Will feds allow state pot laws?

The Denver Post
May 18, 2020

Editorial

Will feds allow state pot laws?

Colorado and other states that have enacted medical marijuana laws should be allowed to proceed without federal interference.

Now that Colorado is poised to begin regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, it makes sense to consider how the potential state law jibes with the long arm of federal law.

Though President Obama's administration is taking a tolerant view toward the 14 states with medical pot laws, future administrations might decide to strictly enforce federal laws, which don't recognize the drug as anything other than illegal.

Colorado's Rep. Jared Polis, D-Boulder, has co-sponsored a measure that says as long as the doctors who prescribe, patients who use, dispensaries that sell and growers that provide medical marijuana follow state laws, federal drug agents would not be allowed to arrest or charge them with drug crimes.

That's an important exception to make because unless Gov. Bill Ritter surprises lawmakers with a veto, Colorado is on its way to sanctioning dispensaries and creating a vast new regulatory framework for the burgeoning new industry.

We don't think the dispensary model was what voters had in mind when they legalized medical marijuana in 2000. But though we have expressed several misgivings toward the proposed medical marijuana law, it would be highly improper and destructive for the federal government to undermine it.

Polis' measure, HR 2835, also would downgrade marijuana within the rubric of the Controlled Substances Act from Schedule I to Schedule II - an unnecessary provision that will only heighten the opposition from states without medical marijuana laws.

The measure, co-sponsored by Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, doesn't prevent federal drug agents from conducting investigations and arresting bad actors. Federal charges still could be brought against those who break state rules. Rather, the measure would simply recognize the will of the people in states that have allowed use of medical marijuana.

We think that is proper, though we have significant concerns about how such a provision would work in the real world. (And yes, we question whether Congress has the will to take up HR 2835 and address the controversial subject anytime soon. Polis' measure was introduced last
year.)

The proposal would create a federal medical marijuana exemption for any state that wished to opt in. Yet each state regulates its medical pot differently, and some states have struggled to do so effectively.

To date, the medical marijuana industry in Colorado has been more like a carnival that has allowed tens of thousands of residents with questionable ailments to join legitimate users who more readily fit the definition of someone who is truly suffering.

Polis argues that Colorado effectively polices its tobacco and liquor industries, and that it is reasonable to assume it will be able to do so with medical pot.

And it is true that new state provisions could make it more difficult to obtain a medical pot permit while creating a system of supervision of dispensaries.

Given that lawmakers have embarked on this journey, we think they should be allowed to do so without federal interference.

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