As D.C. takes another step toward becoming a pot paradise today, when it begins accepting applications from would-be weed dealers (OK, "cultivation centers"), local officials are telling applicants that if the feds conclude this whole medical marijuana thing is, you know, illegal, then there's nothing the District can do about it. Sorry!

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Under newly revised rules, all applicants must state in writing that they assume the risk, and, as the Examiner reports, they're advised that: 

Growing, distributing, and possessing marijuana in any capacity, other than as a part of a federally authorized research program, is a violation of federal laws.The District of Columbia’s law authorizing the District’s medical-marijuana program will not excuse any registrant from any violation of the federal laws governing marijuana or authorize any registrant to violate federal laws.

In recent months, a panel has been sifting through scores of letters of intent from potential distributors and growers with names like "Emerald Chalice" and "Luscious Leaves." (Some, like M.I.A.'s fiancé, were disqualified because they couldn't get their paperwork together.) Later this year, 10 growers and five distributors will be selected, their licenses possibly available as early as December.

But with these new rules — which, most likely, were prompted by a recent Department of Justice memo instructing federal investigators and prosecutors to crack down on medical marijuana shops — it's going to take some gutsy entrepreneurs to start growing pot here, in the backyard of those very same feds.