Last week Washington’s legislature ended its 2014 session without approving new restrictions on medical marijuana, a step that supporters portrayed as necessary to prevent federal interference as the state begins allowing the sale of cannabis for recreational use. After all, the Justice Department indicated in an August 29 memo that it would allow legalization to proceed in Washington and Colorado only if both states created “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems.” Washington’s medical marijuana dispensaries, which are not licensed or regulated by the state, seem inconsistent with that expectation.