In 2015 Congress approved a budget amendment that prohibited the Justice Department from using any funds to enforce federal marijuana laws against medical cannabis. But no such prohibition exists against enforcing federal pot laws against recreational marijuana.
Former pot smoker Obama and then Attorney General Eric Holder ordered the DEA to prioritize drug enforcement on prohibited substances other than marijuana.
In the absence of a federal crackdown in Colorado and Washington, other states have now legalized recreational pot, including the biggie, California.
Under federal law, marijuana is considered a Schedule I substance and it is illegal to use, possess, cultivate, or distribute.
Federal penalties for possessing small amounts of pot:
- First offense: a misdemeanor involving up to a year of incarceration and a $1,000 fine,
- Second offense: a misdemeanor involving a mandatory minimum of 15 days (and up to two years) of incarceration and a $2,500 fine, and
- Third offense or more: a misdemeanor or felony involving a mandatory minimum of 90 days (and up to three years) of incarceration and a $5,000 fine.
Federal penalties for growing and selling pot:
- Less than 50 plants or 50 kg: felony involving up to five years of incarceration and a $250,000 fine,
- 50-99 plants or kilograms: felony involving up to 20 years of incarceration and a $1,000,000 fine,
- 100-999 plants or kilograms: felony involving 5-40 years of incarceration and a $500,000 fine, and
- 1,000 or more plants or kilograms: felony involving between 10 years to life and a $1,000,000 fine.
Under the Constitution, federal laws apply whenever there is a conflict between state laws and federal laws.
Last October, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions indicated the feds would crack down on violators of the federal marijuana laws. He must have been blowing smoke because so far there is no evidence the DEA is getting ready to move on Colorado, Washington and the other states which have legalized recreational pot, including now biggie California.
If the feds do not crack down on violations of federal marijuana laws, especially in California, they will open the floodgates that have been holding back the legalization of marijuana and America will go to pot.
There is plenty of scientific evidence that marijuana is a harmful substance. If the U.S. goes to pot, Americans will come to rue that the feds did not crack down when they had the chance.
Let me add that had Obama and Holder let the DEA crack down on Colorado and Washington when those two states legalized pot, it would have been very unlikely that California would have voted to legalize marijuana.
Meh. Prohibition doesn’t work. Regulate the sale of pot like alcohol. Update the laws to penalize criminal behaviors such as DUI.
David you could likewise say prohibition doesn’t work. Regulate the sale of heroin and meth like alcohol. Update the laws to penalize criminal behaviors such as DUI.
Now I know you’re going to say heroin and meth are much more dangerous than alcohol, but pot is not he harmless substance its advocates claim it is.
I see pot on a par with alcohol as to its destructiveness, albeit in somewhat different ways. And for the record, I don’t smoke pot, and I imbibe in alcohol just a little bit. I wouldn’t smoke pot if it were legal (although I did illegally smoke it for a few years in college).
The fed has long been out of control and has no business telling us what we can do so long as we arent harming another, that said, I think the pot thing is a bad idea and I will add that I think the gov knows its a bad thing. We dont need to dumb down the populace any more than it already is which is in my estimation the only thing that will come from this.
it would have been very unlikely that California would have voted to legalize marijuana.