Feds: Pot law is state's problem
Warning to medical users is 'speculation'law passes muster, but doctors risk all
Denver Post
Sunday, June 3, 2001
By Karen Auge <kauge@denverpost.com>
Denver Post Medical Writer
Sunday, June 03, 2001 - If Gov. Bill Owens and Attorney General Ken Salazar have a
problem with the state's new medical marijuana law, they shouldn't look to federal
prosecutors for the solution, Colorado's U.S. attorney said.
"Neither the governor nor the attorney general should engage in unfounded
speculation about who might be prosecuted in federal court," Richard Spriggs, acting
U.S. attorney for Colorado, said in a prepared statement issued late Friday.
Spriggs' remarks were a blunt response to an earlier statement from Salazar, in which
the attorney general said a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision doesn't invalidate
Colorado's marijuana law.
http://www.levellers.org/cohip/2001/coag.pr.may31.html
Salazar also said he had called on Spriggs to "enforce federal law," and
stated that he had warned doctors they could face federal prosecution if they participate
in the medical marijuana program.
"We in the U.S. Attorney's Office are truly grateful to Governor Owens and
Attorney General Salazar for sharing their problem with us," Spriggs said. "We,
however, are not the solution to their problem. That solution (if there is one) lies with
the 22 duly elected district attorneys and local police."
The exchange - via faxed statements - was triggered by the U.S. Supreme Court. Last
month, the high court ruled that there is no exception in federal anti-drug laws for
medical use of marijuana. In that California case, the court upheld federal prosecutors'
right to close down cannabis buyers' clubs despite a state law allowing medical marijuana
use.
The ruling sparked speculation that Colorado's Amendment 20, approved by voters last
November and opposed by both Owens and Salazar, might not hold up to judicial scrutiny.
The amendment lets people petition the state to be included on a registry of patients
allowed to possess up to two ounces of marijuana, or a few marijuana plants. To be
included on that registry, applicants must have one of a handful of specified illnesses,
and must have a doctor verify their condition and sign a statement saying that they might
benefit from smoking marijuana.
Last month, Salazar's office reviewed Amendment 20, and the Supreme Court ruling, and
concluded that Colorado's constitutional amendment should stand.
At the same time, Salazar sent a letter to the Colorado Medical Society, warning that
doctors who recommend marijuana for patients could face federal prosecution.
But Friday, Alan Gilbert, Colorado solicitor general, confirmed that while the attorney
general's office might encourage federal prosecutors to go after doctors, they couldn't do
much to aid such prosecutions.
Amendment 20 calls for the medical marijuana registry to be confidential - including
the names of doctors who sign the applications, Gilbert said.
And the attorney general's office likely would fight any attempt to subpoena that
information, he said.
"We will defend as vigorously as we can the confidentiality of the registry,"
Gilbert said.
"I don't think that's a conflict," he said. "In order to enforce against
doctors, the prosecuting authority would have to find out somehow (doctors' names). They
just can't find out this way."
Federal law prohibits possession and sale of marijuana, and labels it a class-one
narcotic - putting it in the same category as heroin and LSD.
Colorado, like most states, has its own set of drug laws.
There are many cases where states and the federal government have complementary sets of
laws, said Dick Weatherbee, law enforcement coordinator for the U.S. attorney's office in
Colorado.
Theoretically, someone who possesses or is selling illegal drugs is eligible to be
prosecuted by state or federal authorities, Weatherbee said.
Who prosecutes the case often depends on which agency uncovers the drug activity - if a
local police department makes the arrest, a local prosecutor usually handles the case. If
a federal agency, like the Drug Enforcement Agency, handles the investigation, it is
usually turned over to federal prosecutors.
Cases involving very large amounts of drugs, or where a suspected wide distribution
network is uncovered, often fall under federal jurisdiction.
Despite all the questions it has raised, Amendment 20 took effect Friday as scheduled.
The state health department, which is overseeing the program, mailed out about 75
information and application packets in the weeks leading up to the law's implementation.
Before the year is out, the department expects to handle about 800.
###
Denver Post
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Phone: (303) 820-1010
Fax: (303) 820-1369
Email: letters@denverpost.com
Web: http://www.denverpost.com
Contact:
Colorado Department of Law
Attorney General Ken Salazar
1525 Sherman St. 7th floor
Denver CO 80203
Phone: (303)866-4500
Fax: (303)866-5691
Email: attorney.general@state.co.us
Web: http://www.ago.state.co.us/
United States Attorney's Office
District of Colorado
Richard T. Spriggs, U.S. Attorney
1225 17th St., Sutie 700
Denver, CO 80202
Phone: (303) 454-0100
Fax: (303) 454-0400
Web: http://www.du.edu/usaoco/
Colorado Medicinal Cannabis Info.:
http://www.levellers.org/cohip/am20.index.html |
