SAN FRANCISCO The U.S. Department of Justice can not spend money to prosecute federal marijuana cases if the defendants comply with state guidelines that permit the drug’s sale for medical purposes, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday.
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While the sale of the drug is still illegal under federal law, Congress in 2014 passed a budget rule which prohibits the DOJ from using federal funds to interfere in the implementation of state marijuana regulations.
Federal prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that Congress meant only to bar the DOJ from taking legal action against states with medical marijuana laws.
In a victory for medical marijuana advocates, a USA appeals court ruled in San Francisco today that medical cannabis users and growers can’t be federally prosecuted, at least for the time being, if they “strictly comply” with their state’s medical marijuana law.
“This is the beginning of the end of federal prosecutions of state medical marijuana dispensary operators, growers and patients”, said Marc Zilversmit, an attorney representing five people who operate four marijuana stores in Los Angeles and nine indoor growing sites in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The court remanded the cases for evidentiary hearings on whether the defendants’ conduct was completely authorized by state law.
The decision could be appealed to an expanded 11-judge panel of the circuit court or to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“This is a major blow against the federal government’s continuing war on medical marijuana and the people who rely on it for relief”, Tom Angell of the Marijuana Majority said in an email. The decision means that pot will remain illegal for any goal under federal law. The case is United States v. McIntosh.
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