A recent federal court ruling in San Francisco is a blow to Justice Department efforts to limit the sale of medical marijuana in California and 22 other states, according to legal experts and government officials. In a scathing opinion last month, U.S. District Court Judge Charles R. Breyer challenged the Justice Department’s narrow interpretation of a congressional bill that bars the department from spending any money to prevent a state from implementing its medical marijuana laws. Justice Department lawyers say the budgetary restriction does not stop them from prosecuting medical marijuana users or providers, a claim that Breyer said “so tortured the plain meaning of the...
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