By Garrett Rudolph
LOS ANGELES — One of the top officials with the U.S. Department of Justice recently warned states with medical marijuana that strong regulatory systems are necessary if they want to avoid intervention by the feds.
U.S. Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole recently told The Los Angeles Times that states should strengthen their regulatory systems for medical marijuana if they want to prevent marijuana users from being prosecuted.
Most states with medical marijuana have some form of regulatory system in place. However, California and Washington notably do not. Potential regulation of the medical marijuana industry is expected to be a hot topic in the 2015 legislative session in Washington.
Meanwhile, cannabis advocates in California are gearing up for a campaign to legalize marijuana for all adults in the 2016 election.
Cole recently announced that he will be leaving his job as second in command of the Justice Department. His comments were made to the Los Angeles Times at about the same time as Seattle city officials sent letters to 330 medical marijuana dispensaries have until July 1, 2015 to either obtain a state-license to operate a marijuana business, or to stop conducting major marijuana activity, according to a story by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Washington State does not currently issue licenses to medical marijuana businesses.