Justice Department Memo Says No Way To Large Scale Marijuana Farms

One to two times per year we hear about a new “proposition” that will legalize marijuana in specific states, late last year it was California Proposition 19 and Arizona Prop 203. However, while states fight to choose whether marijuana should be legalized or at least legalized for medicinal purposes, federal laws are still clear, you can’t grow marijuana…period.

Actually it’s not so cut and dry, not even close! The Justice Department in 2009 announced that they would not go after patients and caregivers who complied with state law but in a new memo written and sent to federal prosecutors last week Deputy Attorney Gen. James M. Cole he states:

“There has, however, been an increase in the scope of commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana for purported medical purposes.”

The memo comes at a time when some cities and states were planning to setup large scale “revenue projects” for marijuana distribution such as Oakland. The chief of the Americans for Safe Access calls the Cole memo:

“A step backward,” while noting, “We kind of regard this as kind of the equivalent of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The message to states setting up distributions systems, he says, is “if you get too big, we may well put a target on your back.”

It’s still unclear how “large” a growing operation must become in order to find themselves with a Federal target on their backs, however I fail to believe that growers will stop pressing the bounds of what is allowed until they have a more clear idea of what is “federally” acceptable.