Colonel David L. Chase is President of the AFDCB, better known as the ‘Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board’, and on January 21st he sent a threat to several (all?) legal pot dispensaries in Washington threatening them to avoid selling LEGAL weed to soldiers ‘or else‘.
As they celebrate the first day of legalized recreational marijuana in Anchorage, Alaska this morning, 2,265-miles to the south in Seattle, Washington the 30-day deadline just passed for LEGAL weed dispensaries to comply with a threat sent by Colonel David L. Chase of the US Army:
Hilary Bricken is a lawyer specializing in Cannabis-based law, and she broke this news on Twitter back in January when the letter was first sent.
Per the colonel’s threat, soldier’s cannot even step foot onto the dispensary property! I toiled with whether or not to post this, because the letter is a month old (though the 30-day requirement to comply just expired), also because I find some of this to be common knowledge.
Soldiers are employees of the US government and therefore are required to abide by federal law, not state law. So I didn’t find it all too shocking that some US Army Colonel who doubles as president of the ‘Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board’ would uphold his responsibilities by sending a letter to citizens who might not be aware of this ‘state vs. federal’ law conflict. What IS shocking is that he’d have the balls to send it as a threat, to people who couldn’t give two shits about whether or not his soldiers complied with federal law.
The dispensaries abide by STATE LAW. Weed is only legalized on a state level. Federal law regarding recreational marijuana is NOT the responsibility of these dispensaries, and therefore this letter is just some man trying to push people around with his stationary.
What makes all this even juicier is that two bills were just introduced to Congress that would legalize and legitimize marijuana on the federal level. If passed these bills would make this letter nothing more than a ‘listen to me because I have an important title’ threat. The bills titled ‘Marijuana Tax Revenue Act‘ and ‘Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol‘ would completely remove the concern of federal repercussions on state’s legalization. Never mind the fact that marijuana could prove to be CRUCIAL in treating soldiers suffering from PTSD, it’s truly frustrating to see a government employee thinking he can overstep his boundaries by threatening ordinary citizens.
Alas, it’s been over 30-days and the Army hasn’t invaded Washington-based weed dispensaries. So I think we can all assume this was nothing more than it appears to be: a petty threat by a powerful man.
UPDATE: So it’s been brought to my attention on Twitter that the Colonel might not have been threatening the dispensaries. That since all soldiers abide by the universal code they are not allowed to set foot on the premises and buy anything, and if they were to do so they wouldn’t be allowed back on base after leave. So perhaps the colonel is merely looking out for the soldiers and attempting to keep them gainfully employed.
And I’m not sure I read it that way. He specifically asks for evidence to be presented to him within 30 days, and he asks this of civilians who do not abide by his restrictions. It still seems like a bit of a pushy maneuver.
But maybe I’m reading this wrong, and maybe I’m influenced by the sources from which I found this story initially. What say you bros? Is he sending a thinly-veiled threat to civilians or am I way off on reading it that way?
[Whaxy via TheWeedBlog]