Fascinating NPR piece on how feds have ended local innovation on pot regulation

Driving home this evening, I heard this terrific segment on NPR concerning battles between local officials and federal authorities over pot policies in one California county. The piece is headlined "Mendocino Snuffing Medical Marijuana Experiment," and it merits a full listen.   Here are some notable excerpts:

Mendocino County in Northern California is expected Tuesday to end an unusual program that put pot growing under supervision of the local sheriff.  It was the first effort of its kind in the nation and proved a success, at least in the eyes of many locals.  But federal officials had a different view.

For years, the county struggled to contain an explosion in pot growing — especially since the state legalized the use of medical marijuana. Two years ago, officials legalized medical marijuana production under strict conditions.

They gave the job to a barrel-chested sheriff's sergeant named Randy Johnson. The program earned the sheriff's department more than half a million dollars and enlisted nearly 100 growers....

But in October, federal prosecutors went on the offensive against California's marijuana industry, closing dozens of storefront dispensaries and seizing properties.

The U.S. Attorney for Northern California, Melinda Haag, says the system wasn't working. "The law has been hijacked by profiteers who are motivated not by compassion but by money," Haag says.

She also warned cities and counties that marijuana-licensing schemes were against federal law.  Soon after, heavily armed Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a farm in Mendocino owned by one of the county's legal growers.

Former federal prosecutor Joe Russoniello says allowing sick people to use medical marijuana is one thing, but it's quite another for a county like Mendocino to issue permits to marijuana growers and allow them to sell their product around the state. "As soon as you cross county lines, packaging it, suggesting you have a client base or patients or members, you are basically a commercial enterprise for profit and in violation of state and federal law," Russoniello says....

In the end, Mendocino officials concluded they couldn't afford a legal fight with the federal government, and agreed to gut the regulations. They're expected to formally end the program on Tuesday.

All of it left County Board Chairman John McCowen exasperated. "It means it's going to go back underground. It's going to become more dangerous. It's going to become more profitable for the black marketers," he says. "I just don't see that this represents progress."

As I recall, GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney stressed in a debate last month that there is "nothing wrong with profit" and that he was "someone who believes in free enterprise" and that he would "stand and defend capitalism across this country throughout this campaign." And yet, perhaps tellingly, I am not expecting anyone from the Romney campaign (or any other GOP candidates save Ron Paul) to assail the Obama Administration for spending federal prosecutorial time and federal taxpayer money to shut down this local industry in Mendocino County which had the temerity to be interested in making money as part of a local government program.   

Some recent and older related posts:

• "Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use"
• Notable new pot legalization poll numbers from two states
• GOP candidate Ron Paul assails Obama pot policy and garners applause calling federal drug war "a total failure"
• "Presidential candidate to Obama: end drug war & pardon jailed marijuana users"
• New Huff Post pieces on presidential pot policy and politics
• Two state govs request that feds reclassify pot to ease medical use
• "Marijuana questions dominate White House online chat -- again"
• "Pot legalization efforts forge ahead in key states"