In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has come to the decision that the Drug Enforcement Administration’s perception of a recent medical marijuana bill “defies language and logic,” “tortures the plain meaning of the statute” and is “at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law.” The decision could have a broad effect on the DEA’s ability to prosecute federal medical marijuana cases going forward.
At issue is the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment to last year’s government spending bill. The amendment identifies the states that have medical marijuana laws and sanctions that the Justice Department is prohibited from using federal funding to “prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
When the law was passed, active supporters and legislatures on both sides of the issue agreed that the bill pretty much prevented the DEA from going after medical marijuana shops, given that such marijuana shops were acting in compliance with state law. In a leaked document, the Justice Department contended that the amendment only prohibits actions against actual states — not against the individuals or businesses that actually carry out marijuana laws. From their understanding, the bill still allowed them to go after criminal and civil actions against medical marijuana businesses and the patients who patronized them.
The government is stifling medical marijuana research, major think tank declares The DoJ’s reading of the amendment its sponsors very upset. He called the DoJ’s interpretation of the amendment “counterintuitive and opportunistic.”
Looking at it as perhaps the last nail in the coffin of the DEA’s years-long involvement with California’s medical marijuana program, medical marijuana supporters are rooting for the ruling. “It’s great to see the judicial branch finally starting to hold the Justice Department accountable for its willful violation of Congress’s intent to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws,” stated Tom Angell of Marijuana Majority.
Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project was in agreeance. “This is a big win for medical marijuana patients and their providers,” he wrote in a statement, “and a significant victory in our efforts to end the federal government’s war on marijuana. “Judge Breyer’s rebuke of DoJ’s ridiculous interpretation of our amendment is most welcomed.”
The decision may potentially discourage the DoJ from creative interpretations of the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment going forward, which should let medical marijuana businesses and their patients in 23 states exhale a sigh of relief.
Lynette Shaw, owner of the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana, the marijuana shop whose case was at issue in the federal ruling, told the San Francisco Chronicle that “we won the war.
