Tuesday September 10th the US senate had a historic meeting on marijuana legalization. At the hearing Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt said Federal laws pose “significant obstacles” to regulate marijuana in states where it is legal. “We must have a smarter approach to marijuana policy,” Said Leahy. “The absolute criminalization of personal marijuana use has contributed to our nation’s soaring prison population and has disproportionately affected people of color” he added.

The hearing follows a Justice Department memo that outlines how it will enforce federal marijuana prohibitions in two states, Colorado and Washington, that have legalized its use. It also addresses the 20 states that allow marijuana for medical use.

Senator Chuck Grassley said he was concerned state regulations would fail to keep marijuana use in check. The Senator thinks Colorado, which legalized marijuana for medical use before legalizing it for recreational use in November, did a poor job of preventing marijuana exports to other states where marijuana remains illegal. “Why has the Justice Department decided
to trust Colorado?” Grassley said. “Colorado has become a significant
exporter of marijuana.”

The Justice Department reserved its right
to challenge state laws if public health or safety problems emerge or if
the states fail to enact strict regulations to control marijuana use
and sale, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, author of the memo, told
the Senate panel. The states’ regulations must be “tough in
practice, not just on paper,” Cole said. “It must include strong
enforcement efforts, backed by adequate funding.”

On Monday Colorado adopted its final rules said Jack Finlaw chief legal counsel to
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. He stated that the 141 pages of rules cover
application and licensing for retail stores; cultivation and
manufacturing; testing requirements; inventory tracking; testing and
product safety; labeling; and advertising. He said the state would also
take steps to limit production so marijuana won’t be diverted to other
states.

The Justice Department said in its Aug. 29 memo to U.S.
attorneys nationwide that it would seek to prosecute people who sell
marijuana to minors, use state laws as a cover for drug trafficking or those
who attempt to distribute marijuana in states where it is not legal.

Sheriff Jogn Urquhart of King County, Washington said he sees little conflict between his state’s marijuana laws and federal law enforcement. “The
reality is we do have complimentary goals and values,” Urquhart said.
“We all agree we don’t want our children using marijuana. We all agree
we don’t want impaired drivers. We all agree we don’t want to continue
enriching criminals.”

The federal government needs to take some
steps to help the state meet those goals, particularly easing banking
laws to allow them to do business with licensed marijuana business,
Urquhart said. Because it’s illegal under federal law for banks to
open checking, savings or credit card accounts for marijuana
businesses, marijuana stores are cash-only, he said. That makes them
prime targets for armed robberies and makes them difficult to audit for
tax evasion and wage theft, he said. “I am simply asking that the
federal government allow banks to work with legitimate marijuana
businesses who are licensed under this new state law,” Urquhart said.

“What
we have in Washington is not the wild, wild West,” he said. “The
message to my deputies has been very clear: You will enforce our new
marijuana laws. You will write someone a ticket for smoking in public.
You will enforce age limits. You will put unlicensed stores out of
business.”

Kevin Sabet, the founder of Project SAM, states that legalizing marijuana without strict controls will create a enormous public health problem similar to what the United States faced with tobacco use. SAM is a project which advocates for a marijuana policy that focuses on public health prevention and treatment.

After years of fighting “Big Tobacco,” Sabet said, “we are now on the brink of creating Big Marijuana.” “Authorizing
the large-scale, commercial production of marijuana will undoubtedly
expand its access and availability,” Sabet said. “When we can prevent
negative consequences of the commercial sale and production of marijuana
now, why would we open the floodgates, hope for the best, and try with
limited resources to patch everything up when things go wrong?”

The
hearing on cannabis legalization suggests that “the Senate at last is acknowledging the
remarkable shift in public opinion and state laws involving marijuana,”
Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann said. Dan
Riffle, director of federal policies for the Marijuana Policy Project,
said despite the guidelines, Congress needs to address the federal
status of marijuana as a prohibited drug.

“The administration is
doing its best to work around federal law, but a better approach would
be to simply fix federal law and permanently resolve this conflict,”
Riffle said.

The fact that this issue has been discussed by the US Senate shows that times are changing. Just a few years ago politicians didn’t even want to talk about marijuana legalization. Trying to get them to tell you there stance on legalization was like pulling teeth. Now they are openly talking about it in meetings.

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