HUBER WATCH: US Attorney for Utah: Important detail has been lost in medical marijuana debate

KSL.,com ^ | Sep 13th, 2018 | Dennis Romboy

[Jack Black]

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's top federal law enforcement officer said one "important detail" is being overlooked in the heated debate over medical marijuana in the state.

"Marijuana is against the law, federal law," U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said Thursday. "That very important aspect cannot be lost in this discussion."

The use, production, distribution and transportation of marijuana violates federal law, he said.

"That has not changed, and although there are talks about change, it's the current state of the law, and it's my obligation to enforce federal law," Huber told reporters during a roundtable discussion in his office.

"I'm not a policymaker, don't get into the politics behind these things," he said. "My main concern is law enforcement."

Utah voters will decide in November whether to allow doctor-approved marijuana treatment for certain medical conditions. Opponents of the proposal say the ballot initiative is a guise for legalized recreational marijuana.

Advertise with usReport this ad Huber said it is "to be determined" how his office would enforce federal law in Utah if the initiative passes.

"It's an interesting question. It's one I ponder as I observe the political process on this," he said. "I can't really answer that. … When a case is presented to me, I'll review it."

During the roundtable, Huber cited statistics showing the ill effects of legalized marijuana use from a newly released federal Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area report that has studied the impact of recreational marijuana in Colorado since 2013. Huber and other state and local law enforcers are part of the area's executive board, along with officials from Colorado, Montana and Wyoming.

[Jack Black]

Huber Watch
U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber in the News

A lot is riding on the shoulders of John Huber, what is he up to, based on news accounts?

The question for Trump supporters is "Is Huber spending any time on bringing down the Deep State Coup actors? This was the implicit claim of Jeff Sessions.

Sessions has his supporters and detractors here on Free Republic.

To supporters Huber's appointment is "proof" that Sessions is working behind the scenes to bring down the Deep State Coup actors.

To Sessions detractors Huber is just a distraction, a name thrown to the Trump partisans so they would stop demanding a second Special Counsel to investigate Page, McCabe, Comey, Bruce and Nellie Ohr, much less Huma, Hillary, Rice, Valerie, etc.

So, Huber is important, which is he? A static place holder, or an active investigator?

Here are some of his previous cases that have garnered press recently.

Prosecuting vandals defacing rocks on national lands:

Idaho Falls man pleads guilty in Corona Arch graffiti case

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal prosecutors say an Idaho man has pleaded guilty to defacing a sandstone arch near Moab by scrawling graffiti on the rock feature.

As part of a plea agreement, the 45-year-old Idaho Falls man will pay a $1,000 fine and restitution of nearly $860 to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for the damage done at Corona Arch

...

"U.S. Attorney John Huber told the Tribune on Friday that Andersen’s actions were “troubling to us and anyone who values Utah’s beautiful public lands. People travel from around the world to visit these spectacular resources. Mr. Andersen learned a valuable lesson from this prosecution.”

He's working to bring down street-level drug dealers and throw the book at them:

A 22-year-old Utah man died from an overdose. Now, federal prosecutors want big prison sentences for those who sold him the drugs.

“We all share responsibility in helping our communities rise above this epidemic,” U.S. Attorney for Utah John Huber said in a Monday statement. “Within that space, surely the drug dealers and providers have culpability. Our efforts, like those in other federal districts, will track back from an overdose death to find those responsible for providing the drugs that led to the death. Drug dealers and traffickers will be held responsible.”

It is noted that he is assigned to work with the OIG on the FISA warrant investigation, in this recent article:

Illinois’ congressional delegation spar over growing questions of surveillance abuse claimsTrump was roundly criticized (for his "tapped my wires" acqusationat that time for the unsubstantiated accusation, but congressional investigations over the last year lead by Republicans have unearthed what Republicans say was bias and wrongdoing by Obama administration Department of Justice employees involved in the process of getting warrants on a Trump adviser that allowed for surveillance on the Trump campaign.

The U.S. Department of Justice Inspector General investigation into the alleged FISA abuse is ongoing. A U.S. attorney from Utah, John Huber, also is investigating the claims.

That's the latest update!

[Col Frank Slade]

Huber sounds like a serious hard ass.

This is good.

[LS]

It doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like the Grand Jury looking into McCabre is being directed by someone else.

[GSWarrior]

???

[Jack Black]

Huber sounds like a serious hard ass.

This is good.

Yes, I agree.

He seems to have a strong and clear sense of right-and-wrong and the law. The idea of prosecuting drug dealers for overdose deaths is a good one, and surprisingly not ever used by anyone else.

So this is a good-news / bad-news story. We are still not seeing Huber indict anyone for anything in Washington.

Maybe they will all come at once, but he's missed the window to do so before the election, so Team Trump has lost our opportunity to demonstrate to the LoFos that there is reampant criminality in the Obama DOJ and FBI. (The firings help, but nothing equals a nice indictment -- except the perp walk that goes with it.

[wgmalabama]

A lot of people on this site will say Hubler can’t do anything from Utah. That all the crimes happened in Washington DC. That the deep state can’t be prosecuted in Utah. But if the NSA servers which are in Utah were access legally where did the crime take place? I would argue that the crime took place when they logged into the servers in Utah. Check mate

Now I understand that I have a lot of hope probably irrationally but hope that someone is doing something. So I may be full of shit. But if I login to a server in New York in commit a crime who will go after me the state of Alabama the state of New York or the federal prosecutor Who has jurisdiction where the crime took place which is where the server is.?

I don’t know if anybody else has thought about this that way but if it’s true what I think then Hubler could be racking up indictments all across the country for crimes that were committed in Utah but crossed state bounds.

What do you think?

[Bonemaker]

“My main concern is law enforcement.”

Well so much for the theory that Hubris is working on anything of importance. He’s dicking around killing time on natural plants and their use.

[Junk Silver]

Here’s another “interesting detail”. Federal drug laws are all contrary to the Constitution’s limits on Federal authority. Maybe Huber could try reading the 10th Amendment?

There’s a reason that the 18th amendment had to be ratified in order for prohibition to take effect, otherwise the Federal government would have had no authority to ban alcohol.

Drug laws belong at the State level, as do abortion laws, gay marriage and a myriad of other Federal over-reaches.

[Electric Graffiti]

“Sessions has his supporters and detractors here on Free Republic. “

Has that rat bastard fired Rosenstein yet?

Btw—no one sane supports Sessions.

[Jack Black]

You wrote: "???"

I'm happy to take a shot at answering your question, but I can't decipher "???". Could you be a little more specific?

[chris37]

Leave us alone.

[editor-surveyor]

.
There is one more simple fact that gets ignored too often:

All Federal Regulations of objects and substances are clearly unconstitutional.

The “FDA” is completely unconstitutional.

The “FTC” is completely unconstitutional.
.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

6th Amendment:

“In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law...”

That means Huber CAN’T prosecute anyone for crimes comitted outside his Utah jurisdiction, and they can’t just change the jurisdiction boundaries after the crime.

It’s amazing to me, and revealing, the sheer ignorance of The Constitution that many people have. Especially here on FR.

[alephnull]

The whole legalize marijuana movement is about two things - votes and guns.

1. The people pushing to legalize are going to for the stoner vote.

2. Unless federal law changes all of these medical or recreational drug users are prohibited persons when they try to fill out a 4473.

It’s a win-win for the dems.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

If you are in the US, “where the crime took place” is where you were sitting when you comitted your crime.

[Col Frank Slade]

I never thought of that.

If true it would be an incredible way to completely checkmate the Deep State.

[Jack Black]

Here is a previous Free Republic thread based on President Trump's latest comments on Sessions:

President Trump: “I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad.” “I’m very disappointed in Jeff.”

The number of people who still trust Sessions seems to be shrinking here at Free Republic, and everywhere else.

I've always found Trump to be a very honest and frank speaker, so I dismiss the idea that this his statements of frustration with Sessions are really a big disinformation campaign, to provide cover for Sessions.

If you trust the long string of pronouncements of our President on Sessions, and then look at what we see that Huber is doing, he appears to be acting like a normal US Attorney for Utah, working on cases of Federal drug laws, gun laws, and even the federal property destruction case.

To date there is no sign of him doing squat about events in Washington D.C. Which fits in with the low opinion which Trump has of Sessions, from which one might fairly infer that Session didn't give Huber much of a charter, or told Huber "don't mess with this, just ignore it for me".

But of course, I would be delighted to wake up one morning and find out that Huber has unsealed 40,000 (hell 40 would be great) indictments and arrested a bunch of Deep State Swamp Creatures.

D E L I G H T E D.

As I'm sure most of us would.

But, I'm not counting on it. That would be like basing my retirement on lottery tickets.

[Mariner]

No wonder Sessions likes this guy.

He’s a pot warrior.

[cherry]

I think if individual states legalize weed, so be it....Huber seems to say that its still illegal to ship it across states lines.

if so....good....at least we won't have 2-3 big deep state companies creating a monopoly like our big car producers, our food, and our pharma....at least that's how I read it...

[Jack Black]

What do you think?

It seems unlikely at this point. Jeff Sessions mentioned Huber working with IG in early April of this year.

In five months there has been absolutely no sign that he's doing anything to build or prosecute cases, at least around Mueller-Gate.

There are lots of signs that he's going to work and doing conventional US Attorney things around every-day crime in Utah.

The longer we go without seeing anything from him, the less likely he's actually doing anything.

Look at Mueller by contrast: we are constantly hearing about indictments, search warrants, interviews with people, guilty pleas, court filings.

Mueller's investigation is what a competent professional U.S. Attorney investigation should look like.

Every American he's charged at this point has pleaded guilty or been convicted. Some are in jail, some are going to jail soon. Some are waiting for sentencing.

Meanwhile the Deep State Plotters, who we are supposed to believe Huber is responsible for bringing down, are writing books, appearing on television, going on speaking tours, and generally enjoying life.

Huber does not appear to be the avenger who will bring retribution and justice down on the heads of our enemies.