ASA is encouraged to learn that the Obama Administration has taken a major step forward in defining its policy on medical cannabis today, when the U.S. Department of Justice issued a memo giving new instructions to federal prosecutors and law enforcement.  This memo has been expected since we learned that the Committee report to accompany the Justice appropriations legislation would include specific language requiring a written policy.

But, as the appropriations process started to stall, ASA continued to track federal activity throughout California. A lot of this activity has been directed toward individuals and organizations that hadn’t previously warranted the attention of federal authorities and seemed to violate the spirit of the vague policy announced in March.  Moreover, the lack of specific instruction from the Federal government is complicating issues on the ground in California at a key moment in the development of distribution policies across the State.  My colleagues at ASA and I felt like we couldn’t wait any longer for Congress to wrap up their Justice appropriations work, and we decided to press officials at the DOJ for an open dialogue.

Last week, ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer, Special Advisor David Krahl, PhD, and I met with a senior official in the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison in Washington, DC, to discuss the new Administration’s policy and the impact of federal interference in states where medical cannabis is legal. We specifically highlighted the federal activity we have tracked since the early statements were issued by the White House and Attorney General Holder, we discussed pending federal legislation, provided recommendations and we requested that some written communication be issued soon to help correct and provide guidance to federal officials in the various states that have approved the limited use and provision of marijuana for medical purposes. We are confident that the Administration has heard our concerns, is open to a continued multi-agency dialogue with ASA and our allies, and is moving in the right direction.

I would like to add, however, that we are a long way from where we (and they) need to be.  In the course of our hour long dialogue with Department officials, a lot of questions were asked and many ideas were exchanged. The conclusion of our conversation was that some direction was needed to officials in California and that continued dialogue would be necessary across multiple agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy on medical marijuana that includes a safe and legal access plan and provides real and lasting protection for bona-fide patients and their providers.

ASA is committed to continued engagement with the Administration, federal agencies, and Congress to ensure implementation of our national policy agenda.  With that in mind, there is more work to be done and some of that work may require turning up the heat where and when the time comes.

Finally, I wanted to offer my congratulations to each and every one of you who have worked so hard over the many years to help create a more compassionate federal policy on medical marijuana, including the countless names on this list.  I hope we can count on your continued support.

Full text of ASA’s Policy Recommendations to President Obama is available on our website.

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=5612

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2009 at 7:17 am and is filed under Americans for Safe Access (ASA), DEA, Federal, Law Enforcement, Legal, Media, Medical Cannabis, Raids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.