10-28-2009, 11:28 PM
I don't think you have to worry about wheat and chickens for this one.
The death knell for the feds prosecuting medical marijuana cases in California was the Rosenthal case in 2003: he was (and is) a marijuana activist and I dare say has his own agenda, but whatever one's opinion on that, he was convicted in a district court in San Francisco of violating federal drug laws. The judge refused to admit any evidence to the effect that Rosenthal had been licensed by the City of Oakland to sell marijuana under the terms of the California 1996 Proposition legalizing the cultivation and use of "medical marijuana", which I suppose was logical since he was being prosecuted by the Feds. After the Jury had convicted Rosenthal, they found out the actual facts of the case and were mostly horrified. Five of them showed up in public to repudiate their decision and apologize to Rosenthal. The judge ended up sentencing Rosenthal to 1 day in prison (which he'd already served) instead of the following the federal guidelines of 10 badzillion years in prison for the dealing and possession of drugs. I guess Rosenthal is still appealing to erase the conviction -- not sure what the status is.
Anyway, you don't have to analyze the horribly thorny issues of federal vs. state governance to see that federal prosecution of medical marijuana cases makes no sense in California or other states where it's legalized.
The death knell for the feds prosecuting medical marijuana cases in California was the Rosenthal case in 2003: he was (and is) a marijuana activist and I dare say has his own agenda, but whatever one's opinion on that, he was convicted in a district court in San Francisco of violating federal drug laws. The judge refused to admit any evidence to the effect that Rosenthal had been licensed by the City of Oakland to sell marijuana under the terms of the California 1996 Proposition legalizing the cultivation and use of "medical marijuana", which I suppose was logical since he was being prosecuted by the Feds. After the Jury had convicted Rosenthal, they found out the actual facts of the case and were mostly horrified. Five of them showed up in public to repudiate their decision and apologize to Rosenthal. The judge ended up sentencing Rosenthal to 1 day in prison (which he'd already served) instead of the following the federal guidelines of 10 badzillion years in prison for the dealing and possession of drugs. I guess Rosenthal is still appealing to erase the conviction -- not sure what the status is.
Anyway, you don't have to analyze the horribly thorny issues of federal vs. state governance to see that federal prosecution of medical marijuana cases makes no sense in California or other states where it's legalized.