Court bars feds from prosecuting medical pot cases

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Justice Department can not prosecute medical marijuana businesses if those businesses are in compliance with applicable state laws.

The ruling, from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, comes as voters in nine more states will consider allowing the recreational use of marijuana this November.

“If the federal government prosecutes such individuals, it has prevented the state from giving practical effect to its law”, Circuit Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote for the court.

Now lower courts will have to determine whether or not the defendants in question had complied with state law before the charges can be dropped. Colorado, Washington, Oregon and Alaska, as well as the District of Columbia, already permit it.

While the sale of the plant is still illegal under federal law, the U.S. Congress passed a budget rule in 2014 that prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to interfere in the implementation of state marijuana regulations.

However, a lawyer for one of the defendants, Steve McIntosh of Los Angeles, says the Tuesday ruling could be “the beginning of the end of the federal war on medical marijuana”, according to KRON.

But the panel warned that “individuals who do not strictly comply with all state-law conditions” can be prosecuted, and also that Congress could restore prosecution funding in future years. The agency interpreted the measure to mean only that it couldn’t stop state governments from carrying out their medical marijuana laws – not that it couldn’t prosecute cases against individuals or businesses in those states.

“It’s an assertion by a court ― the largest federal circuit ― that federal prosecutors can not enforce the Controlled Substances Act against those in compliance with state medical marijuana provisions”, he explained.

A Justice Department spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment. Judge Breyer said Congressional law is clear – no interference. States’ efforts to legalize the drug in some form or another have worked only because of guidance from top DOJ officials urging frontline federal prosecutors to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations. The decision means that pot will remain illegal for any goal under federal law. He called the court’s decision a victory for states’ rights, medical marijuana patients and “the constitutional process of establishing law”.

Still, Zilversmit and other medical marijuana supporters said the Obama administration and federal authorities are still fighting the drug’s legalization.