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Medical marijuana fans now feeling they can exhale and inhale

By Douglas A. Berman

This AP story, headlined "Pot advocates exhale after AG signals policy shift," provides details on reactions to the latest change in federal prosecutorial policies.  Here is how the story starts: Medical marijuana users and dispensary owners in California have held their breath for years ? fearful they would be targeted for prosecution by the federal government. They finally exhaled this past week when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said federal agents will now target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state laws, a departure from the policy of the Bush administration. It's not seen by many as a move by the Obama administration toward the legalization of marijuana. However, it could end much of the confusion among state and federal authorities dealing with the mishmash of laws in which cultivating, using and selling pot for medical purposes is allowed by states but outlawed by the federal government...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on March 22, 2009 (boomark / email).