Group: Washington Gov. Gregoire ‘A Liar’ About Dispensaries

0

Gov. Christine “Pants On Fire” Gregoire seems to have appointed herself a federal official. Hey Chrissie, Obama’s not gonna give you that plum Cabinet appointment he promised you unless he gets reelected.

​CannaCare, a medical marijuana activist group in Washington state, is calling Governor Chris Gregoire “a liar” for claiming state officials could be arrested by federal agents if she signs a bill that would legalize medical marijuana dispensaries in the state.

Gov. Gregoire told the Seattle Times, reacting to a medical marijuana dispensary bill currently in the Legislature, “In light of the Department of Justice’s guidance, it is clear that I cannot sign a bill that authorizes our state employees to license marijuana dispensaries when the department would prosecute those involved.”

The governor, in effect, asked the federal government for permission to sign a bill in a state of which she is presumptively in charge. This pitiable attempt to gain cover for her own political cowardice is certainly contemptible enough on its own.
But CannaCare, led by firebrand Steve Sarich, goes a little farther than that.
“Governor Christine Gregoire is a liar!” the group headlines a press release.
“Under most circumstances, this would be considered a pretty brash statement,” Sarich says in the release. “Frankly, if she wasn’t an attorney, and the former Attorney General of the State of Washington, it might very well be. The fact is that she was the Attorney General of a state that has had a medical marijuana law for over a decade and has had to grapple with state versus federal law issues on numerous occasions.”

“She can hardly claim ignorance of the federal statutes,” Sarich said.
Sarich points to what he says is an applicable section of federal law which provides clear protection from prosecution of any duly authorized state employees in Washington:

Graphic: CannaCare

Photo: CannaCare
Steve Sarich: “She just refuses to do the right thing”

​”By having a Washington State law which ‘duly authorizes’ state employees to engage in handling controlled substances, we can create legal immunities from the federal Controlled Substances Act,” Sarich said.
“Let’s just all face the truth: Governor Gregoire just refuses to reform the state medical marijuana law. Governor Gregoire regularly opines about the fact that marijuana is a Schedule I drug.
“The truth is that she, the Legislature and the Attorney General of Washington have the power to change that,” Sarich said. “This is a fact that she fails to mention in the hundreds of speeches she’s given on the subject.
“Washington State not only has the power, and duty, to reschedule medical marijuana in Washington, but this state has the power to force the federal government to do the same,” Sarich said. “Marijuana could finally be treated as a prescription drug throughout the country.
“She just refuses to do the right thing,” Sarich said.
Share.