Today's news that DOJ is officially calling on federal prosecutors to respect state medical marijuana laws is already a top story in every major news outlet. Although the announcement merely formalizes existing administration priorities, it has done so with considerable fanfare and the medical marijuana community is naturally quite thrilled about it.
This event -- and the substantial attention it has drawn -- provides yet another important measure of the rapidly evolving political landscape surrounding marijuana policy in America. It's important to understand how this happened, which is why I think this comment from Glenn Greenwald is a little bit off the mark:
It's just not at all clear to me at this point what political risk exists with regards to protecting medical marijuana. Public support has ranged from 70-80% for a long time. We have a 9-1 record passing state-level initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, losing only in South Dakota. Obama's campaign promises on this issue earned only praise, while contrary statements from Romney, McCain and Giuliani ignited a firestorm of public outrage. Who even opposes medical marijuana anymore other than paranoid politicians, power-hungry police and creepy old drug war demagogues? Even Michelle Malkin and Bill O'Reilly are cool with it.
The real story behind what happened today, I believe, is that the new administration sees public support for medical marijuana as the safest course from a purely political standpoint. They didn't have to issue this statement at all, let alone on a Monday morning, and I can only assume that they're perfectly content to make major headlines with it. As such, this event is significant not only for its implications with regards to medical marijuana, but also because it fundamentally reframes the political calculus that has long driven drug policy decision-making in Washington, D.C.
There are many good things to be said about all of this, but praising Obama's political courage may serve only to unintentionally re-inflate the dubious notion that there's anything to fear by standing with us in the first place.
This event -- and the substantial attention it has drawn -- provides yet another important measure of the rapidly evolving political landscape surrounding marijuana policy in America. It's important to understand how this happened, which is why I think this comment from Glenn Greenwald is a little bit off the mark:
The Obama administration deserves major credit not only for ceasing this practice, but for memorializing it formally in writing. Just as is true for Jim Webb's brave crusade to radically revise the nation's criminal justice and drug laws, there is little political gain -- and some political risk -- in adopting a policy that can be depicted as "soft on drugs" or even "pro-marijuana."
It's just not at all clear to me at this point what political risk exists with regards to protecting medical marijuana. Public support has ranged from 70-80% for a long time. We have a 9-1 record passing state-level initiatives to legalize medical marijuana, losing only in South Dakota. Obama's campaign promises on this issue earned only praise, while contrary statements from Romney, McCain and Giuliani ignited a firestorm of public outrage. Who even opposes medical marijuana anymore other than paranoid politicians, power-hungry police and creepy old drug war demagogues? Even Michelle Malkin and Bill O'Reilly are cool with it.
The real story behind what happened today, I believe, is that the new administration sees public support for medical marijuana as the safest course from a purely political standpoint. They didn't have to issue this statement at all, let alone on a Monday morning, and I can only assume that they're perfectly content to make major headlines with it. As such, this event is significant not only for its implications with regards to medical marijuana, but also because it fundamentally reframes the political calculus that has long driven drug policy decision-making in Washington, D.C.
There are many good things to be said about all of this, but praising Obama's political courage may serve only to unintentionally re-inflate the dubious notion that there's anything to fear by standing with us in the first place.
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.
Add new comment