Boulder DA Stan Garnett Wants Feds To Back Off
District Attorney Stan Garnett (from Boulder, Colorado) sent a letter to the feds asking them to stop their crusade against medical marijuana dispensaries that are following state law.
“I can see no legitimate basis in this judicial district to focus the resources of the United States government on the medical marijuana dispensaries that are otherwise compliant with Colorado law or local regulation,” Garnett wrote in the letter dated Tuesday to Colorado U.S. Attorney John Walsh. “The people of Boulder County do not need Washington D.C. or the federal government dictating how far dispensaries should be from schools, or other fine points of local land-use law.”
A Denver Post article stated, “In his letter, Garnett said federal law enforcement officials should instead focus elsewhere: on terrorism, organized crime or major trafficking of hard drugs like cocaine or methamphetamine. Continuing to target dispensaries, Garnett wrote, “would be very disruptive to communities who have spent significant time and resources exercising their right of local control to balance the competing issues around medical marijuana.””
“Although we will prosecute significant marijuana distribution and possession cases that are outside the medical marijuana dispensary framework, there is a limited role for criminal enforcement relating to medical marijuana dispensaries,” Garnett wrote, according to the Daily Camera.
“Speaking solely on behalf of myself as the District Attorney in the 20th Judicial District, I am urging you to exercise your prosecutorial discretion to back away from the threatened criminal prosecution of medical marijuana dispensaries in Boulder County if they are compliant with state law and local land use regulations,” Garnett wrote.
“In my opinion, such prosecution would serve no practical purpose, would expend important resources and would be very disruptive to communities who have spent significant time and resources exercising their right of local control to balance the competing issues around medical marijuana,” he added.
You may remember Stan Garnett from an article that I wrote about him when he was running for Colorado Attorney General against John Suthers. Below is the article, in case you didn’t see it. Stan Garnett is proving to truly be a ‘marijuana friendly candidate’ even though he didn’t win! Support this man next election!
Will Stan Garnett Be a Marijuana Attorney General?
With Stan Garnett entering the Colorado Attorney General race, many marijuana advocates in Colorado are wondering how it would affect the movement if he was elected. One thing is for sure; he would be a lot better than the current John Suthers regime. Current Attorney General John Suthers did nothing when Full Spectrum Laboratories was raided by the DEA, even though the raid was completely ridiculous. He has done absolutely NOTHING to protect medical marijuana patients from prosecution, and in some cases, even encouraged it. Rather than take the lead on getting defined dispensary laws in Colorado (which is his job), he has let law enforcement take advantage of the grey areas.
Here is Stan Garnett’s opinion on fixing murky Colorado dispensary laws. “I would just like to see the problems with the current laws clarified outside of the context of a criminal prosecution, unlike many of my more conservative elected DA colleagues across the state, who are preparing to approach the issue quite aggressively by prosecuting dispensaries and seizing grow operations, actions I will not undertake. As everyone who has thought about these issues knows, it does no good to put our heads in the sand about how confusing the law is,” said Garnett.
Compare Stan Garnett’s quote with John Suthers’ approach. “Voters approved Amendment 20 with a very limited patient-caregiver scheme – and they voted overwhelmingly against legalization in 2006. They ought to have a crack on the ballot at deciding about dispensaries. We shouldn’t move to a dispensary system without voter approval. At least that’s where I’m coming from,” said Suthers. Sounds like someone would rather keep his head in the sand and let someone else fix the issue, rather than do his job! I recommend Colorado voters give John Suthers what he wants; for someone else to do his job, and who better than Stan Garnett?!
