October 20, 2009 in City

Federal changes won’t affect local cases

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New orders from the U.S Justice Department to end federal prosecution of state-authorized medical marijuana patients and dispensaries will have no effect on cases in Eastern Washington, prosecutors said Monday.

The policy memo issued Monday calls for an end to prosecution of medical marijuana patients and caregivers who are in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state medical marijuana laws.

Those cases already aren’t prosecuted here, said Jim McDevitt, the U.S attorney for Eastern Washington.

“This office has, at least in my memory, never prosecuted anyone purely and simply because they were a medical marijuana user,” McDevitt said Monday. “But we have gone after them because they’ve basically been a distributor of medical marijuana.”

Local police and prosecutors consider anyone distributing marijuana to more than one authorized patient to be violating Washington’s voter-approved law, which allows for distribution to one person “at any one time.”

Individual users of medical marijuana who stay within the legal possession limits haven’t faced state prosecution and have been allowed by local police to keep the drug, according to police reports.

Dispensary operators in Spokane say the law allows for them to distribute to as many people as they want so long as transactions are separate.

Spokane police raided a dispensary called Change last month and arrested two operators, setting up a legal battle that doesn’t appear to be affected by Monday’s announcement.

“It’s really not going to have an impact here locally,” said Spokane County Deputy Prosecutor John Grasso

Change owners Scott Q. Shupe, 54, and Christopher P. Stevens, 36, appeared in Spokane County Superior Court on charges of distribution of a controlled substance after their arrests Sept. 10, but further court appearances have been canceled because formal charges haven’t been filed.

Grasso said he hasn’t received a report from police.

Both men are free on bond.

McDevitt declined to say if he was pursuing federal charges against Shupe and Stevens but emphasized that if local prosecutors thought a dispensary was violating state law, “then I’m interested.”

“Anybody operating a marijuana distribution entity or facility outside of state law is subject to potential federal prosecution,” McDevitt said.

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Five comments on this story so far. Add yours!

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  Ron on October 20 at 8:50 a.m.

  Should we have one dispensary for every medical marijuana patient? Ridiculous! Should we have grandma (MM card holder) go out and find a pot dealer? Ridiculous! Should we have grandma start her own grow operation? Ridiculous! When the courts figure it out, the ruling should be that a dispensary serves one patient at a time, not one patient period. “At any one time” wasn’t meant to mean a lifetime. That would make the law useless.

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  ibsober on October 20 at 9:25 a.m.

  ibsober on October 20 at 5:29 a.m.

  Hello!
  What people are not realizing is the wording in the title WAR ON DRUGS when our government came out with that phraseology, people heard it and said “Yes, we need to combat the drugs” but what they failed to realize was that it was a declaration of war on our own citizens. So far there are millions of casualties, billions of tax dollars spent and no appreciable result in the reduction of availability. The culture is glamorized in pop circles ( which are the circles spoon fed to our youth) We have a President who used drugs himself. This issue is plainly and simply about money. Nothing else. Our own police force uses the war on drugs to fund their own million dollar slush funds!! Why would they give up that revenue? Have you ever heard of a police force turning away money? GET REAL SPOKANE: WE ARE OCCUPIED BY A CONQUERING ARMY OF THE GOVERNMENT!!!! Have you ever compared the black uniforms worn by our special teams police force with the SS from germany? look at them side by side–the helmets are identical
  

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  ibsober on October 20 at 9:32 a.m.

  When you Control the information, manipualate it and twist it to defend every possible angle that is called “spin” The police and politicians are well versed in information dissemmination.

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  backasswards on October 21 at 7:02 a.m.

  There is an open meeting this Sunday at 35 W. Main
  It is being hosted by N.O.R.M.L.
  The meeting is open TO ALL! Bring your family and friends…. We need an army.
  Its time to make our presence REALLY KNOWN. We are going to vote these idiots right out of office and we are going to make as much noise and commotion as we need to make to effect real change. Grasso says this wont affect cases here? Thats because he wont be in office much longer to decide. The DEA is in their death throes and they are making the most of what little they have left.
  People of Spokane..,. Unite now for Gods sake and lets win this thing together…. SUNDAY>>> SEE YOU THERE……………………

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  Reverend Ryan on October 26 at 12:18 a.m.

  I was at the meeting, and I was thrilled to see an informed group of concerned citizens gathering together to take their stand on laws that they got passed.

  Freedom doesn't just happen, it MUST be fought for!

  See the video of part of the meeting here:

  http://stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=1…

  http://stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=1…

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