U.S. Attorney John Walsh said today evidence that medical marijuana is having a detrimental impact on Colorado kids spurred his decision to crack down on dispensaries near schools.
In his first extended comments about his policy toward medical marijuana, Walsh said state law plays a part in deciding how to use his prosecutorial discretion with medical-marijuana businesses, which are authorized by Colorado law but strictly illegal under federal law. But Walsh said protection of important federal interests takes precedence.
“One of those interests, without question, is protecting drug-free zones around schools,” he said.
Walsh last week, in the strongest federal action against dispensaries in Colorado to date, sent letters to 23 dispensaries within 1,000 feet of schools. The letters ordered the dispensaries to close by Feb. 27 or face potential criminal prosecution or seizure of assets.
Walsh said today his office is working to identify any other dispensaries near schools and said the crackdown may extend to other types of medical-marijuana businesses — such as cultivation operations — that are close to schools.
What prompted the decision to send the letters, Walsh said, was evidence that medical marijuana is being diverted to youth. For instance, a report published last year by Denver Health drug-treatment doctor Christian Thurstone found that, of 80 kids admitted for substance-abuse treatment, nearly half said they had received marijuana from someone with a medical-marijuana license.
Walsh also mentioned a rising number of drug-related school suspensions, expulsions and law-enforcement referrals. In the 2008-2009 school year, before Colorado’s boom in medical marijuana dispensaries, 534 students were expelled for drug violations, according to state Education Department data. In the 2010-2011 school year, that number was 767.
“The threat to kids … came up to the top of the list,” he said.
Walsh’s comments help clarify a federal law enforcement stance toward medical marijuana businesses that has long been shrouded in confusion.
An October 2009 memo from a Justice Department official said federal resources should not be spent prosecuting people in clear compliance with state law. That memo was interpreted in the medical-marijuana community as giving a green light to dispensaries, as long as they were allowed under state law.
In the aftermath, Colorado developed some of the most comprehensive medical-marijuana business regulations in the country. Then, this past summer, a new Justice Department memo clarified that medical-marijuana businesses were not covered by the previous memo and were subject to prosecution at the local U.S. attorney’s discretion.
Walsh said he will consider such things as whether dispensaries are targeting kids, engaged in money laundering, connected to organized crime, involved in selling marijuana out of state or linked to firearms and violence when deciding whether to prosecute the businesses. It would also be against state law for dispensaries to be involved in a number of those activities.
Colorado currently has about 700 dispensaries.
John Ingold: 303-954-1068 or jingold@denverpost.com.
