NEW: ACLU Urges Chafee to Issue Compassion Center Licenses

NEW: ACLU Urges Chafee to Issue Compassion Center Licenses

The Rhode Island ACLU called on Governor Lincoln Chafee today to issue certificates of registration to three medical marijuana dispensaries approved by the Department of Health. The request challenges a letter sent last week by U.S. Attorney Peter Neronha suggesting that the dispensaries may be illegal under federal law.

In a letter to Chafee, RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown said that withholding the registration certificates —as Chafee did on Monday under threat of criminal prosecution — "is directly contrary to state law."

Brown further noted that the three Department of Health-approved dispensaries are "in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana" and not involved in "unlawfully market[ing] and sell[ing] marijuana for profit," as suggested by an October 2009 Department of Justice memo relating to state medical marijuana laws.

Brown urged Chafee to reconsider his decision regarding the issuance of the registration certificates and further questioned the timing of Mr. Neronha's letter, claiming that it "creates the appearance that the Department of Justice is unfairly using its law enforcement and prosecutorial functions in order to undermine the outcome of a lengthy and public process where its input could have been offered. While the federal government may have a legitimate interest in the outcome of state legislation or rule-making and may seek to affect those outcomes by political means, we believe the U.S. Attorney's last minute attempt to derail this two-year old law is an abuse of those powers."

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"State law mandates the issuance of these registrations," the letter continued. "These dispensaries should not be a basis for undoing the will of the General Assembly and the carefully considered work of the Health Department."

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