The Weed Wars

The shifting landscape when it comes to attitudes about marijuana laws—plus the changing nature of enforcement of the laws themselves—is making for some confusing moments in sentencing in the state of California.

Take, for example, the now infamous Morro Bay based case of Charles Lynch, a clinic owner who reportedly had the blessing of the mayor of Morro Bay and the local cops. The Sacramento Bee has rest of the story.

Here is how it begins:

One of the most compelling cases pitting California’s medical marijuana law vs. federal authority to prosecute medicinal pot unfolded in the coastal town of Morro Bay.

There, Charles Lynch opened a marijuana dispensary called Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers in early 2006. The mayor, City Council members and officials from the local chamber of commerce came out for the ribbon-cutting.

But in 2007, at the behest of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department, federal drug agents raided the dispensary. Lynch was arrested on five felony counts, including conspiracy to distribute marijuana and providing marijuana to person under 21.

In 2008, Lynch was convicted on all counts and sentenced to five years in federal prison.

But last week, in a sentencing memo affirming an his earlier decision to cut Lynch’s sentence to one year and one day, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu signaled that federal attitudes have changed on medical marijuana. He wrote: “Individuals such as Lynch are caught in the middle of the shifting positions of governmental authority.”

Notably, the judge also said he believed that marijuana should be downgraded from its current federal status as a Schedule 1 drug – an illegal substance with no accepted medical use.

Read on. There’s more.

By the way, the judge also opined that he didn’t think that marijuana should be schedule one anymore. Good call, judge!