US Allows States to Legalize Recreational Marijuana Within Limits

In a move marijuana advocates hailed
as a historic shift, the Obama
administration on Thursday began
giving U.S. states wide leeway to
experiment with pot legalization and
started by letting Colorado and
Washington carry out new laws
permitting recreational use.
The Justice Department said it would
refocus marijuana enforcement
nationwide by bringing criminal charges
only in eight defined areas — such as
distribution to minors — and giving
breathing room to users, growers and
related businesses that have feared
prosecution.
The decisions end nearly a year of
deliberation inside President Barack
Obama's administration about how to
react to the growing movement for
relaxed U.S. marijuana laws.
Advocates for legalization welcomed the
announcement as a major step toward
ending what they called “marijuana
prohibition.”
“Today's announcement demonstrates
the sort of political vision and foresight
from the White House we've been
seeking for a long time,” said Ethan
Nadelmann, executive director of the
Drug Policy Alliance, an advocacy group.
“I must admit, I was expecting a yellow
light from the White House,” he said in a
statement. “But this light looks a lot
more green-ish than I had hoped. The
White House is basically saying to
Washington and Colorado: Proceed with
caution.”
Marijuana remains illegal and tightly
controlled under federal law, even as
about 20 states, plus the District of
Columbia, allow the use of medical
marijuana. Voters in Colorado and
Washington legalized recreational use in
groundbreaking ballot measures in
November 2012.
Obama had signaled he did not want a
new crackdown, telling ABC News in
December: “It does not make sense,
from a prioritization point of view, for us
to focus on recreational drug users in a
state that has already said that's legal.”
The leeway for the states will go only so
far, though, if Colorado, Washington or
other states show they are unable to
control the drug, the Justice Department
said in a statement.
Forty-two percent of Americans age 12
or older have used marijuana at some
point, according to a 2011 survey by the
U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental
Health Services Administration. Obama
has said he used marijuana when he
was young.
One opponent of marijuana legalization
said his group would redouble efforts to
spread word of the negative effects the
drug can have on adolescents.
“This is going to really quicken the
realization among folks that more
marijuana in our communities is not a
good thing,” said Kevin Sabet, a co-
founder of Smart Approaches to
Marijuana.
Eight areas in focus
The Justice Department could have sued
to block the Colorado and Washington
laws from taking effect under the theory
that they conflict with the Controlled
Substances Act of 1970, the primary
U.S. anti-drug law.
Coupled with the decision not to sue, the
Justice Department sent a four-page
memorandum to federal prosecutors
nationwide outlining eight priority areas
for marijuana enforcement.
While department officials said they are
committed to enforcing federal
restrictions on marijuana, prosecutors
have now been told not to expend effort
on cases unless they fall in one of the
eight areas.
The areas include distribution to minors,
situations when marijuana revenue is
going to other criminal enterprises,
trafficking across state lines and
growing on public land.
The criteria mean, for example, that
federal prosecutors will not charge a
marijuana dispensary simply because it
is large or profitable, said a Justice
Department official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
But the criteria also stop short of
guaranteeing immunity for anyone,
leaving business and individuals open to
prosecution if the case fits one of the
eight areas, the official said.
Colorado and Washington will need to
have regulatory systems to protect
against those types of crimes, or else
risk giving up the whole experiment, the
department said in a statement.
Attorney General Eric Holder had a
phone call on Thursday with the
governors of Colorado and Washington
to inform them of the decisions and told
them there would be a “trust but verify”
relationship between the Justice
Department and the states, said the
department official.
State officials said they shared Holder's
concerns.
“This reflects a balanced approach by
the federal government that respects the
states' interests in implementing these
laws and recognizes the federal
government's role in fighting illegal
drugs and criminal activity,” Washington
Governor Jay Inslee and Attorney
General Bob Ferguson, both of whom
are Democrats, said in a statement.

A T-shirt displayed at the first day of Hempfest