Medical Marijuana Dispensaries Set To Open In Washington, D.C.

420 Warrior

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Even as federal prosecutors threaten to crack down on California's medicinal marijuana sites, Washington, D.C., is preparing to open a number of dispensaries in the Justice Department's own backyard.

Starting this summer, D.C. residents will be able to buy legal cannabis at local dispensaries just miles from the White House, the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. Cultivation centers have already begun to lease storefronts throughout Washington and the city will decide who will be able to open shops by the end of March.

Washington's laws will not be as lax as California's. To purchase pot, patients must be diagnosed with HIV, cancer, glaucoma or other serious terminal or chronic illnesses, and will be authorized to carry a maximum of 2 ounces.

Nevertheless, in a few months residents with prescriptions can make a short pit stop on their way home from work and smoke pot right underneath the federal government's nose - even if officials can smell it.
"These laws when implemented will be in the shadow of a very recalcitrant government," said Allen St. Pierre, executive director at the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.

"The DEA is based here. The drug czar's office is based here. How is that dynamic going to work when some of these entities say marijuana is not a medicine and two to three miles from his or her office will be a lawful, compliant medical marijuana dispensary?" St. Pierre said Washington residents will be prohibited from smoking in public or at dispensaries, which means no one will be able to walk past the White House and light up a joint anytime soon.

The D.C. marijuana initiative became law after Congress opted not to overturn a ballot measure approved by the city's voters more than a decade ago. In stark contrast, the federal government's treatment of California in recent months has been less cordial.

U.S. attorneys in California have ordered federal officials to close hundreds of dispensaries throughout the state, regardless of whether they have been complying with state and county law.

Licensed dispensaries have received numerous notices that give the owners two choices: terminate their stores or face criminal prosecution. San Francisco, Sacramento and San Diego are among the cities that have been targeted by the DEA.

Colorado, Washington and Michigan are also feeling federal pressure. Lawsuits have been filed in each of those states by frustrated marijuana dispensary owners and owners who received mixed signals from local and federal authorities.

Sixteen states have legalized medicinal marijuana; however it is still illegal under federal law. The disparity in rules leaves patients and sellers under a cloud of confusion.

"It is certainly unfair that medical marijuana patients in some parts of the country are having their access to life-saving medicine interfered with and cut off when it may not be happening to others," said Eric Sterling, President of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation.

"There's actually explicit protection from state officials that the U.S. Attorney's are ignoring," Sterling said.

One California dispensary owner from San Francisco expressed his frustration at the ease with which the DEA was able to close down his business.

"We got our notice in the mail in October, and closed 45 days later in November, along with other dispensaries who got their letters," said Charlie Pappas, chairman of the Divinity Tree in San Francisco.

The Justice Department in the District of Colombia has not yet made any moves to deter the cannabis centers from setting up shop in their own legislative jurisdiction.

Justice Department officials declined to comment on Washington's new legislation for this story.

D.C.'s unique status as a federal city may provide a reason for law enforcement officials to refrain from a crackdown in the capital.

"My sense is the U.S. attorney for D.C. is just not particularly interested in creating a legal and political crisis in the district. One feature of D.C. is that it is uniquely subject to the control of congress," Sterling said.

It also means the law could be vulnerable to a change of power. A new president with stronger anti-drug policies could decide to overturn Washington's pot law.

"If Obama loses and the Republican's retain control of the House, this could all change immediately," St. Pierre said. "The only reason why the D.C. government was able to revisit medical marijuana was because the political stars aligned four years ago - a Democratic president, a Democratic Congress."

Washington residents first approved medicinal marijuana in 1998 with 69 percent of the vote. However Congress, with its unique authority over the federal city, repeatedly rejected the ballot measure.
Twelve years later Congress agreed to no longer stand in the way, clearing the path for legal pot in the capital.

President Obama's position on marijuana has changed since his election. He campaigned on a pledge to allow states to regulate their own medical marijuana laws without federal interference but reneged on these promises by allowing his Justice Department to raid growers and sellers who are complying with state and local laws.

The Obama administration's change of heart has sparked anger and disappointment among his supporters in California, and created uncertainty for local authorities.

"The Obama administration said 'we're not going to enforce marijuana laws against individuals who are adhering to state laws,'" said Aaron Edwards, Fiscal and Policy Analyst at the California Legislative Analyst's Office. "Now I think there's some disagreement, particularly in recent months, whether the administration is adhering to their own written policy."

California advocates may use Congress' noninterference in D.C. as an argument to get the federal government off their back.
"To see this in D.C., nestled among these anti-marijuana bureaucracies, it's going to create some interesting friction," St. Pierre said.

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News Hawk - 420 Warrior 420 MAGAZINE
Location: Washington D.C.
Source: Mercury News
Author: Jessica Philipps
Copyright: © 2012 - San Jose Mercury News
Website: www.mercurynews.com
 
Woohoo! This could get interesting no matter if the feds attack or do nothing. Sure will give CA and CO some legs on the issue if they allow them to open.

Good Luck D.C.'ers!
 
I am glad to read that. I hope a prominent dispensary opens within site of the foreign embassies.

On another note, I really wish that supposed educated and intelligent news-reporting persons would do at least the bare-minimum of research (maybe... ask almost anyone on almost any web-forum that discuses cannabis?) about the topic that they are attempting to correctly(?) report on. Once again, some willfully-ignorant - and to me "willfully ignorant" has always equated to "stupid" - media person has referred to cannabis prescriptions. Nowhere in the United States is it legal to prescribe cannabis. If it were, many problems wouldn't exist.
 
I am glad to read that. I hope a prominent dispensary opens within site of the foreign embassies.

On another note, I really wish that supposed educated and intelligent news-reporting persons would do at least the bare-minimum of research (maybe... ask almost anyone on almost any web-forum that discuses cannabis?) about the topic that they are attempting to correctly(?) report on. Once again, some willfully-ignorant - and to me "willfully ignorant" has always equated to "stupid" - media person has referred to cannabis prescriptions. Nowhere in the United States is it legal to prescribe cannabis. If it were, many problems wouldn't exist.

Well, actually...believe it or not? Georgia has had a law on our books since the early 80's, to where Cannabis can be prescribed to "dying" people "only" and "only" if they "beg" there doctors for it!

Although, you would be hard pressed to find anyone here, who even knows about this fact! I've been an Cannabis advocate for a few years now and I've just recently found this fact out! It's the wool that's been pulled over our eyes, that burns me to the core!

I say, "Georgians" need to fight to amend this existing law, to reach a broader spectrum of patients!
 
It's killing me! I live about 15 minutes tops from DC, even though of somehow selling this old shack and moving there, but I don't think I could swing it......I'm shocked with the poverty in DC they will not allow people to grow their own! of course they said something about discount prices for the poor, which I am...but I gotta move..I have lived in the same house for 50 yrs! I have watched at least 10 0r 20 people die on the road in front of my house from drunk driving, but I can't smoke a little weed to relive pain or hell to unwind for that matter....whats up with that? :peace:
 
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