PublicCEO ran a report last week following a decision by the city of Lodi to join 70 other California cities and place a temporary ban on medical marijuana dispensaries.
The decision came about following a loosening of the federal government’s grips on states that have legalized medical cannabis.
Local governments in California are stuck in the middle on medical marijuana. Federal law says one thing while state statutes and enforcement policy says another.
We are not going to take a side on the issue of marijuana use but we would like some consistency.
Since the federal government and the state government are in conflict, law enforcement officers on the street make the real decisions on the policy area – determining whether or not the medical marijuana ID card issued by a local government should allow someone to act counter to federal law.
That is not what we need our law enforcement officers doing.
Normally this page would be asking for local control of the issue. However, this issue has risen to the point where the federal government is going to need to act affirmatively to give locals the ability to deal with the issue.
We ask President Obama and Attorney General Holder to step in to end this conflict.
What happened in Lodi last week is nothing more than punting on the issue. And it’s the same thing that has happened in a number of city council chambers all over California over the past few years.
We need a clear resolution on this issue so locals can do their job.