They mention "Washington, Alaska and the District of Columbia" almost as an afterthought, forgetting of course that Oregon is not only legal but has rapidly moved into working recreational sales AND pulled in more revenue in its first month than any other legal state did, upon commencement of recreational sales...
I also don't think they're even remotely aware of the situation on the ground in these other states, for instance, Washington has a robust, functioning and tax revenue generating legal cannabis industry and Oregon which managed to get things rolling (so to speak) in a record amount of time by consolidating the substantial medical marijuana outlets with early recreational sales, with further licensing and regulation on the agenda for 2016...
Add to that the fact- and, it's a fact- that it's not just the 4 legal states that conflict with Federal law, it is EVERY state (more than half) that have medical marijuana laws. If the rallying cry is "enforce federal law" then they're going to need to not just arrest a lot of people in CO, WA, OR and AK (and DC) but also all those medical mj providers, growers and patients in states like California (which probably will be legal for recreational use by the end of the year, anyway)
As much as the CS Monitor and bloviators like Chris Christie may wish it were so, it's not just a case of one administration "refusing to enforce federal law"- there's no fucking way the federal government has the resources; much less the mandate, to go in to over half the country and override their state law enforcement decisions on this matter. The ONLY rational answer is to bring federal law into balance with what the states are choosing to do, and that is what will happen sooner or later, bleating of the prohibitionists notwithstanding.
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