DOJ misled Congress

Tom Angell’s got a pretty good scoop:

Exclusive: Justice Department Admits Misleading Congress on Marijuana Vote

Justice Department officials misinformed members of Congress about the effects of a medical marijuana amendment being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives, according to an internal memo obtained by Marijuana.com.

The amendment, which lawmakers approved in May 2014 by a vote of 219-189 despite the Obama administration’s objections, is aimed at preventing the Department of Justice from spending money to interfere with the implementation of state medical cannabis laws.

But in the days leading up to the vote, department officials distributed “informal talking points” warning House members that the measure could “in effect, limit or possibly eliminate the Department’s ability to enforce federal law in recreational marijuana cases as well,” according to the document. [Emphasis added.]

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12 Responses to DOJ misled Congress

  1. thelbert says:

    didn’t somebody lie to congress when congress made marijuana illegal? it’s not the DOJ’s fault that members of congress can’t read their minds, or interpret lies correctly.

  2. Tony Aroma says:

    The plot thickens!

    “Why not tell prosecutors to use their discretion to abide by that intent instead of telling them to try to get around it with a narrow reading of the text?”

    Good question. And what’s going on with the DOJ? They issues memos telling prosecutors to leave state legal mmj patients alone, now they’re trying to circumvent basically the same message from Congress.

    And why would they need an act of Congress to prevent them from going after state officials? Local officials are already protected by the CSA. Anyone dealing with or handling controlled substances as part of their official duties are immune from prosecution under the CSA. Otherwise, every time a cop confiscated a bag of weed, they’d be in violation of the CSA for possession of a controlled substance. In other words, the DOJ’s argument is nonsensical.

    • Duncan20903 says:

      .
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      Apparently you’re not familiar with the meaning of the phrase “nudge nudge wink wink” in those memos. Oh heck, let me dismantle one just for the heck of it. Yes, I did excise part of this piece in a post here in the last couple of days.

      1) Prevent distribution to minors.

      Would a 50% reduction be acceptable? From my observations the prohibitionists demand perfection. While I’m sure that age limits strictly enforced at point of sale combined with education are proven to and will significantly reduce youth access it’s not possible to keep the kiddies virgins until they’re 21 short of building a self contained space station to keep them in.

      2) Prevent revenues from going to criminals.

      Again, will a significant reduction count? Let me know quickly, I’m holding my breath!

      3) Preventing export to other States.

      Says the Federal government that can’t keep it from coming in over any of the 4 National borders. Hawaii is probably the only State that could accomplish that but I think the mandatory exit body cavity searches would cause a significant reduction in tourism, and the State would be overrun with perverts who just want to enjoy the body cavity search.

      4) Preventing legal cannabis vendors from also concurrently dealing illegal drugs.

      Right, all they have to do is be the first government in the history of the world to eliminate a crime of greed. Good luck with that.

      5) Prevent violence & the use of firearms in the cultivation & vending of State legal cannabis.

      Hey Mr. Ripper, please don’t use a gun when you rob me. Just ask politely because I’m not allowed to defend myself. Can I hire a security guard licensed to carry a gun? No? Can I at least use a replica to bluff that ripper? No? Can I throw rocks? No? Can I fart in their general direction?

      6) Prevent drugged driving and exacerbation of other public health consequences “associated” with mary j. wanna.

      Yadda,

      7) Prevent growing on public lands.

      Yadda,

      8) Prevent merrywanna law violations on Federal property.

      Yadda.

      Are people starting to see that this list is just meant to be an excuse for a crackdown? To avoid people getting mad at the Feds for contravening the will of the voters? For crying out loud they even want State authorities to do the Feds job and prevent people from breaking the law where agents of the State have no friggin’ authority.

      These hoops were set way too high to be jumped through by anyone other than Superman. I’m not even certain that S-man would be able to negotiate this obstacle course but it might make for an exciting two part cliff hanger!

      • DonDig says:

        .
        Agree wholeheartedly.

        The point they won’t admit to, is that prohibition is a ‘jobs’ program for them. Just another way of having a job (at our expense, in every sense of the word).

        Otherwise, how do you have cops laughing and making fun of the ‘crime’ scene, as in the dispensary rip-off where they were video recorded we talked about here a few days ago. It’s a game they play. They think it’s fun.

        Disgusting.

        • Duncan20903 says:

          .
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          Nobody likes my solution, which is to guarantee to maintain the current level of funding LE agencies and include an adjustment equal to the annual CPI. Then let attrition over the next few decades work its magic. I think other people don’t like the idea because they see it as a bribe. Of course that’s exactly what it is. But it isn’t as if the cops would be left twiddling their thumbs at the doughnut counter. We might even be able to make the Country safer with them actually investigating true common law crimes like kiddie diddling. But it would render their fears of being laid off immaterial. There’s plenty of crime to keep the police busy so it really isn’t even much of a bribe.

          Did you hear about the hooker in West Virginia who very recently agreed to a sex date with a serial killer? His plan backfired because the hooker ended up killing the killer with his own gun. What’s that got to do with the price of eggs in Egypt? The friggin’ police had absolutely no clue that this guy was traveling from State to State killing hookers.

          What’s the difference between a hooker in West Virginia hooker and a hog? The hog has teeth.

        • free radical says:

          Duncan, I wouldn’t say no one likes your solution…

          I have said before that because of the vast profits associated with waging the drug war, the only way to end the drug war is to guarantee those profits keep flowing.
          So we pay drug task forces and narcs the same pay they’ve always received, but order them to not do their jobs. They can do whatever they like with their time: golf, read, or whatever. But they are not to enforce drug laws or they will lose their beefy allowance. This scenario would still be a *net gain* for us all. Costly, but marginally more just than the current policy.

    • claygooding says:

      First off Erik Holder was AG when the memos were sent out and now the Search and Seize queen has his chair,,,besides memos can be shredded at any time.

      There is still no real change to any laws or the CSA scheduling of cannabis and they can still try and put the cork back in the bottle,,if the banksters tell them too.

  3. Duncan20903 says:

    .
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    There’s no need to worry, they’ve turned the case over to the DoJ for investigation. Nobody knows better than the DoJ just how thorough a DoJ investigation can be. If they end up getting charged will the prosecutor also be the defense attorney?

  4. thelbert says:

    too bad it’s not illegal for cops to lie: http://tinyurl.com/nj8j5g7 this time it’s about “weaponized marijuana”.

    • jean valjean says:

      That’s how it was done in 2003. What’s the betting he wouldn’t have lived through such an encounter with L.E. today?

  5. claygooding says:

    “”that is, from impeding the ability of States to carry out their medical marijuana laws, not from taking actions against particular individuals or entities, even if they are acting compliant with State law.””

    There is the contradiction that may help overturn any prosecution,,IMO,,equal protection under the law implies if the federal government allows states to pass and implement regulations and laws for MMJ and the citizen is following state laws he is immune from prosecution by the DOJ,,,that is how I see it Vern…

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