“Marijuana law goes up in smoke”

Say the Guardian in an article which acts as a good example of federal state relations in the USA

Some might find the topic of federalism somewhat dry, but for me it is a favourite. What’s fascinating about the USA is the intense focus on state based priorities. The writer Julian Barnes says something along the lines of “if you want to forget Britain exists, read an American newspaper”. I would go further and say that if you want to forget the rest of America exists, read an American newspaper. With a couple of honourable exceptions such as the Washington Post and New York Times, state news is what fills the pages of American papers.

And since policy makers are driven by state imperatives, this gives rise to tremendous diversity in laws and regulations. One such case is the law on marijuana in California, which is reported below. This state has, of course, clashed with federal authorities recently over pollution limits. It will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the clash of political wills in relation to both if these issues.

‘The young woman in the bikini top and bottle tan was having a good time in the bright afternoon sun. Gyrating opposite the Muscle Beach Gym on the boardwalk at Venice beach, she chanted her mantra in an eastern European accent. “The doctor is here! The doctor is here!”
The Medical Kush Beach Club is probably not what the voters of California envisaged when they passed proposition 215 - the Compassionate Use Act - in 1996. The act allows patients in the state to possess or cultivate marijuana and permits the cultivation of marijuana for a patient.

Twelve years later, marijuana dispensaries such as the Medical Kush Beach Club have sprung up across the state, providing legal marijuana to anyone with an appropriate referral from a doctor, typically obtained for $100-$150 (£52-£78), a standard medical visit fee.

This week, Charles Lynch, the proprietor of Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, 200 miles north of Los Angeles, found himself at the sharp end of a legal argument that has pitted state authorities against federal drug enforcement agencies.

Facing five charges of distributing illegal drugs, Lynch was found guilty in a Los Angeles courtroom of selling 100kg (220lb) of marijuana. He faces between five and 85 years in prison; his lawyers intend to appeal.

“We all felt Mr Lynch intended well,” the jury forewoman, Kitty Meese, told reporters after the trial. “But under the parameters we were given for the federal law, we didn’t have a choice.

“It was a tough decision for all of us because the state law and the federal law are at odds,” she said.
Sarah Pullen, a spokeswoman for the DEA, said the agency was “enforcing federal drug law, which still holds that marijuana is an illegal drug in any form”.

Even the permissible age of a patient is a source of dispute between the two competing jurisdictions: under state law, anyone under 18 is a minor; under federal law, it is 21.

The raid caught the attention of an LA council member, Bill Rosendahl. “It’s ridiculous to have this constant battle between federal and state laws,” he said. “America has gone over the top. The war on drugs is out of control - it’s become a war on people.”

Rosendahl and his fellow LA city councillors voted last year to issue licences to existing dispensaries and place a moratorium on new ones. The move, he thinks, has helped temper the DEA’s approach. But until there is a change in federal law, he says, the agency will continue to carry out raids.’