Under new legal guidelines issued by the Obama administration, federal drug agents won’t target pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana. ”It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal,” Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.
A memo on the new policy was sent to federal prosecutors in 14 states. 14 states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. Some medical marijuana advocates say Maryland shouldn’t be included in that group, because the law there only allows for reduced penalties for medical marijuana usage.
Tags: medical marijuana
November 3rd, 2009 at 11:26 am
Dana, I am wondering what you think about how easy it is to get a doctor in California to say a person needs medical marijuana. I am writing a documetary on this topic and feel your insight would be very interesting. Thank you for any insight you may have on this topic in advance.
Anneliese Curtis Place
Queen of Nigtlife
November 3rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Anneliese,
Thank you for your inquiry. While I consider your request a compliment, I’m afraid I don’t feel qualified to offer an opinion on the topic since I have no first-hand experience with the issue and anything I might contribute would be based on hearsay. Please feel free to update me on your finished product.
Best Wishes,
Dana