In October 2010, with a quixotic marijuana initiative leading in
California polls, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder answered an urgent
letter from retired heads of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration.
"Let me state clearly that the Department of Justice strongly opposes Proposition 19," Holder wrote, declaring he would "vigorously enforce" federal law if California voters passed the measure, which would have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults over 21 and allowed retail sales of pot.
This
year, Holder notably declined to respond as the retired DEA
administrators sent him another anxious letter expressing opposition to
marijuana legalization efforts. This time, voters in two states,
Washington and Colorado, voted 55 percent to 45 percent to legalize
marijuana beyond medical use, upping the stakes in America’s marijuana
debate.
California, which passed America’s first medical marijuana initiative
in 1996 and pushed the envelope on legalization in 2010, has become an
also-ran in the discussion. The state also lags in regulation of medical
cannibis.
"It feels like you guys are still going through the
awkward step of adolescence, and Colorado and Washington have gone on to
the next step," said Sam Kamin, a professor at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law who researches marijuana policy.
In
California, where Holder’s letter was widely publicized and flipped the
polls as Proposition 19 went down to defeat, marijuana advocates hope
successful legalization votes elsewhere will at least persuade the
Legislature to regulate the state’s existing medical marijuana industry,
which operates in an amorphous legal haze.
"This is called a game-changer," said Ellen Komp, California deputy director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The group backed failed legislation this year to license California
medical marijuana dispensaries and growers in hopes that stricter state
oversight would help repel an ongoing federal crackdown.
"No one
thought we were going to get a full legalization measure anywhere
