The United States Justice Department's announcement earlier this month that it will begin going after large scale marijuana growing operations in California is an illustration of how our federal system of government can sometimes have laws that work at cross purposes and cause confusion among citizens.
The background on this is that in 1996 California voters approved an initiative that allowed the use of marijuana for medical purposes. In the fifteen years since then, medical marijuana dispensaries have proliferated throughout the state. Federal prosecutors assert that some of the people growing marijuana have set up substantial operations that generate significant profits. It is these large scale producers that the feds are targeting.
It's important to bear in mind that this enforcement comes from the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Under our federal system of government, national laws are created in Congress and signed by the president, while California state laws come from the state Senate and Assembly and are signed by the governor. Thus, with these two systems, there are times when state and national laws come into conflict. Marijuana laws are an example of this. While California has decided that use of marijuana for medical purposes is okay, the national government continues to outlaw possession, use, sale, or cultivation. (Of course, adding further complication to the issue is that California law changed last year making possession of less than an ounce of marijuana an infraction, akin to a parking ticket.)
The Justice Department has said that it will for the most part not prosecute people who use medical marijuana. It has decided, however, to use its authority to bring charges against people it feels are violating the intent of California's medical marijuana laws by growing large quantities of pot and making substantial amounts of money. These charges would be dealt with in federal court, not California superior court.
