San Francisco "Condemns" DEA Letters to Medical Marijuana Dispensary Landlords
Via CBS5 news:
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors today passed a resolution condemning federal authorities for sending letters to landlords of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city, notifying them of the possibility of imprisonment and seizure of their property.
The resolution was approved this afternoon by a 7 to 2 vote.
The resolution calls the letters - issued in December by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to about 50 Northern California landlords, some in San Francisco --"misguided and sensationally threatening harassment."
The resolution was authored by Supervisor Chris Daly and co-sponsored by supervisors Jake McGoldrick and Ross Mirkarimi.
According to the DEA, the letters were sent out "basically as a courtesy," informing landlords the cannabis clubs were operating on their property, constituting a violation of federal law, the penalty for which includes seizure of assets, including property, and up to 20 years in prison.
The resolution, which reaffirms San Francisco as "a sanctuary for medical cannabis," states that the DEA "has repeatedly subverted and undermined California's, and many other states', laws governing medical cannabis."
It also accuses the DEA of "increasingly acting on its irrational policy and hysteria regarding medical cannabis specifically, and the so-called War on Drugs in general."
It continually amazes me that nobody is citing any legal authority that says the DEA cannot interfere with California's medical marijuana law. In Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006), the Supreme Court made it clear that states have the authority under federal law, 21 USC 903, to make the decision on accepted medical use. Of course, California still lists marijuana as a schedule 1 controlled substance with no accepted medical use in treatment in the United States. So, what is the dispute all about here? Either the 1996 voter initiative is controlling and somebody forgot to amendment the state scheduling, or the DEA has the right to go in and enforce the law. All this whining and complaining is not going to get the job done. Come on you lawyers. Are you really going to support the continuation of this madness just so you have job security in defending all of these ineffective claims?
Posted by: Carl E. Olsen | February 28, 2008 at 06:41 AM