Attorney General Announces Formal Medical Marijuana Guidelines

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Attorney General Eric Holder
today announced formal guidelines for federal prosecutors in states that have
enacted laws authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The
guidelines make clear that the focus of federal resources should not be on
individuals whose actions are in compliance with existing state laws, while
underscoring that the Department will continue to prosecute people whose
claims of compliance with state and local law conceal operations inconsistent
with the terms, conditions, or purposes of those laws.

"It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with
serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on
medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind
claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly
illegal," Holder said. "This balanced policy formalizes a sensible approach
that the Department has been following since January: effectively focus our
resources on serious drug traffickers while taking into account state and
local laws."

The guidelines set forth examples of conduct that would show when individuals
are not in clear and unambiguous compliance with applicable state law and may
indicate illegal drug trafficking activity of potential federal interest,
including unlawful use of firearms, violence, sales to minors, money
laundering, amounts of marijuana inconsistent with purported compliance with
state or local law, marketing or excessive financial gains similarly
inconsistent with state or local law, illegal possession or sale of other
controlled substances, and ties to criminal enterprises.

Fourteen states have enacted laws in some form addressing the use of marijuana
for medical purposes. A copy of the guidelines, in a memo from Deputy
Attorney General David W. Ogden to United States Attorneys, can be found here:
http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/192

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice Office of Public Affairs, +1-202-514-2007, TDD
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