LEGAL
Feds Prohibited From Prosecuting Those Who Comply With A State’ s Laws Allowing
Use Of Medical Marijuana
By: Martin J. Mayer, General Counsel California Police Chiefs’ Association
In United States v. McIntosh, 2016 U. S. App. LEXIS 15029( 9th Cir. 2016), five co-defendants allegedly ran four marijuana stores in the Los Angeles area, known as Hollywood Compassionate Care( HCC) and Happy Days, and nine indoor marijuana grow sites in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas.
The appellants, located in California, were indicted for conspiracy to manufacture, to possess with intent to distribute, and to distribute more than 1,000 marijuana plants in violation of 21 U. S. C. §§ 846, 841( a)( 1), 841( b)( l)( A). The government sought forfeiture derived from such violations under 21 U. S. C. § 853 of the Controlled Substances Act, 21 U. S. C. §§ 801 et seq., based on their marijuana-related activities.
The appellants sought to dismiss their indictments, or enjoin their criminal prosecutions, on the grounds that the U. S. Department of Justice( DOJ) was prohibited from spending funds to prosecute them pursuant to a 2014 congressional appropriations rider. The district courts denied the motions to dismiss and Appellants filed interlocutory appeals which were consolidated by the Ninth Circuit.
On August 16, 2016, the Ninth Circuit U. S. Court of
Appeal vacated the orders of lower courts denying relief to the appellants.
COURT DISCUSSION
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, Pub. L. No. 114-113, § 542, prohibits the Department of Justice(“ DOJ”) from spending funds to prevent states’ from implementing their medical marijuana laws. A rider to the Appropriations Act provided that,“ None of the funds made available in this Act to the Department of Justice may be used, with respect to the States of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin, to prevent such States from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
The Court of Appeal stated that:“ We are asked to decide whether criminal defendants may avoid prosecution for various federal marijuana offenses on the basis of a congressional appropriations rider that prohibits the
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