US States get chance to show marijuana works
Crusaders for decades have called for an end to the U.S. prohibition of marijuana, criticizing what they say are the government's exaggerated claims about its dangers and the racial disparities in who gets arrested for drug possession.
Now they will get their chance in Colorado and Washington start. to show that legalizing pot can be better, less costly and more humane. In a sweeping new policy statement, the Justice Department said Thursday it will not challenge states that want to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana as voters in Washington and Colorado did last year - as long as there are controls to keep marijuana away from kids, the black market and federal property. "It's nothing short of historic," said Dan Riffle of the Marijuana Policy Project, which supported Colorado's new law. "It's a very big deal for the DOJ to say that if the states want to legalize marijuana, that's fine. Everybody in this movement should be thrilled."
Voters in Oregon and Alaska could weigh marijuana legalization measures next year, and several states could face ballot questions in 2016, activists say. Meanwhile, Latin and South American countries are also considering pot reform, and the Obama administration's new stance could embolden them, said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, which supported Washington's law. Uruguay has already approved plans to license marijuana growers and shops.Officials in Washington and Colorado had been moving ahead to
make rules for their new industries without knowing whether the federal government would sue to block sales from ever taking place, on the grounds that they conflict with federal law. But in December, President Barack Obama said it does not make sense for the federal government to go after recreational users in a state that has legalized recreational use of small amounts of marijuana. Obama himself has admitted smoking pot when he was younger.
Licensed, taxed marijuana sales in Washington and Colorado are due to start next year, and officials have estimated they could raise tens or hundreds of millions of dollars for states. The Obama administration's guidance laid out eight federal law enforcement priorities that states need to protect if they want to authorize "marijuana-related conduct." They include keeping marijuana in-state, off the black market and away from children; preventing violence and gun crimes related to marijuana distribution; and preventing drugged driving. If a state's enforcement efforts don't work, the U.S. could sue to block the state's entire pot-regulating scheme, Deputy Attorney General James Cole wrote in a memo to all 94 U.S. attorneys around the country.
Some in the marijuana-reform community criticized the memo, noting it did not represent a fundamental change in the law, which would require the approval of Congress. "It's like, 'We're going to be tolerant of this as long as we feel like it,'" said Seattle marijuana defense attorney Douglas Hiatt. "Is a new administration just going to come in and shut it down?" A Pew Research Center poll in March found that 60 percent of Americans, especially young people, think the federal government shouldn't enforce federal marijuana laws in states where its use has been approved. But opponents are worried these moves will lead to more use by young people. Kristi Kelly, a co-founder of three medical marijuana shops in Colorado, said the Justice Department's action is a step in the right direction.
"We've been operating in a gray area for a long time. We're looking for some sort of concrete assurances that this industry is viable," she said. Associated Press writers Pete Yost and Alicia Caldwell in Washington, D.C., Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Washington, Gene Johnson in Seattle and Kristen Wyatt in Denver contributed to this report.
-Sapa-AP