Topic: Obama, State's Rights and Pot | |
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Interesting...
Bush who professed to be a state's rights advocate when he ran the first time ignored the will of the people regarding the medical marijuana issue and went so far as to raid and prosecute terminally ill individuals for legally using marijuana. Obama has made a change. Doing what Bush said he would do. Respecting state's rights. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ No sooner was President Obama sworn in than the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) decided to provoke him. Two days after the January 20 inauguration - before the Senate had confirmed the nomination of Attorney General Eric Holder - the DEA raided a medical marijuana dispensary in South Lake Tahoe, California, one of the states that has made such facilities legal. This, with full knowledge that as a presidential candidate Obama had pledged to discontinue such raids... Yesterday, the DEA carried out multiple raids at medical marijuana clinics in the Los Angeles area. According to MSNBC: A Los Angeles police spokesperson said the department, which is normally notified of such operations, got no advance warning from DEA. In other words, the DEA was so worried that the LAPD might alert the White House of its plans beforehand and so it bypassed the normal procedure there. This has of course led to a chorus of Chicken Little-ing from some corners of drug policy reform that Obama and/or Holder never intended to keep Obama's campaign promise to end the raids in states that permit medical marijuana clinics for patients with cancer, glaucoma, AIDS and other ailments treated by the plant. Today, the White House made it clear to the Reuters news agency that the DEA is acting without its blessing: White House spokesman Nick Shapiro on Wednesday reiterated Obama's stance that "federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws." "And as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," Shapiro said. So, everybody chill. Rome wasn't destroyed in a day. Although there are some economic libertarians, Ron Paul enthusiasts, and beautiful losers in parts of the drug policy reform milieu that apparently would rather see the Obama administration break its promises - so as to be able to crow that nothing ever changes and to be able to continue their own daily poutrage - the vast majority of us absolutely want the raids to end and understand it will take not a lot, but yes a little bit, of time to clear the bureaucracy of insubordinates and steer the ship of Justice back on track. Meanwhile, if patience is that hard, there's probably a medicine somewhere that can help. http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/2/6/145515/3547/508/694121 |
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Edited by
InvictusV
on
Sat 02/07/09 05:07 PM
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Let's be honest. There is a large amount of people abusing the Medicinal Marijuana in California. You can walk into a "doctors" office and pay a fee and get a prescription.
I support cancer patients, and other terminally ill cases to be afforded the opportunity to ease their suffering. BUT... Just because some 20 year old kid with a sore pinky finger pays the fee , he or she shouldn't be sold weed. Its really up to the industry to start policing itself. There is alot of skepticism about the shady nature of the "doctors" and the shops. It will never be Amsterdam. |
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Funny no comments here from the people who support states rights.
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I gully support states' rights but the DEA doesn't need Obama's permission to enforce the law.. when it comes to drug law, federal trumps state.
This is nothing new. lots of states have lenient views of the use of maryjane but if the feds have reason to bust what they call a drug ring, they have the jurisdiction to do it. they also have the jurisdiction to intervene where states purposefully try to circumvent federal law. I think that's what this comes down to. I think it's dumb that ganja is classified in the drug laws the way it is but until the DEA and the fed's change their stance on it.. people are taking their chances when they spark up.. |
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I am full aware of the supremacy clause.
The Bush administration chose to focus ignore the will of the people and sought to prosecute people acting legally under state laws in areas it found morally objectionable like medical marijuana and assisted suicide. The DOJ, DEA and other agencies have wide latitude in deciding what areas of investigation and prosecution they choose to pursue. Typically an administration chooses issues it feels are important and asks these agencies to focus resources there. Bush did and now so is Obama. Bush chose to direct agencies to prosecute terminally ill people who use medical marijuana because he had a moral imperative? Drugs and assisted suicide is morally wrong! Big brother government is much better at determining what is medically and morally right for you than you, your family and your doctor are! Obama has chosen to use these agency resources differently and to respect a state's right to govern according to the will of the people. Weren't some of you all about the will of the people on some other issues here? Oh yes that other moral issue...gay marriage... |
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