UPDATE: San Diego CityBeat has more on the story here.
Sure, progressives are complaining that Pres. Barack Obama isn't making good on his campaign promises. But now, one pot provider facing criminal charges in San Diego has gone so far as to file a motion in court accusing the administration of entrapment. Why? Because, Obama pledged to stop prosecuting medical-marijuana providers whose operations are consistent with state law.
San Diego CityBeat (where I work) is reporting that in a motion to dismiss filed in US District Court, James Dean Stacy of the Vista-based Movement in Action Collective cites statements Obama and his representatives made during the 2008 election cycle. Stacy's attorneys also cite Attorney General Eric Holder's pledge not to use his state resources on medi-pot cases as well as the new Department of Justice guidelines for limiting prosecutions to individuals and dispensaries that violate state laws. From CityBeat:
Stacy's motion calls it a " fundamental notion of fairness: the individual must have fair warning of what conduct the government intends to punish."
The defense relies on entrapment by estoppel, which the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' defines as "when an official tells the defendant that certain conduct is legal and the defendant believes the official."
In other words, Stacy, whose premises were raided along with 13 others in September, would not have formed the collective if he didn't think he had Obama's blessing.
The statements specifically cited include those from an interview with the Medford Mail-Tribune on March 22, 2008:
I think the basic concept that using medical marijuana in the same way with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate. What I am not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue. Simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism. We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with.
Stacy's attorneys cite everything from the LA Times to the Huffington Post to make his case.
For more on the motion and to download the filings, visit San Diego CityBeat's blog LastBlogOnEarth.com.