U.S. Attorney Joseph Russoniello expressed his desire yesterday for medical marijuana dispensaries in San Francisco to be run as “communes” rather than as “candy stores.” Russoniello’s reference to “candy stores” is confusing enough, but the Bush-appointed federal prosecutor’s shift from conservative free-market thinking to Marxist communism was a surprise to many in the medical marijuana movement, not to mention the public at large.

For some reason, Russoniello and other typically conservative federal prosecutors believe that medical marijuana should not be distributed in the normal retail fashion in California, but instead should be based on non-cash principles of communism where collective members till the soil. While this may seem idyllic to some, it belies the way in which businesses are run even in many communist countries.

With his public statement, Russoniello implied that he would ignore the recent Justice Department directive to U.S. Attorneys discouraging them from investigating and prosecuting medical marijuana cases. Russoniello reserved the right to continue raiding medical marijuana dispensaries. That is, unless they’re run like communes.

By announcing his intention to continue the Bush Administration’s aggressive policy of raiding medical marijuana dispensaries, Russoniello is showing his “drug warrior” colors and flaunting his defiance of President Obama’s new policy. Perhaps, with bold pronouncements like this, Russoniello is secretly hoping to be replaced when Obama gets around to appointing new U.S. Attorneys.

If, in fact,  Russoniello’s days as a federal prosecutor are numbered, maybe he could still apply as a government worker with the People’s Republic of China.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 11:06 am and is filed under Americans for Safe Access (ASA), California, DEA, Dispensaries, Federal, Law Enforcement, Legal, Media, Medical Cannabis, Raids, Washington. 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.