Last Thursday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer stated during a press conference that we should expect to see greater federal enforcement against recreational marijuana use and in the following days the cannabis industry had a lot to say in response. Representatives from several states, including Washington, have spoken out against potential federal enforcement, saying they will fight any attempts by the federal government to interfere with their legalized marijuana systems. We want to assure you that California is ready to fight back as well. (Though not everyone in California is on the same side; were looking at you San Bernardino City Council.)
The day after Secretary Spicers statements, Californiaelected officials announced that they were preparing for a potential showdown in the courts andCongress to defend recreational cannabis under Proposition 64, which the states voters passed in November. California Attorney General Xavier Becerrasaid:
I took an oath to enforce the laws that California has passed. If there is action from the federal government on this subject, I will respond in an appropriate way to protect the interests of California.
California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom called Spicers remarks grossly uninformed and sent a letter to President Trump where he wrote:
The government must not strip the legal and publicly-supported industry of its business, and hand it back to drug cartels and criminals. Dealers dont card kids. I urge you and your administration to work in partnership with California and the other eight states that have legalized recreational marijuana for adult use in a way that will let us enforce our state laws that protect the public and our children, while targeting the bad actors. We have a shared goal of reducing crime, and the best way we can achieve that is through a tightly regulated market.
If the federal government chooses to move forward with marijuana enforcement, we provided an idea of what that might look like based on the options the feds can pursue. Though the federal government wont be able to force states to shut down their marijuana programs or to enforce federal law under the Constitution, they could try to coerce local law enforcement into assisting them.
However, California already has measures in place to undercut the federal governments ability to coerce local law enforcement through proposed Assembly Bill 1578, whichwould prohibit state and local agencies from assisting federal agencies against Californias legal medical and recreational marijuana businesses without a court order.
Spicers comments did not include specifics on how the federal government would proceed, plus he does not ...
