rssMemo sheds light on federal action against medical marijuana
- 10 Comments
As people in Montana and beyond struggle to come to grips with a massive federal raid of Montana medical marijuana businesses, the question that comes up is Were these businesses violating state law that allows medical marijuana, or were they raided because they are in violation of federal law, which prohibits the use and possession of marijuana.
This memo from a U.S. Attorney, shared with the Colorado Independent may shed some light on that question.
The memo was sent to the Independent by the Cannabis Therapy Institute, and can be seen here (pdf).
The “Haag Memo” was written on Feb. 1, 2011 by United States Attorney Melinda Haag (Northern District of California) to John A. Russo, Esq., Oakland City Attorney, in response to an Oakland City Council request for guidance regarding medical marijuana and federal law. Haag writes that the memo was written with consultation and approval from U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.
Holder had previously said the feds would not interfere with states that legalized medical marijuana.
From the memo:
We will enforce the CSA (Controlled Substances Act) vigorously against individuals and organizations that participate in unlawful manufacturing and distribution activity involving marijuana, even if such activities are permitted under state law.
…
Others who knowingly facilitate the actions of the licensees, including property owners, landlords, and financiers should also know that their conduct violates federal law.
10 Comments
Comment posted March 18, 2011 @ 3:05 pm
And the Feds gonna arrest and prosecute every state elected official who votes for/signs off on (facilitates) legal producers, processors and dispeners of medicinal cannabis for their state? Like is being done here in Washington state, as I speak, and in other states before.
Nope, only folks in Fed crosshairs are regular folks with the means or necessary infrastructure for getting legal medical cannabis to legally qualified patients.
Why am I not surprised?
Why do so many hang on to the Hearst reefer madness legacy? Why do the Feds? Cannabis a schedule 1 killer. Yeah right.
Is this about corporate profits for alcohol, tobacco and big pharma being protected by the Feds? Is it the hysteria over the reefer that still reigns supreme?
I don’t know. But I do know, I am tired of it!!
Comment posted March 19, 2011 @ 5:13 pm
[the following is my letter to President Obama regarding the Haag memo]:
Your disavowal of the principle enunciated in the Ogden memorandum has not gone unnoticed. We the People of the United States demand the resignations of Attorney General Holder and US Attorney Melinda Haag. The dissolution of the DEA and the repeal of the Controlled Substances Act are essential elements of our determination that America become once again “the land of the free”. Our status as the leading prison-nation in the world is a completely unacceptable outrage, and drastically reducing our prison population must be America’s first priority.
Haag’s memo reveals the “United States Justice Department” to be an illegitimate institution waging war against the people of the United States, and an enemy of American liberty. Real Americans will act against the criminal gang of fascists controlling the Congress, many state legislatures, the courts, and their Schutzstaffel, the Injustice Department. No terrorist or serial murderer threatens our society more than rabid animals like Haag and the dupes who continue to prop them up.
Your failure to resist fascism renders you unfit to serve a second term. People who use cannabis read, think, and vote. I for one am done with the kind of political expediency which has allowed the Greater and Lesser Fascist Parties to control our private lives. To whatever extent you are motivated by pragmatism, please consider that my contention that millions of your core voters will simply not accept your retreat from respecting states’ medical cannabis laws may be true.
Robert Chase
Colorado Coalition for Patients and Caregivers
copatientsandcaregivers@gmail.com
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
As determined by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L Young, Schedule I Cannabis is a damned lie. That is patently obvious to anyone with a room-temperature IQ. We shall NEVER capitulate.
Remove Cannabis from CSA completely, like tobacco. Otherwise, we repudiate your null and void “law”.
-Richard Paul Steeb, San Jose California
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
As determined by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L Young, Schedule I Cannabis is a damned lie. That is patently obvious to anyone with a room-temperature IQ. We shall NEVER capitulate.
Remove Cannabis from CSA completely, like tobacco. Otherwise, we repudiate your null and void “law”.
-Richard Paul Steeb, San Jose California
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 4:12 pm
As determined by DEA Administrative Law Judge Francis L Young, Schedule I Cannabis is a damned lie. That is patently obvious to anyone with a room-temperature IQ. We shall NEVER capitulate.
Remove Cannabis from CSA completely, like tobacco. Otherwise, we repudiate your null and void “law”.
-Richard Paul Steeb, San Jose California
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 4:25 pm
Finding people who make pure profit off medical marijuana is only as hard as looking up members of the city council, board of supervisors, sheriffs and other county officials that are using it to boost their budgets.
Medical marijuana in California was never supposed to be a tounge-in-cheek way to bring “legalization” and retail-pot-shops to any stoner willing to see a shady doctor once a year, the people here have completely lost sight of the spirit of the law.
http://www.baycitizen.org/marijuana/story/oakland-city-council-agrees-tax-cannabis/
http://www.cannabissearch.com/news/san-jose-to-tax-cannabis-clubs-/
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/11/14/3183517/sacramento-pot-dispensaries-prepare.html
http://www.legalizeherb.com/tag/zip-tie/
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 6:49 pm
So Obama lied to us 2 years ago when he stated publicly that fed money and resources would not be used to go after state Medical Marijuana programs. OR was this a set up to get a list of all people to prosecute that now tryed to be legal and register with the states.
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 9:58 pm
Cannabis isn’t illegal, it’s essential.
http://californiacannabisministry.blogspot.com/2011/03/cannabis-vs-global-broiling.html
Comment posted March 21, 2011 @ 10:05 pm
“Essential civilian demand” for a “strategic resource” “of first necessity to the wealth and protection of our country” is the fastest route to ending prohibition, by reclaiming The First Amendment, protecting our freedom to farm “every herb bearing seed.”
Comment posted April 6, 2011 @ 4:04 am
THE FACTS ARE THERE, THE SCIENCE IS THERE, THE MATH IS THERE, it is all there for all to see ,do the research please and legalize now!!!!!!!!!!! or we the people will shall rise and be heard like never before for this i promise you!! peace out dawg!!!!
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