Federal criminal charges are valid against an Oklahoma lawyer who devised a scheme to help his clients avoid the state’s residency requirements to grow and sell medical marijuana, the Tenth Circuit said.
Matthew Alan Stacy argued that he couldn’t be prosecuted under a federal budget rider that prevents the US Department of Justice from spending funds to prosecute drug laws that would otherwise be valid under state laws. But the rider didn’t apply because Stacy did violate Oklahoma’s medical marijuana laws, said Judge Gregory A. Phillips in a Sept. 26 opinion for the US Court of Appeals for the Tenth ...