Marijuana Blog

The San Diego chapter of the ACLU says U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy is interfering in the politics by threatening city officials in Del Mar, CA over their medical marijuana dispensary policy.

Del Mar is considering a ballot initiative this fall that would legalize dispensaries and the ACLU wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to Duffy that threatening prosecution for city employees amounts to “unjustified interference in local legislative matters.”

But Duffy stands by her tactics. “I respectfully disagree with the ACLU’s analysis of federal and state law in this context, and would note that the guidance I provided to the Del Mar City Attorney’s Office is guidance that has consistently been taken by numerous United States Attorney’s Offices around the country as well as the Department of Justice,” she said in a statement this week.

But David Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said Duffy’s assertion also is legally wrong — and that court cases have said public employees are immune from prosecution when doing administrative tasks required under medical marijuana laws. He called on Duffy to retract the statement.

That’s very unlikely to happen as all the U.S. Attorneys in California – and in other states – have one thing in mind: wiping out the medical marijuana industry.

And Duffy is more likely to dig in her heels after what happened last week, when she was the target of an elaborate hoax by medical marijuana supporters who sent out bogus news releases ostensibly from her office, with one declaring she was cracking down on legal pharmacies dispensing prescription medication. She is thinking about prosecuting them for impersonating a federal officer.

It looks as if the pressure from the feds on medical marijuana is a long way from letting up.

Source: http://www.utsandiego.com