At a press conference earlier today in Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was peppered with questions about medical marijuana. This is understandable, given that a month ago U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha sent a letter to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee and other state officials threatening:

[C]ivil or criminal remedies against those individuals and entities who set up marijuana growing facilities and dispensaries.

Holder responded that the White House policy outlined in the Ogden memo, which de-emphasized federal interference, “made sense given…the limited resources that we have.” Addressing the obvious discord between policy and practice, Holder said he was working in Rhode Island and other parts of the country to “clarify what this policy means and how the policy can be implemented.”

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On Wednesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Howard H. Shore told a crowded courtroom of patient advocates:

“Medical marijuana is a scam.”

Jovan Jackson (right) and attorney Lance Rogers at Jackson's sentencing

During his vitriolic rants, Judge Shore found time to sentence Jovan Jackson, a dispensary operator who was recently convicted after being denied a defense at trial. Judge Shore harshly sentenced Jackson to 180 days in jail, and imposed a $5,000 fine and three years of probation, during which time Jackson is prohibited from using marijuana to legally treat his medical condition. (more…)

Online news giant Huffington Post published an outstanding op-ed by ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer this election morning, helping to bring our “Not Cooley” message to millions of Americans. This is an important message in California, where ASA and allies are urging voters to defeat anti-medical cannabis candidate Steve Cooley in his bid to be Attorney General. But it is also important nationwide. Elected officials need to know that medical cannabis patients and supporters are a political force to be reckoned with. High-profile media is an important part of that effort. Having Steph’s op-ed on a web site with an online readership bigger than both the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post is the way to get that coverage we need. Well done, Steph!

Special Assistant City Attorney Jane Usher told the Los Angeles Times that medical cannabis collectives in Los Angeles are experiencing “impatience and frustration” due to ongoing legal controversy surrounding the city’s tough new regulations. That may be the first thing Ms. Usher and medical cannabis advocates have agreed on in years. Don’t expect the amity to last long. The City Attorney Carmen Trutanich is trying to close more than one hundred legal collectives deemed ineligible to register under the city’s ordinance based on broad interpretive leaps. Los Angeles Times reporter Sandy Banks said she understands why the collectives feel like this is an “underhanded trick.”

READ: LA Timnes - ”Some compassionate pot shops caught in L.A. law’s red tape” (Sandy Banks, October 19, 2010)

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A new documentary by Len Richmond, “What if Cannabis Cured Cancer,” is starting to turn heads. Dr. Andrew Weil recently reviewed Richmond’s film, calling it “excellent,” and last week answered a question about medical cannabis on his web site.

[E]xciting new research suggests that the cannabinoids found in marijuana may have a primary role in cancer treatment and prevention. A number of studies have shown that these compounds can inhibit tumor growth in laboratory animal models. In part, this is achieved by inhibiting angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels that tumors need in order to grow. What’s more, cannabinoids seem to kill tumor cells without affecting surrounding normal cells. If these findings hold true as research progresses, cannabinoids would demonstrate a huge advantage over conventional chemotherapy agents, which too often destroy normal cells as well as cancer cells.

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Stooping to a new low, local law enforcement in California has resorted to identity theft in order to entrap, arrest and prosecute law-abiding medical marijuana providers. The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Department has admitted to using the physician’s recommendation and identity of legal medical marijuana patient Robert Shaffer in order to entrap and arrest Jay Smith, operator of the local “K Care Alternative Collective” dispensary. The Sheriff’s Department was in possession of Shaffer’s documentation as a result of an unrelated arrest.

Despite complying with state law by refusing to sell Deputy Sheriff Steve Avila any medical marijuana before verifying the recommendation that he fraudulently used, Smith is still being prosecuted for felony marijuana sales and transportation. Surprisingly, at a recent hearing, Calaveras County Superior Court Judge Douglas Mewhinney overlooked Smith’s compliance with the law and said there was sufficient evidence for the case to proceed to trial.

Shaffer’s physician, Dr. Philip A. Denney of Carmichael, verified that Shaffer was indeed a patient when K Care contacted Dr. Denney’s office after Deputy Avila deceptively used Shaffer’s valid medical marijuana recommendation. Dr. Denney, upset that his patient, Robert Shaffer, did not authorize such use of his medical records, told The Record that the investigation against Smith “smacks of entrapment and sleaziness.”

Dr. Philip Denney: The prosecution of Smith “smacks of entrapment and sleaziness.”

Calaveras Sheriff Dennis Downum defended the actions of Deputy Avila, but seemed confused about the letter of the law. In an appearance before the Calaveras Board of Supervisors, Sheriff Downum claimed erroneously that, “to provide medical marijuana to someone, there has to be a caregiver relationship.” In fact, if Sheriff Downum had brushed up on the law, he would have realized that for Smith to be in compliance with state law, he must operate as a collective or cooperative, not as a “caregiver.”

While Sheriff Downum has no excuse to be ignorant of the law he’s upheld to enforce, Calaveras District Attorney Jeff Tuttle has no excuse to falsely prosecute Smith based on the same flawed interpretation of state law. In an interview with the Calaveras Enterprise, Tuttle echoed Sheriff Downum and said that his “understanding of the law is that…you have to be a primary caregiver to provide [patients] with marijuana.”

In response to accusations of impropriety, District Attorney Tuttle said:

Law enforcement officers and investigations are allowed to do many things that as citizens we would be penalized criminally for, but the reason they are is that they are doing it as part of an investigation. They can mislead people, they can lie they can try to trick people.

Smith’s attorney, Ean Vizzi, called Tuttle’s assertions “absolutely incorrect,” not knowing whether Tuttle was just “mistaken or [if] he’s purposefully ignoring the law.”

Sheriff Downum and Distriact Attorney Tuttle should not be let off the hook so easily. At best, they have seriously misinterpreted California’s medical marijuana law, and at worst the Sheriff could be responsible for “investigatorial misconduct” against Smith and Shaffer. If it’s determined that the Sheriff’s Department has violated any ethical or legal standards by assuming Shaffer’s identity to entrap Smith, the case against Smith should be promptly dismissed and Sheriff Downum should have to face the legal consequences.

The East Bay Express reported yesterday that the state collects up to $100 million per year from taxing the sale of medical marijuana.

California Board of Equalization official Anita Gore told the Express this week that the board estimates it collects anywhere from $50 million to more than $100 million in sales taxes per year from medical cannabis dispensaries.

Although this amount of revenue seems startlingly high, Americans for Safe Access has said for the past two years that the Board of Equalization (BOE) was collecting at least $100 million annually from hundreds of dispensaries. This figure was corroborated by California NORML, which conducted a sales tax study separately from ASA.

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Virgil Grant, a loving husband and father, was sentenced Monday to 6 years in prison for lawfully providing medical marijuana to patients in accordance with California law. Grant, who operated dispensaries in some of the poorer and Black neighborhoods of Los Angeles, is the victim of a bygone federal policy, which is still needlessly ruining lives. Although there is a back-story to Grant’s persecution, make no mistake he was targeted by a hostile Bush Administration and now sentenced under President Obama despite a policy that should deter such needless and harmful punishment.

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In the spring issue of the journal Democracy, John J. DiIulio Jr., the former White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, underscored the need to “legalize marijuana for medically prescribed uses,” as part of his “Six Steps to Zero Prison Growth.” DiIulio should be applauded for his statements calling for a federal medical marijuana policy, not just because it will reduce prison growth, but also because it is a public health issue that must be addressed.

It’s true that DiIulio, currently a political science professor at the University of Pennsylvania, co-authored a book in 1996 with former Drug Czars William Bennett and John Walters, and wrote articles entitled, “Prisons Are a Bargain, by Any Measure,” and “Let ‘Em Rot.” However, DiIulio turned a new leaf before he even set foot in the White House to work for G.W. Bush in 2001. Contrary to the surprise recently expressed by other drug policy groups, Reason Magazine called DiIulio an “outspoken critic” of drug sentencing policies as far back as 1999. After DiIulio left the White House, Time Magazine published a story in 2003, noting that he “now opposes mandatory minimums for drug crimes,” and Rolling Stone published a story in 2007, claiming that DiIulio was:

…disgusted by the “perverse consequences” of harsh sentencing laws that had put millions of young Americans in prison, disbelieved the “sweeping scientific claims” made about the dangers of medical marijuana and wanted to expand “meaningful drug-treatment opportunities in urban areas.”

So, although it may not be a complete surprise that John DiIulio continues to forsake his pro-enforcement rhetoric of the past, we should still seize the opportunity to educate those in positions of power. DiIulio should work with Americans for Safe Access (ASA) to convince the federal government of developing a comprehensive policy on medical marijuana. While he’s at it, DiIulio should counsel Michele Leonhart, head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), to end the ongoing raids in medical marijuana states, and urge Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to grant the pending petition to reschedule medical marijuana. Finally, DiIulio can satisfy part of his criminal justice goals by working with ASA to pass the “Truth in Trials” Act, which would give medical marijuana patients and providers a fighting chance, a defense in federal court.

Finally, nearly two weeks after Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich issued a press release announcing nuisance abatement actions against local dispensaries, Americans for Safe Access has unearthed one of at least 18 letters sent to medical marijuana providers and their landlords threatening imminent eviction.

Under the Bush Administration, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) used the similar tactic of sending letters to more than 300 dispensary landlords in California, threatening criminal prosecution and seizure of their property if they did not evict their tenants. Although this cynical tactic resulted in the closure of dozens of dispensaries across the state, the federal government’s effort to undermine the implementation of California’s medical marijuana law has thankfully failed.

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