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| Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee, left, is joined by state Attorney General Bob Ferguson as he talks to the media in Olympia, Wash. about the federal government's announcement that it will not sue to stop Washington and Colorado from taxing and regulating recreational marijuana for adults, on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2013. Last fall, voters made both states the first in the country to legalize the sale of marijuana to adults over 21 at state-licensed stores. The states are creating rules for the system, with sales expected to begin early next year. |
WASHINGTON
(AP) -- Despite 75 years of federal marijuana prohibition, the Justice
Department said Thursday that states can let people use the drug,
license people to grow it and even allow adults to stroll into stores
and buy it - as long as the weed is kept away from kids, the black
market and federal property.
In a sweeping new
policy statement prompted by pot legalization votes in Washington and
Colorado last fall, the department gave the green light to states to
adopt tight regulatory schemes to oversee the medical and recreational
marijuana industries burgeoning across the country.
The
action, welcomed by supporters of legalization, could set the stage for
more states to legalize marijuana. Alaska is scheduled to vote on the
question next year, and a few other states plan similar votes in 2016.
The
policy change embraces what Justice Department officials called a
"trust but verify" approach between the federal government and states
that enact recreational drug use.
In a memo to
all 94 U.S. attorneys' offices around the country, Deputy Attorney
General James Cole said the federal government expects that states and
local governments authorizing "marijuana-related conduct" will implement
strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems that address
the threat those state laws could pose to public health and safety.
"If
state enforcement efforts are not sufficiently robust ... the federal
government may seek to challenge the regulatory structure itself," the
memo stated.
The U.S. attorney in Colorado,
John Walsh, said he will continue to focus on whether Colorado's system
has the resources and tools necessary to protect key federal public
safety interests.
Colorado Gov. John
Hickenlooper said the state is working to improve education and
prevention efforts directed at young people and on enforcement tools to
prevent access to marijuana by those under age 21.
Colorado also is
determined to keep marijuana businesses from being fronts for criminal
enterprises or other illegal activity, he said, and the state is
committed to preventing the export of marijuana while also enhancing
efforts to keep state roads safe from impaired drivers.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee also laid out guidelines for marijuana entrepreneurs.
"If
you don't sell this product to children, if you keep violent crime away
from your business, if you pay your taxes and you don't use this as a
front for illicit activity, we're going to be able to move forward,"
Inslee said.
Under the new federal policy, the
government's top investigative priorities range from preventing the
distribution of marijuana to minors to preventing sales revenue from
going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels and preventing the
diversion of marijuana outside of states where it is legal.
Other
top-priority enforcement areas include stopping state-authorized
marijuana activity from being used as a cover for trafficking other
illegal drugs and preventing violence and the use of firearms in the
cultivation and distribution of marijuana. The top areas also include
preventing drugged driving, preventing marijuana cultivation and
possession on federal property.
The Justice
Department memo says it will take a broad view of the federal
priorities. For example, in preventing the distribution of marijuana to
minors, enforcement could take place when marijuana trafficking takes
place near an area associated with minors, or when marijuana is marketed
in an appealing manner to minors or diverted to minors.
Following
the votes in Colorado and Washington last year, Attorney General Eric
Holder launched a review of marijuana enforcement policy that included
an examination of the two states. The issue was whether they should be
blocked from operating marijuana markets on the grounds that actively
regulating an illegal substance conflicts with federal drug law that
bans it.
Peter Bensinger, a former head of the
Drug Enforcement Administration, said the conflict between federal and
state law is clear and can't be reconciled. Federal law is paramount,
and Holder is "not only abandoning the law, he's breaking the law. He's
not only shirking his duty, he's not living up to his oath of office,"
Bensinger said.
Last December, President
Barack Obama said it doesn't make sense for the federal government to go
after recreational drug users in a state that has legalized marijuana.
Last week, the White House said that prosecution of drug traffickers
remains an important priority.
A Pew Research
Center poll in March found that 60 percent of Americans think the
federal government shouldn't enforce federal anti-marijuana laws in
states where its use has been approved. Younger people, who tend to vote
more Democratic, are especially prone to that view. But opponents are
worried these moves will lead to more use by young people. Colorado and
Washington were states that helped re-elect Obama.
Advocates
of medical marijuana were cautious about the new policy. Twenty states
and the District of Columbia have enacted laws that effectively allow
patients to access and use medical marijuana. Threats of criminal
prosecution and asset forfeiture by U.S. attorneys have closed more than
600 dispensaries in California, Colorado and Washington over the past
two years, said Americans for Safe Access, which advocates for safe and
legal access to therapeutic cannabis.
Dan
Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation's largest marijuana
policy organization, called the policy change "a major and historic step
toward ending marijuana prohibition" and "a clear signal that states
are free to determine their own policies."
Kevin
Sabet, the director of Project Smart Approaches to Marijuana, an
anti-legalization group, predicted the new Justice Department policy
will accelerate a national discussion about legalization because people
will see its harms - including more drugged driving and higher high
school dropout rates.
Kristi Kelly, a
co-founder of three medical marijuana shops near Denver, said the
Justice Department's action is a step in the right direction.
"We've
been operating in a gray area for a long time. We're looking for some
sort of concrete assurances that this industry is viable," she said.
A
national trade group, the National Cannabis Industry Association, said
it hopes steps will be taken to allow marijuana establishments access to
banking services. Federally insured banks are barred from taking money
from marijuana businesses because the drug is still banned by the
federal government.
