[Mtnorml-list] new federal medical marijuana policy

[John Masterson (Montana NORML)]

Hi everyone,

As you may have heard on the news this week, the United States Federal 
Government issued a medical marijuana "lowest priority" statement 
addressed to federal prosecutors in the 14 states with medical marijuana 
laws, including Montana.

Here's the Missoulian's article on the topic:
<http://www.missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_4c97c728-bcad-11de-abc3-001cc4c002e0.html>

In essence, the new guidelines 
(http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/192) tell prosecutors to stay away 
from patients and caregivers who are 100% compliant with state law.

Of course, marijuana is _still illegal_ federally; there is no 
recognition of medical marijuana as an exception to or exemption from 
federal law.  The new guidelines help, but they don't change federal 
law, and you can still be arrested by DEA for marijuana. Not just that, 
but you wouldn't even be allowed to /mention/ medical marijuana in 
federal court because for the feds, /there is no such thing/*.

*Go here now to tell our Senators to help fix that*: 
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/montana

Finally, we should let you know that we've posted a few more caregivers 
on our medical marijuana page, and a link to the state's medical 
marijuana FAQ, which is a great resource:  
http://mtnorml.org/News-Information/medical.html

* despite the federal Compassionate IND program, for which the federal government still grows marijuana, rolls it into cigarretes, and ships them to an ever-dwindling number of patients.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassionate_Investigational_New_Drug_program#Origin


--
John Masterson
Montana NORML - Working to reform marijuana laws in Montana.
Web:  http://montananorml.org
Blog: http://blog.montananorml.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4730742559
Twitter:  http://twitter.com/mtnorml

*P.S., Anyone doing anything fun for "Potoberfest"?*



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