by Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, along with over a dozen cosponsors, reintroduced legislation in Congress to strengthen legal protections for state-authorized medical marijuana patients.
The bill, entitled the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act of 2009, seeks to amend the discrepancy between federal law and the laws of over a dozen states that have enacted regulations governing the therapeutic use of cannabis.
Thirteen states – Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – have enacted laws prohibiting medical marijuana patients from state prosecution.
Passage of the the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act would ensure that medical cannabis patients or providers who are compliant with state law, such as Charles Lynch (who was sentenced in federal court), would no longer have to fear arrest or prosecution from federal law enforcement agencies.
Previous versions of the Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act were introduced in both the 108th and 109th Congress, but failed to receive a public hearing or a committee vote.
While campaigning for the presidency, Barack Obama promised not to use Justice Department resources “to try and circumvent state (medical marijuana) laws” — a pledge that has been repeated in recent months by US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Nevertheless, agents from the US Drug Enforcement Administration have continued to target medical marijuana providers in states that allow for the drug’s use, and federal prosecutors have continued to bring federal anti-drug charges against defendants who were acting in accordance with their state’s cannabis laws.
It is time that we allowed our unique federalist system to work the way it was intended. Patients and their state representatives should have the authority to enact laws permitting the medical use of cannabis — free from federal interference.
Please write your members of Congress today and tell them to stop targeting and prosecuting medical marijuana patients and providers.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:46 am
There’s no reason at all that the federal government should be involved in this costly, awful drug war. Any efforts to bring it back to a state level with state funding and state regulations, while not perfect, is where the founders would’ve preferred this.
June 18th, 2009 at 8:53 am
I rarely support any federal action, but things like this which are directly calling for the federal government to cede power back to the states, are something I can get behind. HR1207 - on auditing the fed - is another rare one that I support.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:35 am
Got my support.!
June 18th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Wasn’t this voted on already on June 11, 2009?
June 18th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Jeff: It was only introduced on June 11th…and then referred to some committee. It appears to have a long way to go still, and needs some popular support.
Track it here
June 18th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
It amazes me that people still think prohibition works. I saw yesterday that some repub senator was talking about banning tobacco now too!
June 18th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
The important thing, though, is even if it DID work as they claimed, it would still be a violation of the constitution. That's what we're talking about here - limiting government to the rules of the constitution.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:04 am
Though, based on my understanding of states rights given by the tenth amendment, trying someone on medical cannabis charges in federal court is the only way the feds would exercise any power in these cases where a state has made a determination of legality.
It's nice that the Feds are talking about backing down, but the states do not need permission to legalize medical marijuana. DC simply does not have enough manpower to do more than make examples of a few unfortunate souls without the cooperation of the state governments and agencies.
Even in CA, when clinics were being busted up, it typically involved personnel from STATE AGENCIES to actually administer the raid.
What a strange thing- for State Agencies to allow use of their personnel to arrest those selling what the state considers legal…
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Right, Bryce - but sadly, it's not uncommon. The whole problem of centralizing power and policy is that the state governments, rather than acting as independent, localized agents of the people who live there, are little more than oversized counties for a national government.
The root of the problem, as usual, is federal policy and federal funding. As long as the national drug war continues, you'll see state agents going along with it….hopefully less and less as more people demand it.