FEDS WORKING WITH STATES TO RESOLVE MEDICAL-MARIJUANA ISSUES, U.S.
ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS

PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder suggested on Thursday
that the Justice Department will work with governors and other states
to reach a satisfactory resolution to the establishment of
dispensaries that sell marijuana to patients in state-sponsored
medical-marijuana programs.

"We are in the process of working [on] these issues with the U.S.
Attorney for Rhode Island and other U.S. Attorneys across the
country," he said. "My hope is that sometime in the not too distant
future ... it will be addressed."

Holder's cautious comments came during a news conference at The
Institute for the Study & Practice of Nonviolence in the city's South
End. He toured the recently refurbished facility on Oxford Street with
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, U.S. Attorney Peter F. Neronha and state
Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin.

Afterward, Holder was peppered with questions about the Justice
Department's position on dispensaries, also known as compassion
centers, that sell marijuana to people approved by the state to use
cannabis to cope with chronic pain and other debilitating ailments.

He promised to clarify the Justice Department's position on
medical-marijuana laws in Rhode Island and elsewhere.

On April 29, a letter from Neronha was hand-delivered to Governor
Chafee, saying that federal authorities may prosecute anyone
affiliated with the three dispensaries that the Health Department
selected to sell medicinal marijuana in Rhode Island. Chafee got the
message and quickly placed a hold on licensing the centers.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in other states opening or considering
opening dispensaries issued similar threats. Those states include
Vermont, Maine, Montana and Colorado.

In Washington state, U.S. Attorneys Mike Ormsby and Jenny Durkan, went
one step further. They recently said that state employees involved in
the licensing or regulation of medical marijuana could be subject to
arrest and prosecution. As a result, Gov. Chris Gregoire vetoed key
pieces of a medical-marijuana law, saying she didn't want to place
state employees at risk.

Thursday, Holder sidestepped questions about whether he would support
the arrest of state employees in Rhode Island involved in any
medical-marijuana licensing or regulation. He repeatedly said that he
hopes more discussions between federal and state officials will lead
to a fair resolution of the conflict between the Justice Department's
policy of prosecuting significant growers and distributors of
marijuana and the operation of medical-marijuana dispensaries whose
operators would grow quantities of cannabis.

The operators of the three proposed dispensaries in Rhode Island --
Thomas C. Slater Compassion Center in Providence; Greenleaf
Compassionate Care Center in Portsmouth and Summit Medical Compassion
Center in Warwick -- as well as hundreds of medical-marijuana
patients, have been deeply disappointed in Holder, Neronha and the
Justice Department.

JoAnn Lepannen, executive director of the Rhode Island Patient
Advocacy Coalition, has repeatedly stated that the threat of a federal
crackdown is simply hurting the more than 3,000 patients in the state
who need marijuana to cope with pain. She also has said that it will
force many patients to find the drug illegally on the street or turn
to prescription narcotics that are expensive, highly-addictive and can
cause serious side effects.

Lepannen has made a point of separating her group seeking medicinal
marijuana from those who advocate for legalization of cannabis.
Holder, at his news conference, said that he was wary of dispensaries
becoming a tacit form of legalizing the drug.

On Tuesday, Sen. Rhoda E. Perry and Rep. Scott A. Slater, both
Providence Democrats, met with Chafee to press him on awarding state
licenses to the dispensary groups. He told them that he will continue
to have discussions with governors in the other 15 states with
medical-marijuana programs before making a final decision on the licenses.

They also said that they would like to meet with Senator
Whitehouse.

Following Holder's news conference, Whitehouse said that Rhode
Island's medical-marijuana program and its plans to open dispensaries
"seems reasonable and the state has spoken."

He said that he will continue to work on the issue with
representatives from the Justice Department and Rhode Island, "so
people know what the rules of the game are."

Late in the day, Representative Slater introduced eight
medical-marijuana patients to the full House of Representatives.
Speaking on their behalf, he urged the legislators to keep pressuring
Chafee to license the dispensaries. He reminded his colleagues that
legislation was passed two years ago to establish the centers.

"We still have nothing to show for it," he said.

Following his brief speech, the patients, four of whom were in
wheelchairs, dropped by Chafee's office to give him a four-page letter
and, possibly, meet with him.

The letter said, in part: "The patient community is tired. We are
tired of legislative hurdles, administrative delays and political
interference. We are desperately seeking compassionate leadership on
this issue. We respectfully ask that you join the many other governors
throughout the country who are moving forward on state laws that allow
for safe patient access to medicine."

Chafee was in his office meeting with Whitehouse when they arrived,
but a few minutes later, he emerged from his office to tell the
delegation that to grant the dispensary licenses, he would need a
guarantee from the Justice Department "that they are not going to raid
us and shut us down."