, 2012 - delawareonline.com
Delaware's legalization of medical marijuana has fizzled in the wake of legal opinions that growers, distributors and state employees could be prosecuted under federal drug laws.
Gov. Jack Markell has suspended the regulation-writing and licensing process for medical marijuana dispensaries -- effectively killing the program -- and criticized the federal government for sending mixed signals on law enforcement, The News Journal has learned.
U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III has adopted the hard-line stance that just came out of President Barack Obama's Department of Justice. This stance accentuates the inherent conflict between federal marijuana laws and what is playing out in states that have authorized limited marijuana use for medicinal purposes.
"[G]rowing, distributing and possessing marijuana, in any capacity, other than as part of a federally authorized research program, is a violation of federal law regardless of state laws permitting such activities," Oberly wrote Thursday to Markell's attorney. "Moreover, those who engage in financial transactions involving the proceeds of such activities may also be in violation of federal money laundering statutes."
Markell's office told The News Journal on Friday that Oberly's stance prevents the Department of Health and Social Services from issuing licenses to medical marijuana dispensaries, whose employees and owners may be subject to federal raids and prosecution.
The governor's office recently sought guidance from Oberly on whether state employees responsible for regulating and inspecting licensed, not-for-profit medical marijuana dispensaries could do their jobs without fear of prosecution.
"State employees who conduct activities mandated by the Delaware Medical Marijuana Act are not immune from liability under" the Controlled Substances Act, Oberly wrote.
In a statement Friday, the Democratic governor said he had no choice but to stop the program.
"To do otherwise would put our state employees in legal jeopardy, and I will not do that," Markell said.
With the federal government firmly against large-scale dispensaries, state legislators may need to consider amending the law to allow doctor-approved patients to grow their own pot at home, said Rep. Helene Keeley, D-Wilmington South.
"Maybe we have to tweak the current law to make this happen," Keeley said. "We can't give up."
New approach
Oberly's letter is evidence of the U.S. Department of Justice's changing attitude toward state medical marijuana laws since Obama took office.
During his campaign for president in 2008, medical marijuana advocates were encouraged by Obama's vow to respect state laws. Oberly, a Democrat and former attorney general, is an Obama appointee.
"I think it's a great betrayal of what he said when he was running for office," said Karen O'Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project, a Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group that helped write Delaware's law. "It's been a great disappointment."
In 2009, when the first version of a medical marijuana bill was introduced in the Delaware General Assembly, a key impetus for the debate was the newly elected Obama's pledge not to send his Department of Justice after those involved in state-sanctioned medical marijuana operations.
That policy was codified in an October 2009 memo written by then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden that said prosecutions of medical marijuana patients and caregivers was "unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources."
With the Ogden memo as its backdrop, Delaware's legislative effort continued, culminating with the passage of the Medical Marijuana Act last May.
A month later, new Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole issued a memo with a different tone in response to inquiries from a group of federal prosecutors nationwide.
Drawing a corollary from the Ogden memo, Cole said patients and their caregivers were still safe from enforcement action but prosecutors were never meant to ignore "large-scale, privately owned industrial marijuana cultivation centers" like those authorized in some states.
In the months after the Cole memo, federal law enforcement agencies raided growers and dispensaries in California and Montana.
A U.S. attorney in northern California sent a letter to local public officials, warning them to quell their efforts to regulate and license marijuana growers or face criminal charges.
In January, prosecutors in Colorado mailed letters to two dozen medical marijuana dispensaries located within 1,000 feet of schools, notifying them of enhanced federal penalties for drug offenses committed near schools.
Legal worries
Since Delaware's passage of its medical marijuana law, the state Division of Public Health has been studying similar laws in other states and writing regulations that officials expected to publish this spring. Markell's recommended budget for the next fiscal year includes $480,000 for the implementation of the program, funded by proceeds from licensing dispensaries and patients.
Spurred by the Cole memo and the recent enforcement efforts, Markell's legal counsel, Michael A. Barlow, sought Oberly's guidance on the state's Medical Marijuana Act in early December.
"It was our goal to exercise some caution before we move forward, to make sure we have some dialogue with federal prosecutors in Delaware and solicit their input," Barlow said.
Specifically, Barlow said, the administration is concerned that the medical marijuana distribution plan outlined in Delaware's law falls under the parameters outlined in the Cole memo.
The statute mandates the establishment of one marijuana dispensary -- called a Compassionate Care Center -- in each of the three counties, with the possibility of more centers in future years.
Operators of the centers are to be nonprofit entities selected via a competitive bidding process administered by the state's Division of Public Health, and would be responsible for cultivating, preparing and distributing the marijuana in cooperation with state regulators and under tight state control.
"If you look at the Cole memo, it focuses on this large-scale, industrial distribution model, and what we have in Delaware is a distribution model that centralizes that into one place," Barlow said. "It seems to be something the Cole memo is looking to specifically."
The administration was also worried that Delaware's medical marijuana distribution structure could put state employees in danger of federal prosecution because of their close work with the dispensaries.
"The governor's concern is that we're not doing things to put state employees potentially in the way of the federal government's new enforcement," Barlow said.
In his response to Barlow, Oberly reaffirmed the Cole corollary to the Ogden memo and said the DOJ will not target patients or caregivers, but distribution is to be treated differently.
"Enterprises engaged in the cultivation, manufacture and sale of marijuana directly violate federal law," he wrote. "Individuals and organizations that participate in the unlawful cultivation and distribution of marijuana could be subject to civil and criminal penalties."
Oberly also said state workers are fair game for prosecution, just like anyone who is part of a marijuana distribution operation.
Prosecution decisions would made on a case-by-case basis, Oberly said.
The compassion centers were the linchpin of the medical marijuana bill's getting bipartisan support in the Delaware General Assembly, Keeley said.
"In the absence of such compassion centers, patients may be forced to obtain marijuana illicitly, unlawfully grow their own marijuana or forgo use of medical marijuana entirely," Barlow wrote Friday in response Oberly's Thursday letter. "That appears to be the unfortunate consequence of a federal policy that appears to offer mercy to cancer patients and others with a serious medical need for marijuana, but actually threatens criminal and civil sanctions for those who might help them safely obtain that relief."
Boundaries
The Marijuana Policy Project, the group that helped draft Delaware's medical marijuana law, said the tightly regulated nature of the state's implementation plan should have kept federal prosecutors at bay.
"In those states that have vague laws that allow dispensaries, that's where we've seen enforcement," O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe said medical marijuana laws in California and Montana, for example, are far more lenient in their allowances for privately owned, for-profit growing operations and dispensaries. Delaware's law initially restricts medical marijuana distribution to one dispensary in each county operated by a not-for-profit organization.
Seventeen states have medical marijuana laws, and federal enforcement actions are taking place in only a few jurisdictions, O'Keefe noted.
"New Mexico and Maine have dispensary systems that are up and running with no problems," she said.
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If you live in Delaware, please urge Gov. Markell to reverse course, to stand by patients, and to fully implement the compassionate law.
Regardless of where you live, please let President Obama know it’s past time to live up to his word. If the Obama administration’s hostility to medical marijuana patients and providers will affect your vote in November, or your willingness to donate or volunteer for him, please let his campaign know.
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nooneman
Stranger
Registered: 04/24/09
Posts: 2,897
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: veggie]
#15799435 - 02/12/12 05:57 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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Disgusting, just disgusting.
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 runningfox2002
Green Thumb
 
Registered: 02/19/11
Posts: 480
Last seen: 33 minutes, 49 seconds
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: nooneman]
#15799528 - 02/12/12 06:14 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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I'm so sick of them rerouting the blame as to why its still this way. Its not medically accepted(in their eyes) and theres no testing to prove it. Yet the NIDA just denied canabis testing for PTSD vets (the last group to give the say so), yet another study got approved for MDMA(only because the NIDA only has say over cannabis and who can research it).
Allow for the damn clinical testing even if they use that crap from Ole Miss(its better than nothing), and start the ball rolling on federally rescheduling it.
Also, what happened to the lawsuit the CA lawyers put forth against the DEA and such for denying the petition to reschedule anyways?
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 Celestial Traveler
Cacher of Bowls
Registered: 03/03/11
Posts: 1,832
Last seen: 4 seconds
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: runningfox2002] 1
#15799689 - 02/12/12 06:48 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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Quote:
runningfox2002 said:
I'm so sick of them rerouting the blame as to why its still this way. Its not medically accepted(in their eyes) and theres no testing to prove it. Yet the NIDA just denied canabis testing for PTSD vets (the last group to give the say so), yet another study got approved for MDMA(only because the NIDA only has say over cannabis and who can research it).
Allow for the damn clinical testing even if they use that crap from Ole Miss(its better than nothing), and start the ball rolling on federally rescheduling it.
Also, what happened to the lawsuit the CA lawyers put forth against the DEA and such for denying the petition to reschedule anyways?
At this point the federal government has pretty much just taken the "might is right" approach. We can't morally justify it, but we're going to do it anyways whether you like it or not, tough shit. The feds are so blatantly corrupt when it comes to marijuana it's ridiculous.
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ilovemushies
NeedsInspiration
Registered: 04/11/06
Posts: 134
Loc: New Jersey
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god damn, I'm moving to DE in a few years, I was very happy they finally got on board.
wtf... gettin' tired of this shit. Still probably won't see Jersey's dispensaries open for another 5 years at this rate either...
and to the above post, couldn't have said better myself. I really wish I could side myself with the people all saying it will change soon, they will HAVE to give up their position, but like... they don't. At all. and I strongly doubt they will. They're making oodles of fucking money off keeping it illegal, and what would happen to the big oil companies when hemp oil comes out and our cars run on that? Oh, no more having everyone in the country spending $50 bucks a week on gas? Can't have that....
and my claims aren't out of left field for those that haven't heard of cars running on hemp fuel/oil - if I'm not mistaken, the original model T's were made of a hemp-fiber body and ran on the stuff. and I watched a video explaining that hemp oil would be .50 cents a gallon with better efficiency... don't feel like searching for it though.
Edited by ilovemushies (02/12/12 06:56 PM)
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digitalemu
Stranger
Registered: 09/01/10
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Last seen: 7 hours, 34 minutes
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: ilovemushies]
#15801964 - 02/13/12 07:03 AM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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Quote:
U.S. Attorney Charles M. Oberly III has adopted the hard-line stance that just came out of President Barack Obama's ASS
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treesniper119
No one of Consequence
Registered: 08/12/08
Posts: 330
Loc: Underground
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: digitalemu]
#15802039 - 02/13/12 07:41 AM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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you're spot on ilovemushies.
This is so much more then just medicine... its green gold, (compared to black gold, oil)
over a million textiles can be made from hemp & Hemp has the ability to ready the ground it quickly grows in, so that other cash crops can grow on once un-growable soils & while hemp bio fuel and car parts to run the new fuel source would massively increase the American workforce to an extent that we've never before seen here in the US,
this would ultimately slow down importing the majority of fuel and products from out of the country,
No more joblessness, No more depression (physically and economically).
In all seriousness, it is the life blood of our future economy , as it is also the life blood of our corrupt government (in keeping it illegal) through unjust incarceration of US citizens & illegal drug running by our very own corrupt law making/breaking government.
Time to remove the dinosaur/parasites from their position of false power. It should be illegal that the government continues to play dumb to science. It causes harm to the citizens in a way that is, to our government, manipulative and controllable. It sounds like a form of cruel and unusual punishment to me...
Edited by treesniper119 (02/13/12 07:48 AM)
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crimsondrac
Stranger
Registered: 12/09/11
Posts: 490
Last seen: 1 month, 25 days
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: digitalemu]
#15802042 - 02/13/12 07:43 AM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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Obama is such a lying dick. I can't believe people still believe a fucking word that asshole says.
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Mushie23
Strictly Entheogens
Registered: 11/19/10
Posts: 547
Loc: Northwest Washington Stat...
Last seen: 1 day, 7 hours
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: crimsondrac]
#15803598 - 02/13/12 02:32 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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I like how the fuel point got brought up. I just heard this morning that prius and other electric type cars may get charged a yearly fee to make up for the lost sales in gas here in Washington. I mean my GOD, wtf!?
I do believe it's a matter of time before it's legalized, but how much time? Sadly, their are people that believe anything and everything their government says through tv and speeches. Never mind the obvious facts on cannabis, or the main one that nobody has ever died from it. It's a real head scratcher...has no legitimate logic behind it.
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Eat Mushrooms----plug into life and nature.
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bfogg8706
Stuntzii radar dish
Registered: 09/04/09
Posts: 2,928
Loc: Washington State
Last seen: 5 hours, 25 minutes
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: Mushie23]
#15803743 - 02/13/12 02:59 PM (3 months, 14 days ago) |
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That's just the US government for ya. Land of the free, but home of the slave. Nothing will change until people vote in officials that are not complete idiot douche bags who are still stuck in the mentality of "uh yea, marijuana is bad. It creates killers and rapists, and could never be used for anything positive toward humanity". 
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OrgoneConclusion
Pharoah & Balanced
Registered: 04/01/07
Posts: 29,385
Loc: Luxor
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: bfogg8706]
#15803953 - 02/13/12 03:44 PM (3 months, 13 days ago) |
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If you smoke dope, one day you can become president! (provided you never got caught and don't have a felony record)
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Mr.Pink
has the bag of diamonds
Registered: 06/28/09
Posts: 2,323
Loc: lake titticaca near nicar...
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: crimsondrac]
#15804353 - 02/13/12 04:56 PM (3 months, 13 days ago) |
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Quote:
crimsondrac said:
Obama is such a lying dick. I can't believe people still believe a fucking word that asshole says.
anyone who STILL believe obama is anything but bush jr. jr. is a fucking retard. i'm never voting again. fuck that noise
if you're young and you believe anything can be done to stop this hypocritical machine you'll find out as you get older it's never ever gonna happen. So settle in or make plans to move. There is no reason to stay here except gun ownership which doesn't REALLY matter. They are just fun play toys.
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How did you get out? I shot my way out... everybody started shooting so I blasted my way out. . . . Tagged a couple of cops. . . . Did you kill anybody? ...a few cops. No real people? ....just cops
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starfire_xes
Living colors,,,,
Registered: 10/24/09
Posts: 7,764
Loc: Southwest US
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: Mr.Pink]
#15804668 - 02/13/12 05:47 PM (3 months, 13 days ago) |
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"Prosecution decisions would made on a case-by-case basis, Oberly said."
Isn't this selective prosecution? It has been used as a successful defense in many cases, i.e. you can't prosecute one person or group and allow another to do the same thing with impunity.
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four20west
Pot smoker
Registered: 09/28/10
Posts: 50
Loc: Washington state
Last seen: 2 months, 22 days
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Re: Feds Force Delaware to Stop Medical Marijuana [Re: starfire_xes]
#15815841 - 02/15/12 08:09 PM (3 months, 11 days ago) |
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If said drugs never cross a state line then its a state matter not a fed matter. Why dont the ppl running these states stand up for there people?
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How can you tell me what I can and can't put into my own body.
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