And if you don't believe they're going to enforce the law, check this: Feds raid Spokane medical marijuana dispensaries

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Speaks for itself.  Democrats in the legislature wanted to allow these shops in violation of federal law.  Here's the Fed's reaction:

Feds raid Spokane medical marijuana dispensaries

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By GENE JOHNSON Associated Press

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Summary

Medical marijuana activists across Washington state decried federal raids on at least two dispensaries in Spokane on Thursday, saying they underscored the need for a dispensary licensing system that the governor has threatened to veto.
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Story Published: Apr 28, 2011 at 4:10 PM PDT
Story Updated: Apr 28, 2011 at 9:44 PM PDT

Outside the THC Pharmacy pot dispensary, marijuana activists chant in protest on Perry St. Thursday, April 28, 2011, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/The Spokesman-Review, Jesse Tinsley)
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SEATTLE (AP) - Medical marijuana activists across Washington state decried federal raids on at least two dispensaries in Spokane on Thursday, saying they underscored the need for a dispensary licensing system that the governor has threatened to veto.

The raids came Thursday afternoon, three weeks after the top federal prosecutor in Eastern Washington, Spokane U.S. Attorney Michael Ormsby, warned the 40 dispensaries in the area that they should close up shop or face federal enforcement actions.

The raids were the latest salvo from federal authorities seeking to get a handle on marijuana shops proliferating in many of the 15 states with medical cannabis laws.

Recent letters from the Justice Department to officials in several states, including Washington, Colorado, California and Montana, have warned that licensing dispensaries or marijuana grow operations would not necessarily protect them from a federal crackdown because marijuana remains illegal under federal law.

Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire is expected to announce her final decision Friday regarding whether to veto parts of a bill passed by the Legislature that would establish such a system. The bill also would grant arrest protection to marijuana patients who agree to join a state registry.

In threatening to use her veto power, the governor cited a warning from Ormsby and Seattle U.S. Attorney Jenny Durkan that state employees involved in the licensing scheme could face prosecution - a prospect that one of the state's top constitutional experts described as far-fetched in a letter to the governor on Thursday.
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