26-09-2009, 05:36 PM
http://ohmygov.com/blogs/general_news/ar...aries.aspx
Obama administration to end raids on medical marijuana dispensaries
By Jaime L. Hartman Mar 02 2009, 09:53 AM
[url=javascript:void(0);]![[Image: istockphoto_6935257-medical-170x165.jpg]](http://www2.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6935257/1/istockphoto_6935257-medical-170x165.jpg)
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![[Image: istockphoto_6935257-medical-marijuana.jpg]](http://www2.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/6935257/1/istockphoto_6935257-medical-marijuana.jpg)
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that President Obama will follow through on a campaign promise to allow states to make their own rules on medical marijuana without interference by the federal government, despite the fact that Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids have taken place in California since Obama took office.
When asked about those raids at a press conference, Holder said the administration has changed its position.
"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."
White House spokesman Nick Schapiro explained that the raids in January and February happened before Obama had appointed his own drug policy team.
“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws,” Schapiro said.
The federal government has fought state medicinal marijuana laws since California became the first state to enact one in 1996. President Bill Clinton’s administration won a Supreme Court case that allowed federal authorities to shut down suppliers. President George W. Bush’s administration went even further and began raiding growers and clinics, prosecuting suppliers under federal drug laws, and pressuring commercial property owners to evict marijuana dispensaries.
On the campaign trail, Obama often spoke of his mother’s death from cancer and at one appearance he said he saw no difference between doctor-prescribed morphine and marijuana as pain relievers. Obama has even said that it is “entirely appropriate” for a state to legalize the medical use of marijuana as long as the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors are applied.
Thirteen states now allow medical use of marijuana, although the federal government still bans all cultivation, distribution and use of the drug. Experts believe that more states may follow once the federal government backs off its enforcement of that ban.:wavey:
Obama administration to end raids on medical marijuana dispensaries
By Jaime L. Hartman Mar 02 2009, 09:53 AM
[url=javascript:void(0);]
[/url]U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said last week that President Obama will follow through on a campaign promise to allow states to make their own rules on medical marijuana without interference by the federal government, despite the fact that Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raids have taken place in California since Obama took office.When asked about those raids at a press conference, Holder said the administration has changed its position.
"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."
White House spokesman Nick Schapiro explained that the raids in January and February happened before Obama had appointed his own drug policy team.
“The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws,” Schapiro said.
The federal government has fought state medicinal marijuana laws since California became the first state to enact one in 1996. President Bill Clinton’s administration won a Supreme Court case that allowed federal authorities to shut down suppliers. President George W. Bush’s administration went even further and began raiding growers and clinics, prosecuting suppliers under federal drug laws, and pressuring commercial property owners to evict marijuana dispensaries.
On the campaign trail, Obama often spoke of his mother’s death from cancer and at one appearance he said he saw no difference between doctor-prescribed morphine and marijuana as pain relievers. Obama has even said that it is “entirely appropriate” for a state to legalize the medical use of marijuana as long as the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors are applied.
Thirteen states now allow medical use of marijuana, although the federal government still bans all cultivation, distribution and use of the drug. Experts believe that more states may follow once the federal government backs off its enforcement of that ban.:wavey:
"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.â€
Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
