When Attorney General Eric Holder announced in October 2009 that the Dept. of Justice would respect state medical marijuana laws, the nation breathed a collective sigh of relief. By that time, any lingering support for aggressive federal raids on medical marijuana providers had dwindled into invisibility. The American people wanted to see patients protected, and Obama's pledge to do so earned him nothing but praise from both the press and the public.
Unfortunately, recent months have brought about what can only be described as the rapid collapse of the Obama Administration's support for medical marijuana. Following dozens of aggressive DEA raids, along with some unusual IRS audits, the Dept. of Justice has now begun openly endeavoring to destroy carefully regulated state programs before they get off the ground:
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Several states have started reassessing their medical marijuana laws after stern warnings from the federal government that everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subjected to prosecution.
The ominous-sounding letters from U.S. attorneys in recent weeks have directly injected the federal government back into a debate that has for years been progressing at the state level. Warnings in Washington state led Gov. Chris Gregoire to veto a proposal that would have created licensed marijuana dispensaries.
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Letters with various cautions have also gone to officials in California, Colorado, Montana and Rhode Island.
It's a sweeping intervention that instantly divorces the Obama Administration from its stated policy of not focusing resources on individuals who are clearly compliant with state law. Unlike the numerous recent dispensary raids, which could theoretically result from competing interpretations of state law, this new incursion constitutes a direct threat of arrest against state employees acting in good faith to administer perfectly lawful state programs.
The mindlessness of all this operates on multiple levels, beginning with the fact that no state employee or state-licensed business has ever actually been prosecuted for involvement with medical marijuana. The suggestion that they'd do such a thing is nothing more than a cynical scare tactic aimed at stalling the numerous state programs moving forward this year.
The notion that DOJ would indict state regulators shouldn't even be entertained, let alone held up as a prohibitive obstacle to implementing tightly controlled programs. Think about how ridiculous that is. Would they prosecute Health Dept. staffers in Rhode Island, which only allows three non-profit dispensaries, even though DOJ took no action against officials in states like Colorado and California with fewer restrictions and far more marijuana businesses? The damage to DOJ's credibility would be so extraordinary, one almost wishes they were foolish enough to try it.
The federal agenda is obviously to avoid allowing state regulation to further legitimize the industry, and they're willing to keep things messier than necessary just so they can continue citing that messiness as evidence that this can't work. They're protecting the argument that medical marijuana is out of control by interfering with efforts to control it. It's a slippery and typical drug war propaganda tactic that, once understood and exposed, should begin to lose its potency.
For 15 years now, opponents of medical marijuana have been saying this can't be done because it's illegal under federal law. Yet today, medical marijuana is a $1.7 billion industry that is helping sick people, creating jobs, generating substantial tax revenue, and even taking money away from murderous cartels in Mexico. There is no reason, old or new, legal or practical, that this important progress can't continue.
The forward momentum of the marijuana reform movement now depends on the willingness of state officials to take a stand against federal interference and reveal these empty threats for what they are. But beyond that, the time has come for the American public to send a message to the President who promised more compassionate policies than his predecessor. If Obama hasn't yet figured out how the American public feels about the war on medical marijuana, then let us each take a moment to politely remind him.
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Hemp is fuel...and doesnt have to be subsidized. Its not in our food chain.
America has been slently demonizing our own natural infinite energy resource.
Get Educated.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93xgwCgXh5I
Harry J Anslinger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_J._Anslinger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/obama-pardons-8-people_n_865033.html
Like the earlier pardons, the latest did not involve anyone well-known. The cases date back as far as 1975, when:
1.)Randy Eugene Dyer of Burien, Wash., was sentenced to serve five years in prison in the conspiracy to import marijuana and two related crimes.
2.) Christine Marie Rossiter of Lincoln, Neb., sentenced in 1992 to three years of probation for conspiring to distribute less than 110 pounds of marijuana.
Two out of eight pardons to marijuana offenses! I am having a hard time understanding the direction the White House is taking.
We had another DEA raid on Friday, so this all makes no sense.
They, the DEA, “collected” ANOTHER $1.2 MILLION!!! No charges, just smash and grab!
UPDATE: Friday, May 20, DEA Raid at a Helena Dispensary
http://tinyurl.com/3hqpope
http://www.mikecann.net/2011/05/attorney-general-of-united-states-eric.html
"I was born in the United States of America. Now I live in a Homeland."
~Gore Vidal
Like most Washingtonians, I was outraged when Gregoire vetoed the bill intended to clarify medical marijuana, but the new bill introduced on Monday is much better written and more rational in many ways than the original, which rendered bad sausage during the legislative process. Makes me wonder if she had a method to her madness.
I'm hoping this is a convoluted way to get cannabis reclassified from Schedule 1 to something more rational. That holdover from Henry Anslinger is way overdue to be corrected and would be another wonderful rabbit for Obama to pull out of his political hat before election day.
In regards to Kerlakowski, His hands are completely tied. The law that creates his position prohibits him from doing anything other than promoting the complete prohibition of all schedule one drugs. He would be breaking the law if he even hinted at doing otherwise.
self-medicating..
the free and easy way!