U.S. Marijuana Laws: Time for Some Clear-Eyed Logic [View all]

Twenty states plus the District of Columbia now allow the sale of medical marijuana, while Colorado and Washington have legalized the drug for recreational use. Yet federal law still prohibits the possession, use, and sale of marijuana for any reason. This dichotomy explains why some banks are reluctant to accept the big cash deposits that pot purveyors generate—even if the cash is legal under state law.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has promised to issue guidelines to make it easier for marijuana sellers who are operating in accordance with their state laws to use the banking system. Large amounts of cash “just kind of lying around with no place for it to be appropriately deposited,” Holder mused, “is something that would worry me, from a law enforcement perspective.”

The fact is, Holder encouraged those bundles of unbanked cash to be assembled in the first place. Last year he said the Department of Justice wouldn’t seek to overturn the Colorado and Washington measures or interfere with the 20 states that allow medical marijuana, leaving it to local authorities to enforce marijuana laws.

All of which raises the question: When did it become acceptable for the country’s top law enforcement officer to decide which federal statutes to enforce and which to ignore? Even those who agree with the broader policy of marijuana legalization should be left uneasy by open defiance of the rule of law.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-02-06/u-dot-s-dot-marijuana-laws-time-for-some-clear-eyed-logic