Drug War Issues
One of President Obama's campaign promises last year was that he would stop the DEA's cruel and senseless raids on medical marijuana clinics. But less than two weeks since he took office, such raids have already been conducted on two occasions, hitting several clinics in the Los Angeles area last Tuesday.
We are hoping this is just Bush administration holdovers at work, and an administration spokesperson yesterday had encouraging words to this effect in the media -- change is coming on this issue, the Obama administration says. Follow the link below to our feature report to read more.
In the meanwhile, patients and the people who serve them are being subjected to continued injustice. Please click here to e-mail President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to ask them to take action now to stop the raids sooner rather than later. Don't just click, though, use the phone too -- the White House Comment Line is at (202) 456-1111 (be persistent, it's pretty busy right now), and the Attorney General's office is at (202) 353-1555.
If you are on Facebook or might want to be, please click here to sign our petition to President Obama on this issue. Please forward both of these links to your friends too.
Click here to read our feature story on this week's raids and the administration's encouraging response.
Thank you for taking action to bring positive change to US drug policy now!
Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Do it already
I am a recently unemployed American, i have a BA, and yet after nearly a year of searching, i am still unemployed, as it turns out, i have quite the green thumb, come on already President Obama, we all know Marijuana is a harmless plant not capable of killing anyone. Make it legal, create at least 1 job.
Lack of understanding
Drug law reformers have a serious lack of understanding of how the federal drug law works. They need to start by reading the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gonzales v. Oregon, 546 U.S. 243 (2006), which states, unequivocally, that it is the states, and not the federal governement, that decide whether medical use of a drug or substance is acceptable. Federal drug law does not allow the federal government to make something illegal that a state has determined is accepted for medical use. Obama can simply tell the federal agencies involved to obey the law. It's that simple. Anything else is just smoke and mirrors.
Of course, Congress would enact new legislation, but Obama cannot force Congress to do that. Obama only has one option, tell the Department of Justice to obey the law.
Carl Olsen
Iowans for Medical Marijuana
Post Office Box 4091
Des Moines, Iowa 50333
515-288-5798
http://www.iowamedicalmarijuana.org/
Carl Olsen v. Eric Holder, No. 4:08-cv-370, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa
Carl Olsen v. Drug Enforcement Administration, No. 09-1162, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
Obama and WoSD
Obama will never reduce the War on Some Drugs. Look who he picked for a V.P. ! ! ! Isn't it painfully obvious? Biden never saw a harsh drug law that he didn't embrace.
New Drug Tzar
I'm just wondering if he's read his new job description yet? The ONDCP Reauthorization Act? Is he ready to sell his soul to the devil and allow every word out of his mouth to be a blatent lie? Is he really ready for that? I've heard that, as a cop, he's a great cop. Not a "head banger" type, you know, shoot first and ask questions later. Well, he'd better read the Act before he says "I do." Otherwise, he'll turn into another lowlife lying "child out of wedlock" like all who have proceeded him.
Is there any Honor amongst Police? This is going to be a telling story, to be sure. How quickly will he forget the true meaning of "to Protect and to Serve?"
Sure gonna be interesting to watch.
Add new comment