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May 2nd, 2013
Medical Marijuana: State Law versus Federal Law
Federal law still classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 substance under the Controlled Substances Act. However, the position of the Justice Department is that it is not exactly an efficient use of federal resources to target medical marijuana users for prosecution when they would be better served going after more hardened criminals.
While the federal government may look the other way when dealing with medical marijuana users, government agencies are not so forgiving to those people who are in the business of growing marijuana for medicinal distribution. The government makes little distinction between growers cultivating marijuana for medicinal use and growers cultivating marijuana for pure profit. They are still subject to federal prosecution for cultivating, selling and distributing marijuana even if the THC that they provide to patients is strictly for medicinal purposes.
In addition to the Department of Justice guidelines for medical marijuana, other federal agencies also have guidelines. In particular, The Department of Transportation has its own set of regulations. The Department of Transportation does NOT recognize the transportation of medical marijuana to be any different than the transportation of other illegal drugs even in those states that have medical marijuana laws.
Also the Department of Transportation will not allow its Medical Review Officers to give a subject a negative drug test result based on a physicians prescription of medical marijuana to an employee of the DOT. A positive drug test for THC is a failure, no exceptions.
(To Be Continued)