Finding the Middle Ground

WE MUST HAVE AN OPEN DISCUSSION ABOUT MARIJUANA LAWS

Attorney General Eric Holder has told federal prosecutors to not
waste time, money or energy going after patients, prescribers and
dispensers in the 14 states that allow the use of marijuana for
medical purposes.

His is an attempt to find a reasonable middle ground in the conflict
between marijuana laws in some states and federal law for all states.
There was a second part to Holder's edict: there is to be no let up
in the prosecution of those who use the more lenient pot laws as a
cover for illegal activity.

The Justice Department memo gives prosecutors wide discretion in
choosing which cases to pursue. Prosecutors are urged to pursue
marijuana cases involving violence, the illegal use of firearms,
selling pot to minors, money laundering or involvement in other crimes.

To be sure, there is a growing public acknowledgment that our
marijuana laws are not working despite years of effort and millions
spent on enforcement.

There are petitions being circulated to place propositions on the
California ballot to make marijuana legal. Those, however are issues
for another day. What we question is the seeming internal
contradiction of Holder's order.

On the one hand, prosecuting those who prescribe, dispense and use
marijuana for medicinal purposes - as allowed under California law -
seems more like persecution. For some, marijuana offers temporary
relief for what often are chronic health problems. Denying that
relief seems inhumane.

On the other hand, as any number of police raids have demonstrated,
there are those who are simply running head shops, illegally
dispensing marijuana under the guise of the medical marijuana laws
and reaping hefty profits in the process.

Last month in San Diego, authorities raided 14 medical marijuana
dispensaries and arrested 31 people. They seized more than $70,000
cash. Authorities said that at one dispensary alone, more than
$700,000 worth of pot was sold in six months. That would tend to be a
red flag for illegal activity.

It's a puzzle just how federal officials are expected to not waste
valuable investigative and prosecutorial time on legitimate marijuana
dispensaries while at the same time gathering the information needed
to pursue illegal dispensaries.

A short-term solution might be to simply remove legitimate pot sales
from the hands of private entrepreneurs and place it in the hands of
state officials. This would be something like alcohol package stores
operated in some states. If we did that, it would mean that all other
pot sales would be illegal.

The long-term solution, however, requires a calm, measured look at
the issue of marijuana. To have any chance of working, a law must
have two key elements: wide public acceptance that it is necessary
and enforceability.

It's increasingly clear our existing marijuana laws enjoy neither.