Sacramento, CA – The Obama Justice Department (DOJ) held a press conference in Sacramento today announcing an array of enforcement actions against medical marijuana producers and distributors as well as landlords throughout California. Patient advocates are calling President Obama’s enforcement effort harmful and unnecessary, representing a stark contradiction to his pledge of disengagement in medical marijuana states. The DOJ claimed it was carrying out civil and criminal enforcement actions against medical marijuana providers and sending “warning” letters to property owners leasing to dispensary operators.

Read the entire press release on the ASA website.

Recent events promise to bolster the importance of decentralized but locally regulated medical marijuana dispensaries. U.S. Attorneys have sent letters to officials in at least ten states that have been trying to implement centrally regulated supply systems. These letters urge caution, reminding the governors and their legislatures that the federal government will “vigorously” prosecute those involved in the manufacturing and distribution of marijuana, even if they are in compliance with state law. An implication of this federal action is that small-scale privately run dispensaries, operating in the shadow of federal law, will continue to be the most viable source of medical marijuana. Our work aims to inform the debate on local approaches to regulating this market.

Download a copy of the RAND Corporation report and look for more analysis here soon.

The issue of terminology is an important one that is often overlooked by dispensary operators. As a dispensary operator, you will have to communicate with a lot of people both in person and in writing. The words you use have a big impact on those who hear them. People will form opinions of you and your dispensary based on the terms in which you discuss it. You should always be aware that the words you use have connotations and associations beyond their basic meaning. You should get in the habit of using terminology that reinforces the associations that are beneficial, while avoiding terminology with undesirable baggage.

The issue of medical cannabis is still very controversial. Much of the conversation about this issue happens in the shadow of the debate over illicit drug use. Most people in California – even those who support medical cannabis – still have not entirely separated the issue of medical cannabis from illicit drugs. The intermingling of the non-medical cannabis legalization debate with the medical debate clouds the issue even more. You may have strong feelings about the drug war or cannabis legalization. Never forget that the people you are talking with may as well. Because all of the issues are in the background of our conversations, we must be very careful to frame our words in a way that separates medical cannabis from the emotionally charged issues of drug policy and legalization.

There is a time and place to discuss drug policy and cannabis legalization as it relates to medical cannabis. We will explore this later in this book. What you must remember as a dispensary operator is that most of the time you are trying to communicate about medical cannabis exclusively. Do not allow your conversations about this issue to get bogged down in more complex ones. When we stick to the issue of medical cannabis alone, we have a much greater chance of reaching consensus with our listener. Most people are ambivalent about liberalizing drug laws. However, everyone can agree that sick people should have the medicine a doctor recommends.

To be continued in a later post…