DENVER—Colorado’s top federal prosecutors are mum about possible actions against marijuana dispensaries in the state after authorities warned medical marijuana operations in California about a pending crackdown.
U.S. Attorney John Walsh was out of state Friday and unavailable for comment. His spokesman, Jeffrey Dorschner, declined comment, referring questions to California’s four U.S. attorneys who on Friday were detailing their crackdown on dispensaries.
At least 16 dispensaries in California have received letters telling them to shut down within 45 days or face prosecution.
The federal government has warned dispensaries nationwide they could be subject to prosecution because most marijuana use is still barred by federal law. In Denver, Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman Mike Turner said nothing has changed in agency policy, which calls for concentrating on major drug trafficking organizations.
“We wouldn’t comment on any pending operations, but there’s no change in our stance, it’s always been the same,” Turner said.
Marijuana legalization advocates said they’re hopeful that the federal crackdown in California doesn’t affect states like Colorado that have clear laws governing dispensaries. California voters passed a medical marijuana law in 1996. Morgan Fox of the Washington-based Marijuana Policy Project said California’s law governing dispensaries isn’t as clear as it is in Colorado.
“The federal government seems to be cracking down on dispensaries in states that are in a legal gray area,” Fox said. “California is one of those.”
In Colorado, lawmakers passed a law in 2010 requiring special marijuana business licenses for dispensaries, cultivators, and infused product manufacturers. Before the law, those businesses operated without oversight. Medical marijuana users had to be registered with the state under the constitutional amendment passed in 2000 allowing its use, but businesses providing the drug did not have to be.
Figures from the Colorado Department of Revenue show there are about 800 dispensaries, 300 infused product manufacturers, and more than 1,200 cultivations operating in the state. The marijuana business in Colorado began to flourish after then-Deputy Attorney General David Ogden issued a memo to federal prosecutors in 2009 that said drug enforcement should not focus on those in compliance with state medical marijuana laws.
In June, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole issued a memo to prosecutors that clarifies that state laws don’t provide immunity from federal prosecution. Cole said marijuana dispensaries and licensed growers in states with medical marijuana laws could face prosecution for violating federal drug and money-laundering laws.
Fourteen states have passed laws legalizing marijuana for medical use, beginning with California in 1996.
