Even as Republican lawmakers in states like Indiana begin to
open up committees to explore the possibility of legalizing
marijuana, especially so that patients with health problems can
legally use the drug as medicine, the Justice Department (DOJ)
appears set to maintain a strict policy of discouraging and even
outright deterring the movement toward legalization.  A DOJ memo
released last week provides reason for alarm among those in
favor of decriminalizing marijuana, as it signals the federal
government may leave medical marijuana patients and caregivers
alone but cultivators or distributors of marijuana could still
face prosecution.  Noting an “increase in the scope of
commercial cultivation, sale, distribution and use of marijuana
for purported medical purposes” and the fact that some planned
“industrial marijuana cultivation centers” have “revenue
projections of millions of dollars” that will likely involve the
“cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants,” the memo
clarifies the federal governme