A PROBLEM WITH POT

Perhaps it is a sign of the weakness of the local economy, but
businesspeople young and old are eyeing the Rhode Island marijuana
business as potentially very lucrative perhaps more so than, say,
liquor stores!

But the rush to open these "compassion centers," at least officially
to be marketed to sick people who seek the pain-relieving qualities of
marijuana, has been considerably faster than federal officials'
acceptance. The latest sign of their skepticism came a couple of weeks
ago, when U.S. Atty. Peter Neronha said rather ominously that he
considered that the three pot dispensaries so far tentatively approved
by the Rhode Island Health Department would be large-scale, for-profit
pot production centers in violation of federal law. One of them,
Summit Medical Compassion Center, in Warwick, plans to be serving
8,000 patients and taking in $25 million in revenue by 2013.

It's not entirely clear how well these new centers would be policed,
including how rigorous the criteria for determining who gets their
products would be.

Governor Chafee had no alternative but to put these dispensaries on
hold until questions about their federal legality can be resolved. So
prospects for a new industry remain murky. (The current system
tolerates letting licensed patients grow a small amount of the weed
for themselves or getting it from state-licensed growers or caregivers
who are allowed to grow enough for five patients.)

And yet liquor stores open with little rumpus every day. There is more
than enough hypocrisy to go around in the sometimes wonderful world of
drugs.

In any event, this would ultimately be a conflict between federal and
state law. In such cases, federal law, barring an unexpected U.S.
Supreme Court ruling, usually wins. Mr. Chafee is wise to wait and get
a clearer idea of how high Rhode Island's plan for this new industry
will fly in Washington.