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ALERT: Stop the Feds' Medical Marijuana Crackdown

Submitted by David Borden on (Issue #692)
Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy

In March 2008, candidate Obama promised not to use Dept. of Justice resources to block state medical marijuana laws. But President Obama has broken that promise:

  • The Obama DOJ is raiding marijuana dispensaries at twice the rate the Bush DOJ did.
  • US Attorneys have sent misleading, threatening letters to state legislatures considering dispensary laws.
  • A DOJ memo sent late last month, claiming to "clarify" an earlier memo that supported states rights to medical marijuana, in fact backtracked on it. While the federal government is not targeting patients themselves, they are making it more difficult for them to obtain marijuana legally and safely.
Please write to President Obama to express your concern and disappointment over his broken promise. The future of medical marijuana depends on people like you across the country speaking up and putting pressure on the president to keep his promise to respect state medical marijuana laws -- so please use our web site to send President Obama a letter today. When you're done, please use our tell-a-friend form to spread the word. You can call the White House Comment Line on the phone too, at (202) 456-1111, to make an even greater impact.

Thank you for taking a stand. Visit http://stopthedrugwar.org for news and commentary about all aspects of the drug war. Click here for our medical marijuana archive page, or here for our medical marijuana RSS feed.
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

little fish (not verified)

DEAR MR. PRESIDENT

THE REAL PROBLEM-  While the federal government is not targeting patients themselves, they are making it more difficult for them to obtain marijuana legally and safely.

 I am a disability/retired nurse of 16 years military/civilian experience. I have been in more than one leadership position. I am as equally qualified to be in office as anyone here.

 I discovered cannabis as the most effective/cheap source to treat my condition.. I am also a caregiver for my mother who has chronic ailments. I am deeply involved in patient access issues. The truly ill are having trouble accessing their state approved medication. 

 I am not for WALMART pot operations and I never will be.

 I am not for dispensaries run by people who have ALWAYS been willing to cut corners to make money, are undereducated on the product they present etc. These practices end up hurting the patient in the long run,as Law enforcement eventually closes these dispensaries down.

 LET states mandate BACKGROUND checks like they have already been doing.... along with applications for opening of the dispensary.

Is this person knowledgeable enough to sell MEDICINE and educated in use and effect. Essentially the Dispensary owner is an herbal pharmacist and should be qualified. I do not know of any other establishment that is STATE mandated/regulated that does not require some sort of education/qualifications for the person running said establishment. 

 This has been done already in other states but held up due to FEDERAL road blocks.

Do you really want the DEA to keep spouting such undereducated, caveman gibberish in YOUR NAME.

Do you know how much the common man is insulted by the DEA's and LAMAR SMITH's "opinions"..because they sure aren't facts. its like the Village Priest saying you can't do it because god says no. THAT is VERY insulting to ADULTS. Honestly. My daughters could do the job better. They are not controlled by special interest JUST INTEREST IN HUMANITY.

I did not vote for you....  but ,because of your current policies I will in the up coming election.. I believe we can have the change we need as a country but it takes work.

BUT I cannot vote for an individual who goes against my core values. HELPING MY FELLOW MAN in his time of need.

If no move is made on your part to help serve the 1,500,000 patients and their families. Then those families and their friends may be treating their vote the same way.

You and your cabinet should watch the film  "AND THE BAND PLAYED ON"..it was supposed to teach us to care.

P.S. Tax the heck out of  the rich..... haven't seen many jobs generated by trust fund babies. LOL.

MR. PRESIDENT please help the patients of this great nation.

signed

Don Adam Willoughby/ retired RN

Mon, 07/11/2011 - 2:18pm Permalink
andyz7 (not verified)

Mr. President, please help our heroic veterans, and people suffering from chronic illness! You broke your promise not to go after medical marijuana. But it's not too late to change course and show some compassion!

Thu, 07/14/2011 - 2:55pm Permalink
KeLeMi (not verified)

In 2008 Ron Paul remarked that he supported the 2000 campaign that George W Bush ran on. I supported the 2008 campaign that Barack Obama ran on. This included ending the raids on medical marijuana clinics. Instead, he's outdone Bush on raiding them.

 

I support Ron Paul's and Barney Frank's legislation and hope it passes. We'll save a lot of cash doing this.

 

If Ron Paul gets the presidential nomination, I'll vote for him.

Thu, 07/14/2011 - 4:07pm Permalink
Gary D. Harris (not verified)

Mr. Obama, I write to you today as a loyal American citizen, an Army veteran of the Viet Nam conflict, and as a Medical Marijuana patient living in California. I am very concerned and disappointed by your unwillingness to honor some of the many promises you made before the election.

The ONLY reason I voted for you Mr. Obama is because you promised you would steer the Dept. of Justice in a more productive direction, and honor the laws and sovereignty of each states right to make their own laws and to exist. You said you would not allow politics to trump science. You lied to me Mr. Obama! You lied to every single American voter that voted for you Mr. Obama. You know you lied, I know you lied, and every American citizen that voted for you, know you lied to us.

Mr. Obama, one reason I voted for you was because I thought you had the best interests of the average American citizen as your goal as you pursued the office of President of the United States. I thought you would be a man among men who would rise up to accomplish great things for the citizens of America. Unfortunately, it turns out "you're just one of the boys". 

I will not vote for you again Mr. Obama.

Yours Sincerely,

Gary D. Harris,

Fresno ,California.


 

Thu, 07/14/2011 - 5:23pm Permalink
Ron Coppetti (not verified)

In reply to by Gary D. Harris (not verified)

I to Voted for you Mr. Obama for the same reasons because you said you would stop the War on 'Medical Marijuana'

You made many promises before the election. You Lied to me Mr. Obama! you Lied to the American People! I never seen any change other then what is going on in California on OUR Medical Marijuana Co-ops ! Keep the Change Brother!

I can understand if your going after the people who are just out for the money and could care the less about us the 'Medical patient' if your going after 'Gangs' that is a good thing. They need to be weeded out!

other then that it is total waste of Tax payer Money 'Again' I to will never ever Vote for you again!

PS, it is a easy Target for the US Federal Government, to start there war up, a person may think they have bigger much bigger things to do. Alcohol is a legal in The USA and in about every store I go to it is there [but that is OK with the feds]. I say this for me that is, it alcoholism has killed more people then I can say!  tobacco smoking has killed many people to. The Feds closed down one co-op in Stockton on Monday Oct 17, 2011. I have mixed fillings about why they mite got closed down by the feds. I would like to know why?

Ron

Stockton, CA.

Wed, 10/19/2011 - 6:50pm Permalink

When Pres. Nixon initiated this "War on Drugs" his own selected professional fact finders did not include marijuana as a schedule 1 drug. Having had perhaps a little to much to drink the previous evening, Nixon went into an anti-Semitic rage, as I understand it, stating that the "Jews want to get rich selling marijuana and so I want it left as a schedule 1 drug". How true this might be is left to those who reviewed the tapes of the meeting and so I cannot state anything other than "this was my understanding of the only reason that marijuana was left on the schedule 1 drug list". This did not really mean anything other than the "Hippies"that were protesting the Viet Nam War were going to get hit as that was their drug of choice along with some LSD.

As time went along, it became apparent to the law enforcement, attorneys, judges, courts, and the Department of Corrections as a whole, that this was bringing in some regular money and a lot of it. The entire criminal justice system was getting fat on the War on Drugs and the general public had no idea how disastrous this was going to become. The War on Drugs naturally drove the prices up and more and more individuals saw this as easy money and a "solid get-rich-quick" scheme. Many who used, sold so that they could afford to use as the prices continued to rise. The confiscated property from drug dealers and the bounty put on drug arrests made this an outstanding and "moral" way of making big bucks "protecting the general public from the druggies". This further increased both the price and the amount of drugs coming into the country or being made in "meth labs" across the nation, with the crossroads for crystal meth being Independence, Missouri. Located at the crossroads of the national Interstate Highway system made it ideal and it became the "Crystal Meth Capitol of the World".

As you can see, we have had an "invisible hand-in-glove" relationship between the criminal justice system and the drug dealers, organized crime and the international drug cartels for a long time and no one is willing to stop the flow of money involved. Needless the say, the drug users have been caught in the middle and the general public taxpayers have been footing the bill. This, by my own estimate amounts to over $2000.00 per year for every man, woman and child in the nation. Is it any wonder that the legislators and whatever administration is in office wants to keep this "Money-go-Round" moving? Whether Republican, conservative, liberal, Democrat, it makes no difference because the money is what counts and the damn druggies can rot in jail. Now we have 2.3 million people in prison or jail of which 70%to 80% are there due to alcohol and/or drug related problems.

Now here is where the real problems begin in keeping this "Money-go-Round" moving forward as they would like to do. Modern science and technology have caught up with the real reasons why people become addicted to alcohol, nicotine, and other mind altering chemicals. Addiction, we now know is genetic in origin and neurobiopsychosocial in function. That means that we have been putting a lot of legitimately sick people in jail and prison. Addiction is a self-medication with some chemical/s that appear to make things better when in actuality continued use simply makes the illness worse. They have never been properly diagnosed and placed on the correct road to recovery. They have been put into a criminal "revolving door" and never had the opportunity to get well. Now, the Federal Agencies that deal with mental illness and chemical dependencies and genetic based addictions have reached the threshold of treatment that works very well and can achieve long-term recovery and functional independence. We do not have to continue to put sick people in prison. We can cut our losses in trying to continue the "War on Drugs" and introduce some very intelligent and functionally independent individuals to a world where they can become productive. The drug demand ends and with no more "Money-go-Rounds" we transition into something entirely new.

Now, let's get back to that marijuana issue. We know that it is not anywhere near being as harmful as alcohol or nicotine. I will cut the excess use of both alcohol and nicotine by at least 50%. It will create jobs, income and tax revenue. It will eliminate wasted money in the criminal justice system so they can focus on real crime. The science that shows that marijuana is nothing like the myth and misconception and as I see it outright lies by deception that we have had shoved at us to believe. Those days should now come to an end and we need to ferret out those individuals who have been "profiteering" by keeping the drug war running. Amnesty should be introduced for those who have been incarcerated on, what now become little more than misdemeanors. Eliminate the "felony crime" record that keeps them from becoming productive workers.

Nothing is going to stop the forward movement of a powerful collaboration of science and medicine that has been building. Truth wins out!

Fri, 07/15/2011 - 2:22am Permalink
Nedmorlef (not verified)

I'm free. I can do anything I want as long as it doesn't affect the rights of others.

You want to harass me? Then, I will be an activist. You want to take my job by forcing fluids from my body when ,you know this violates every principle of being American? I will work for myself. You want to oppress my medical choices? You don't have that power given by God or the US Constitution. You may take the power but, that is tyranny.

You want to vandalize my property,beat and kill my pets, tell my employer I'm under investigation to hurt me financially. I will fight back even though I can't beat your death machine I will be free or die.

That's right. I would rather die than live under your oppression. Life isn't worth living under your rules. Lying cold in a hole would be better than being forced to live in your world.

It's my body. I have more of a right to smoke pot than a mother does to abort her fetus. Yet, her body is hers to murder but, mine is not mine to live free.

Fuck you and the gov't you rode in on. I am free and I will always be free. You can beat me, taser me, lock me in a cage and I will stand defiant until my last breath.

I am a United States citizen. I can read and I have read the Constitution and your supreme court isn't very supreme. They are bought, paid for and politically motivated. There is no true freedom or justice in their decisions when it's based on politics.

I smoke and the local sheriff knows. He's tried for 10 years to arrest me for smoking a joint. 10 years! That's every single week,day after day after day of following me everywhere I go,watching everything I do and interfering where ever possible to make my life as much a prison as he can. However, my complaints made him walk a straighter line.

My smoking isn't the reason he came after me. He came after me because , I caught his buddy the DA of the county jacking off on my fence to the tune of my naked teenage daughter. He was doing this all over the neighborhood . I reported him to the sbi,fbi and even the atf after pipe bombs were detonated as intimidation. I still have the shrapnel....and some film

It made him very angry that I cramped his perverted style and that of his sheriff and crooked deputies.

I filed official complaints of this nature through a lawyer. My knowledge threatened his political career. By breaking into my home when I wasn't there and searching my property in the dark it was discovered that I smoke.

This is the untold story in the war on drugs. The domestic terrorism by your tax paid police. That's police at all levels not just the local ones.  I thought that my claims would actually be investigated but, they were not. The sheriff and the initials are all part of the "thin blue line"....and the feds left me to suffer at the hands of these local criminals.

I will not budge. I am free. I am an American protected by the supreme law of the land. The one you deny for your personal and political gain. You can put me in a cage but, you can never take my freedom. Freedom is in the heart. You can only kill the body. You can't kill my soul. It's my soul that threatens you.

This is my land not yours. I am the one that loves it. Not you. I am the one that will die for it. Not you. You are the trespasser. You are the traitor. I am free and this nation belongs to the free. Oppressors have no place here.

The Holy Bible says "it's not what goes in a man's mouth that defiles him but, that which comes out of a man's mouth which defiles him".  I agree with that. Nothing a man eats makes him a traitor or oppressor. It's the tyranny from the heart that causes you to hate your neighbor.

Therefore,it is you whom is the bad guy. You are the one that belongs in a cage. You are the one that deserves to lose all you have, It is you that should be suffering....and as long as I breathe I will see to it.

Mr President, you don't have to believe me but, you have to respect my freedom because, it's your freedom too. One day you won't be president anymore. You may have secret service protection but, you will be a man just like me. Putting your pants on one leg at a time. Your power will be gone. Lost to do anything about the current terrorism inside the borders of the U.S. Carpe Diem.

Enough ranting, let's go roll one and be free. I'm even going to stand by the window and flip off every official vehicle that drives by my home. Why? Because, I'm an American and I am free by law. The one you with badges claim to represent.

Mon, 07/18/2011 - 10:46am Permalink
Applejackson (not verified)

I've been saying from day one that every promise he was making during his campaign was hollow and would NEVER come to fruition.  I honestly feel that the biggest reason he was elected was that many voters wanted to be part of the historical first presidential election of a black candidate.  How's that workin' out so far?   Let's start to focus on doers and not "hopers".  The cultural significance overshadowed people's ability to see through his emptiness in my opinion.  If anyone actually bought that "Hope" "Change" "Yes We Can" crap, then there's this bridge I've been trying to unload for some time now.  I think you'd like to have a look.

Fri, 07/29/2011 - 4:23pm Permalink
Rhonda (not verified)

There's a reason no one else has posted after you, Nedmorlef. No one can add anything to your post. Well said (wild applause). Forever and ever, amen.

Fri, 07/29/2011 - 6:03pm Permalink

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