Rep. Bob Filner and congressional colleagues are urging President Barack Obama to reschedule marijuana as a legitimate controlled substance for medicinal purposes, saying state and local governments must be allowed to develop and enforce their own public health laws with regard to medical cannabis.
In a letter dated Oct. 28, the lawmakers expressed concerns with the Justice Department’s recent crackdown against California medical marijuana dispensaries that are operating legally under state law.
“During your presidential campaign, you repeatedly pledged to end federal raids against the individuals and collectives authorized by state law to use or provide medical cannabis, giving hope to patients who legitimately use medical cannabis to treat their conditions that their long struggle to safely access their medicine was finally over,” the letter states.
“By pursuing the same harsh policies that have been in place for years, we fear that the federal government will push legitimate patients back into the uncertainty and danger of the illicit market.
California's four U.S. attorneys held a press conference last month to announce statewide raids along with the mailing of letters to dozens of medical marijuana dispensary directors and their landlords warning them to close in 45 days or risk criminal prosecution and property confiscations.
U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy, whose district includes San Diego and Imperial counties, confirmed that her office has mailed similar letters to hundreds of property owners. In announcing the effort, she referred to the state’s cannabis trade as a “pervasive, for-profit industry” that violates federal law and has little to do with providing medicine to the sick.
But in their letter, the representatives said physicians would continue to recommend marijuana to alleviate several serious illnesses and medical conditions that have not responded to other medications and treatments.
“The actions mandated in these letters and echoed at the ensuing press conference directly interfere with California's 15-year-old medical cannabis law by eliminating safe access to medication for the state's thousands of medical cannabis patients,” they wrote.
Approved as a ballot measure in 1996, Proposition 215 allows patients with a doctor’s approval to use marijuana and receive it from their caregivers. State legislation in 2003 and guidelines from then-Attorney General Jerry Brown in 2009 authorized distribution by nonprofit collectives, but much of that was not delineated in law.
Filner, D-San Diego, is the first local lawmaker to publically oppose the Obama administration’s recent enforcement efforts. Filner, who is running for mayor of San Diego, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
He and the eight congressional colleagues who signed the letter noted that threats against property owners in California come after several months of “federal interference” in other states with laws that permit medical marijuana for the ill. That includes SWAT-style federal raids in at least seven such states and threats of criminal prosecution against state and local officials there.
Last week, the marijuana advocacy organization Americans for Safe Access sued the federal government, arguing that the Obama administration was attempting to subvert state and local medical marijuana laws. The group, which represents some 20,000 patients, alleges that the administration instituted a policy to dismantle local laws and coerce municipalities to pass bans on dispensaries.
expected soon.
Both the advocacy organization and the bipartisan group of congressional members detailed campaign statements by Obama and later memos from his administration signaling plans not to focus federal resources on individuals who were obeying state and local medical marijuana laws.
The letter called Obama to reclassify marijuana from a Schedule I drug to a Schedule II or III drug to effectively harmonize federal law with the laws of states. Or, it asked the president to publicly support legislation such as House Resolution 1983, the States' Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act, that would change federal statute to achieve this same goal.
Filner and California Democrats Sam Farr, Mike Thompson, Pete Stark, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey signed the letter. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, and Democrats Jared Polis of Colorado and Steve Cohen of Tennessee joined them.
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