If Pot Is Legal in Washington, Why Do These Medical Marijuana Users Face At Least 10 Years in Prison?

In my latest Forbes column, I
consider the case of the Kettle Falls Five, medical marijuana users
in Washington who face at least 10 years in prison for growing
their own medicine. Here is how the column starts:

Sean Green grows marijuana at 1919 East Francis Avenue
in Spokane, about six miles from the courthouse where the federal
government plans to try Larry Harvey, a 70-year-old
retired truck driver, for growing marijuana. Green’s operation is a
lot bigger than Harvey’s: up to 21,000 square feet of plant canopy,
compared to the 45 plants that the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) found on Harvey’s property  in a rural area of
northeastern Washington about 10 miles from Kettle Falls. The
difference in scale makes sense, because Green is growing pot for
Washington’s newly legal recreational market, while Harvey and four
other medical marijuana users were growing it for their own
consumption. Both kinds of cultivation are allowed under Washington
law, and both are prohibited under federal law. Yet Green’s future
as a cannabis entrepreneur looks bright, while Harvey and
his co-defendants face prison sentences ranging from 10 years to
life.

Read the whole thing.