Did a California pot dispensary really just defeat the federal government in court?
YES, IT DID. Last week, a federal judge smacked down the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for trying to shutter a medical marijuana dispensary in Fairfax, California. It was quite a surprise. The case sets a helpful precedent against DOJ enforcement actions going forward.
The litigation has been going on since 1998, the year that Google was founded and Secretary Clinton’s husband was impeached. It all started when DOJ sued several medical marijuana dispensaries, including the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana (MAMM), for distributing pot in violation of federal law.
Note that what these dispensaries were doing was undisputedly legal at the time under California law, and remains so today. In fact, the Fairfax mayor has stated in letters and court documents that MAMM in particular is a “model business,” which has observed its local permit to a T. But the feds were having none of that.
Over the past 17 years, the case had many twists and turns. In 2002, the court issued a permanent injunction against MAMM, which means that the dispensary was ordered to stop distributing pot. However, MAMM ignored the injunction and continued to operate. Finally, in 2011, DOJ issued cease-and-desist letters to MAMM and other dispensaries. MAMM ignored these too, so DOJ began forfeiture proceedings in which it seized assets of MAMM and related parties. Eventually, the dispensary’s landlord settled with DOJ, which meant that MAMM was out of plays, and, subsequently, homeless.
For a little while there, nothing happened. Then, last December, Congress quietly passed a law preventing DOJ from spending money “to prevent states from implementing their own laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.” DOJ considered this, but decided that because the law technically did not prevent it from “enforcing” federal law, it could continue to pillage dispensaries.
The new law’s sponsors disagreed, and MAMM asked the court to revisit the injunction that the dispensary had previously always ignored. Most legal observers thought that MAMM had little chance of winning. However, Judge Charles Breyer found DOJ’s reading of the new law “tortured” and said the injunction could be enforced only if MAMM were to violate state law. The dispensary is not going to do that.
Over the years, pot businesses have been annihilated when it comes to government litigation, so this was quite a coup for an industry that suddenly has all sorts of momentum. You can be certain that every medical marijuana defendant in the country currently facing federal enforcement will cite Judge Breyer’s ruling. You can be nearly as certain that DOJ will appeal. The case has only been going on for 17 years.
How much did the attorneys get paid?
Okay, here’s a softball for you. It’s permissible for Oregon subjects to now grow four plants and possess eight ounces of so-called, “Marijuana” at home, and carry an ounce in one’s pocket on the way to PSU. The conflict of law is the fact that the average plant, grown indoors, yields about three and a half ounces. Lemon Thai Kush can produce from eight ounces to three quarters of a pound, per plant, under artificial light. Is it legal to have heavy weight on the plant, so long as it isn’t cut and dried? Would it be sound legal strategy to harvest, dry and cure merely eight ounces at a time and either smoke it all or else give it all away before cutting any more buds? Or is the upper limit of four plants, superior law, irrespective of yield? Four good plants, grown outdoors can amount to as much as forty pounds, with the proper development of root structure. Was this a clever wording of the measure, or were the authors simply dolts?
Oregon law allows 8 ounces of dried, ready-to-smoke cannabis flowers at home. Excess weight on the 4 plants is legal, and excess can be converted to edibles, concentrates, etc. in addition to smoke-able flower. Flowers that have been harvested and drying appear to not count towards the 8 ounces (and will weigh much heavier), but dry-yet-uncured flower seems to be a gray area right now. Once all your flowers are cured if one would have more than 8 ounces the excess should technically be processed to other forms or gifted away to be within the legal limits of the law. I am not a lawyer, but have researched the topic.
The lawyer in also a rock drummer named Greg Anton who has played with Zero and last played in Portland at the Aladdin with the band Cast of Clowns.