Posted by Orin Kerr:
Raich and Prosecutorial Discretion:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_06_05-2005_06_11.shtml#1118161376
[1]Bloomberg has an interesting story about the consequences (or lack
thereof) of yesterday's Raich decision:
Federal law enforcement officials in San Francisco said they
don't intend to crack down on medical pot users, who under
California state law are allowed to buy and smoke marijuana with a
doctor's permission. About 40 marijuana clubs in the city, which
operate without interference from local police, are likely to
continue in the wake of the Supreme Court decision that federal
drug laws ban use of medical pot.
"We respect the state law," said Javier Pena, special agency in
charge at the San Francisco office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency. "I can't tell you we are going to shut down all those clubs
tomorrow. Our efforts will remain targeted at the trafficking
organizations. We've never targeted the user, the sick people, the
dying people."
The DEA in San Francisco has shut down two of the city's pot
clubs and arrested two people in connection with club operations in
the last two years, said Casey McEnry, an agency spokeswoman.
. . .
California Attorney General Bill Lockyer said the U.S. has always
been able to prosecute medical marijuana users for violating
federal drug laws and has rarely done so.
"This doesn't represent a big change for the potential for
federal enforcement," Lockyer said in a telephone interview. "Our
medical marijuana users were always exposed to the possibility of
federal prosecution; there haven't been that many."
This is an important point, I think. The idea of the federal
government going after very ill people who are growing marijuana for
medical purposes strikes many (including me) as an obvious misuse of
power, if not an outrageous one. But the reality is that prosecutions,
while not nonexistent, are rare. Giving the feds the power to prohibit
doesn't mean that they actually will, and history suggests that they
usually don't. As a result, Raich doesn't mean the difference between
a world with home-grown medical marijuana for the very ill and a world
without it. Rather, it means a world in which home-grown medical
marijuana is advertised and public versus a world in which the
practice is more quiet and the feds mostly look the other way.
References
1. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aVi6eu3oFtKE&refer=us
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