Drug & Device News

The federal spending bill passed by Congress in December 2014 contained a little-discussed provision that is now causing new controversy between the Department of Justice (DOJ) on the one hand, and defendants and their legal counselors on the other. Named for its Congressional sponsors, the Rohrabacher-Farr amendment made it illegal for the federal government to spend any funds to prosecute users or sellers of medical marijuana in those states that have legalized such use, as long as they are in compliance with state law. However, in a statement given to The Los Angeles Times for an article published there on April 2, DOJ spokesman Patrick Rodenbush said the Justice Department has interpreted the law as merely a prohibition on its interfering with the states in carrying out their own medical marijuana laws; as for individuals and businesses that use, manufacture or sell marijuana, the DOJ still reserves the right and intends to prosecute. This announcement brought a rebuke from the amendment's authors, Dana Rohrabacher (D-Ca.) and Sam Farr (D-Ca.), in a letter sent to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder on April 8, stating: “As the authors of the provision in question, we write to inform you that (DOJ's) interpretation of our amendment is emphatically wrong.” Further, the letter writers asserted that few things could impede the right of states to carry out their own laws concerning medical marijuana more than prosecuting those states' law-abiding citizens who are acting in accordance with those laws.