Will the Feds Crack Down on Medical Marijuana in Washington?

My
latest Forbes column considers whether the failure of
medical marijuana legislation in Washington is apt to trigger a
federal crackdown. Here is how it starts:

Last week Washington‘s
legislature ended its
2014 session without approving new restrictions on medical
marijuana, a step that supporters portrayed as necessary to prevent
federal interference as the state begins allowing the sale of
cannabis for recreational use. After all, the Justice Department
indicated in an August
29 memothat it would allow legalization to proceed in
Washington and Colorado only if both states created “strong and
effective regulatory and enforcement systems.” Washington’s medical
marijuana dispensaries, which are not licensed or regulated by the
state, seem inconsistent with that expectation.

Jenny Durkan, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of
Washington, said as much the very day the DOJ memo was released.
“The Department guidance is premised on the expectation that the
state will implement strong and effective regulatory and
enforcement systems,” she warned.
“The continued operation and proliferation of unregulated,
for-profit entities outside of the state’s regulatory and licensing
scheme is not tenable and violates both state and federal law.”

Now that it looks like these unregulated entities will continue
selling marijuana for another year or so at least, competing with
the state-licensed stores that are supposed to start opening this
summer, will Durkan feel compelled to crack down? Probably not,
judging from her past behavior and a close examination of her
public statements. Patience certainly seems like a more appropriate
response, especially since Durkan is largely responsible for
creating the situation that she now views as “not tenable.”

Read the whole thing.