Re:Amazon Is Lobbying the US Government to Make Pot Legal
by dragonwriter on Wednesday September 22, 2021 @07:35PM
(#28623424)
> Laws only count if they are enforced
The thing is, the drug kingpin statute has a long statute ot limitations, and there is no federal policy making current violations relating to marijuana not criminal, only a law prohibiting the executive branch from spending money prosecuting marinuana-related offenses related to medical use consistent with state law which the executive branch has also mostly treated as applying to other use permitted by state law. But the boundaries of the legal policy are somewhat fuzzy, and were it to be repealed tomorrow, there would be no bar to the Feds rounding up people who had been openly engaging in the marijuana trade and charging them under drug laws, including the drug kingpin law, subject to the applicable statutes of limitations. And/or filing forfeiture actions (civil and/or criminal; though the latter requires criminal charges against the individual) against property used in or derived from the business.
The risk does affect the who enters the industry, who supplies the industry, and how people in and around the industry conduct business.
> the federal government would have to deploy the military on American soil to police states that have legalized marijuana
AFAIK, the DEA, FBI, and other federal law, and the people who have openly been conducting marijuana business don't take that much effort to identify and round up. The military would not be required to do policing, though DOJ’s Criminal Division might want to get some military JAG lawyers assigned on temporary duty to handle the caseload surge.
The thing is, the drug kingpin statute has a long statute ot limitations, and there is no federal policy making current violations relating to marijuana not criminal, only a law prohibiting the executive branch from spending money prosecuting marinuana-related offenses related to medical use consistent with state law which the executive branch has also mostly treated as applying to other use permitted by state law. But the boundaries of the legal policy are somewhat fuzzy, and were it to be repealed tomorrow, there would be no bar to the Feds rounding up people who had been openly engaging in the marijuana trade and charging them under drug laws, including the drug kingpin law, subject to the applicable statutes of limitations. And/or filing forfeiture actions (civil and/or criminal; though the latter requires criminal charges against the individual) against property used in or derived from the business.
The risk does affect the who enters the industry, who supplies the industry, and how people in and around the industry conduct business.
> the federal government would have to deploy the military on American soil to police states that have legalized marijuana
AFAIK, the DEA, FBI, and other federal law, and the people who have openly been conducting marijuana business don't take that much effort to identify and round up. The military would not be required to do policing, though DOJ’s Criminal Division might want to get some military JAG lawyers assigned on temporary duty to handle the caseload surge.