Ben Preiss
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In a major move forward in recognizing the medical legitimacy of marijuana, new guidelines that will be issued by the Obama administration today will free pot-smoking patients, in states that allow medical marijuana use from the fear of getting busted by Federal drug agents. This will promote legitimate scientific study of cannabis and provide patients suffering from cancer and other debilitating diseases a sense of relief from the possibility of arrest and Federal charges. It also reverses decades of stigmatization of marijuana by the Federal government enforced by the DEA. In California, this action will likely significantly strengthen existing initiatives to legalize and tax cannabis.  Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.
The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.
(news.yahoo)References: mpp.org, news.yahoo Filed In: |
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