Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
One week after Attorney General Eric Holder said the federal government would not raid or prosecute medical marijuana providers unless they were breaking both state and federal law, DEA agents Wednesday evening raided Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco. The clinic is a cooperative operating under temporary city permits as it completes the city licensing process and thus, apparently legal under state law. Now, medical marijuana providers and activists don't know what federal policy really is.
Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic (from bayareacannabis.org)
"Because so little information has been released thus far, we have more questions than answers," added Aaron Houston, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. "But with an actual shooting war along our Mexican border, not to mention federal law enforcement there being so overwhelmed that traffickers coming through the border with up to 500 pounds of marijuana are let go, it's very hard to believe that this is the best use of DEA resources, especially in a city with an active program to license and regulate medical marijuana providers."
"It's déjà vu all over again at the Justice Department," said Stephen Gutwillig, California state director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The ink's barely dry on the Obama administration's kinder, gentler approach to medical marijuana, and the DEA is up to its old tactics. San Francisco sets the standard for medical marijuana dispensary regulation. Surely, state and local authorities are capable of policing their own system, just as the feds surely have more pressing issues to address."
"It is disturbing that, despite the DEA's vague claims about violations of state and federal laws, they apparently made no effort to contact the local authorities who monitor and license medical marijuana providers," said MPP California policy director Aaron Smith. "For an agency that for eight years said it couldn't care less about state law to suddenly justify raids as an effort to uphold state law simply doesn't pass the smell test."
Holder has twice made remarks suggesting a shift in federal policy toward medical marijuana providers in states where it is legal, but only in response to direct questions. He has not issued an unsolicited policy statement or issued any policy directives.
"Attorney General Holder needs to be specific about when federal law enforcement will and will not harass medical marijuana patients and their providers," said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. "The Justice Department needs to prioritize. Even if a medical marijuana patient or provider is in technical violation of some state law or regulation, that doesn't mean the federal government should be wasting scarce resources arresting people over it. Doesn't the Obama Administration have more important issues to deal with right now?"
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Comments
Tell the DEA to stop raiding or the raiders are fired
The subject says it all. The raiders should be fired for insubordination.
President Obama: What Is So Funny About Taxing And Regulating
Sorry to disappoint the person who anonymously posted the comment above me, but President Obama has already proved your statement of, "...the difference between him and Bush is that he will actually listen to the people when they dont agree with his agenda."
I will paste some of the article, but go to www.norml.com and read more about the issue.
Under Update Update Update in the first paragraph you can follow a link and send an email or directly write the president about this issue.
Read more here:
Speaking live moments ago President Barack Obama pledged âto open up the White House to the American people.â
Well, to some of the American people that is.
As for those tens of millions of you who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol â and the tens of thousands of you who voted to make this subject the most popular question in todayâs online Presidential Town Hall â well, your voice doesnât really matter.
Asked this morning whether he âwould ⦠support the bill currently going through the California legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence,â the President responded with derision.
âThere was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation, and I donât know what this says about the online audience,â he laughed.
I am one of the 3 Million who qsked that question.
And was laughed at.Canada is looking better and better every day.
Administratively Cut the D.E.A. Budget
Administratively cut the D.E.A. Budget to ban them from spending money on raiding anything medical marijuana the local or state authorities have NOT requested their help on. Policy change from now on! See how much money they save by not picking on responsible cannabis users in a year by encouraging them to keep a surplus, and then cut their appropriations by that amount year after year. They will have to keep all of the U.S. competitors' cannabis out for the Americans to get the money and end the Mexican drug war insofar as cannabis is concerned, then in full legalization allow for legal channels with Customs for importation, taxation and the whole nine yards. They'll have to turn their attention to doing their job at the borders, mostly the southern border, as opium poppies and coca are not cultivated to the north.
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