Feds given the green light to go after medicinal marijuana
Posted on Friday, January 5th, 2018 at 11:40 am
The United States Justice Department, under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is expected to backtrack on an Obama administration police of the federal government not challenging state laws that provide for medicinal and recreational use of marijuana. That’ll complicate (and potentially compound) the legal challenges for many, and throw into confusion the various financial aspects of the legal marijuana industry.
From the Miami Herald:
Federal authorities aren’t expected to go after individual users. But whether the changes would result in the targeting of commercial sales or a crackdown on Florida’s 13 licensed cultivators and distributors remains to be seen. A spokeswoman for Florida’s Office of Medical Marijuana Use said, “We will review any changes to federal policy and continue to follow Florida law.”
Pensacola’s first medicinal marijuana dispensary opened in April 2017.
In a written statement, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Republican who represents Northwest Florida, said:
“This cruel plan is repugnant to the Tenth Amendment and harms some of our most vulnerable fellow Americans. In my district and nationwide, children have been helped by medical marijuana when all other treatments have failed. Some have gone from surgeries and seizures to baseball games and homecoming dances.”