Feds Won't Try to Block Legal Marijuana in Colo.

As long as stores comply with state law, which sounds an awful lot like what they said about medical marijuana

The federal government will not make it a priority to block marijuana legalization in Colorado or Washington or close down recreational marijuana stores, so long as the stores abide by state regulations, according to new guidance being issued Thursday to federal prosecutors across the country.

The guidance — the details of which were provided by a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity — is a significant rewrite of the federal approach to marijuana prosecutions in states that have loosened laws around cannabis. The guidance says prosecutors should not make it a priority to target marijuana users or marijuana business — either medical or recreational — so long as they are in compliance with state laws and not violating eight key federal priorities.

The Justice Department official said prosecutors will expect states with liberalized marijuana laws to establish strict regulations to keep pot out of the hands of kids and to keep criminal groups from moving into the legal marijuana industry.

Comments

[plumbertom]

Holder just said Fuck You to Co. and Wa.
He even used the same wording when he said Fuck You to Ca. and the other MMJ legal states.
And you bought it?

[DaveSs]

The guidance says prosecutors should not make it a priority to target marijuana users or marijuana business ? either medical or recreational ? so long as they are in compliance with state laws and not violating eight key federal priorities

Where have I heard this before.

Oh yes, guidelines involving medical MJ. A lot of people in California can tell you how that's working out.

[godzleaf]

Oh yes they will.

[davidchester]

Lol, I like how Washington state is always mentioned after the fact or not at all. Any love for Washington state?

[Gindjurra]

The first person who follows all of Washington state's laws on marijuana who gets arrested for it by the feds under the Controlled Substances Act could file a constitutional challenge against the Act itself.

The feds stretched the 21st amendment to give themselves the constitutional authority to pass the CSA in the first place, and as long as all 50 states prohibited all the same drugs the CSA did, it existed in a constitutional gray area. Now? Now it's unconstitutional to apply it to people within any state who follow the state laws on the matter.

The feds REALLY don't want a court looking too closely at the fact that the 21st amendment gives them authority to prohibit interstate shipments of alcohol and help states enforce their own prohibition...but says nothing about anything BUT alcohol.