Breaking: Obama administration won't seek to arrest medical marijuana users

[Austin]

The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

...

A 3-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

Read more at Yahoo! (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-Newsbreak-New-medical-apf-4109207182.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=)

[Pennsylvania]

Fantastic news!

[Bruno]

I finally approve of one thing Obama has done. :) (though I question his motives)

[Reason]

they said this months ago and then raided a few dispensaries a few weeks later...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/BA5B16N9LR.DTL

YouTube - DEA raids pot dispensary in SF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt96uf8mRJY)

San Francisco -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco Wednesday, a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the Obama administration would not prosecute distributors of pot used for medicinal purposes that operate under sanction of state law.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard St. in San Francisco's South of Market district mid-afternoon.

[revolutionary8]

That'll show ya...

I'll believe it when I see it.

Meanwhile, tell that to your "boss". ;)

The drug tests which have made us no more 'safe" are good examples of government control working through corporate control= fascism/corporatic/rac/classc/ism.

[Bruno]

they said this months ago and then raided a few dispensaries a few weeks later...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/BA5B16N9LR.DTL



San Francisco -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco Wednesday, a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the Obama administration would not prosecute distributors of pot used for medicinal purposes that operate under sanction of state law.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard St. in San Francisco's South of Market district mid-afternoon.

signaled is not the same as sending out a memo. Let's Hope this Changes things. :D

[BlackTerrel]

How much money does the government waste on the "war on drugs"? Seems like a waste given the current economic situations.

[cheapseats]

l


NO DICE, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE
PLUS OBAMA IS A PROVEN LIAR

l

[Kotin]

this means nothing.. its so wishy washy for fucks sake..


nothing firm at all.. no laws.. no admitting that its a state's issue and not under Federal jurisdiction..


nothing will change...


but California will legalize it on the ballot next year.. of this I am quite sure.

[cheapseats]

l


DE-CRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA VERSUS
REINSTATE PROHIBITION OF ALCOHOL
Them’s the choices.


l

[cheapseats]

l


CRIMINALIZATION OF MARIJUANA IS CAPRICIOUS, HYPOCRITICAL AND UNJUST
EVEN STEVEN, CONGRESSIONAL PHARMACEUTICAL RECORDS GO ON THE TABLE
Also Administration drug records.

l

[devil21]

Good news on the surface. The catch is that he is not saying the Feds will back out of all state MMJ issues. He's saying that the Feds will still get involved if they believe "state law" is being broken. How breaking state law means the Feds can swoop in makes no sense to me. I predict a lot of state "tax issues" being used to bring the Feds in.

[revolutionary8]

Good news on the surface. The catch is that he is not saying the Feds will back out of all state MMJ issues. He's saying that the Feds will still get involved if they believe "state law" is being broken. How breaking state law means the Feds can swoop in makes no sense to me. I predict a lot of state "tax issues" being used to bring the Feds in.

Good news on the surface? This is the worst news I've heard since darthcare.

:(

I hope CFL picks up on this quick. Seriously- we need a babelfish for "journalists"
Journalfish. lol.
anyhau-
HR 1866 is the answer.

[devil21]

Good news on the surface? This is the worst news I've heard since darthcare.

:(

I hope CFL picks up on this quick. Seriously- we need a babelfish for "journalists"
Journalfish. lol.
anyhau-
HR 1866 is the answer.

Any step the Feds take backward from drug policy (the domain of state's rights and individual freedom) is good news. I agree that legalization is the ultimate answer but that's not going to happen overnight. Did the repeal of alcohol prohibition happen overnight? Nope. It's a step in the right direction (excluding the loophole I pointed out) and it's about the only thing I can think of so far to salute Obama's administration.

ETA: I fully expect corporations to have huge cannabis fields in Afghanistan and China already in the works so when it is legalized, here comes the Walmart Weed (tm) the day after. The increment steps aren't much different than when alcohol prohibition was lifted. Corporations will be in place to take the trade over quickly from the underground market. Not a bad field (no pun intended) to get into if you're a business minded individual.

[Mithridates]

Any step the Feds take backward from drug policy (the domain of state's rights and individual freedom) is good news. I agree that legalization is the ultimate answer but that's not going to happen overnight. Did the repeal of alcohol prohibition happen overnight? Nope. It's a step in the right direction

Exactly. The way it was proposed back in 1932 was to simply take the existing law on prohibition and make it apply to 4%+ alcohol instead of 0.5%+ (http://www.pagef30.com/2009/05/arguments-for-and-against-legalization.html), because taxes on beer had technically remained in force so it was a nice backdoor method to legalization and a way to raise taxes (while putting bootleggers out of business) without actually having to go through with abolishing the Volstead Act. This is another nice backdoor method, as other states in addition to the ones now can simply draft their own laws to join the others, and eventually the country will realize that the world doesn't end when you legalize medical marijuana. Then it's on to the next step.

[devil21]

Great find Mithridates! The more things "Change" the more they stay the same.

There's still a tax stamp on marijuana in effect in a lot of states, just like tobacco. It's just not enforced because criminal prosecution is more lucrative than tax prosecution. Once prosecution becomes less lucrative than taxation that is when marijuana will be legalized across the board. It's approaching that point I think. It is all too predictable if you remember that history always repeats itself.

[Chester Copperpot]

finally a constitutional executive order.

[LibertyMage]

Obama personally decides not to charge people for using medical marijuana.


Medical marijuana has been decriminalized.


Marijuana use has been decriminalized.



Until I see the third headline, I will not consider this a victory.

[Mithridates]

Great find Mithridates! The more things "Change" the more they stay the same.

Thanks. I often go to newspaperarchive.com and see what I can find. This one article certainly isn't the only one worth dredging up and giving some light in order to compare to the current situation. It's amazing how similar the arguments against legalization back then are to those now.

[phill4paul]

signaled is not the same as sending out a memo. Let's Hope this Changes things. :D

Everyone that uses medical marijuana needs to get the memo and produce it when they show up at the door.

Get it in writing!:)

[bobbyw24]

Some CHANGE we can believe in

[Dieseler]

Who has the time or money to fuck around getting high these days?
Last thing I want to do is dull my senses with all the shit flying around.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Remember California was given $50 Billion dollars that went straight against the huge pile of debt. The FEDS own California and No government agency will ever relinquish it's budget, especially the authoritarian branches like the DEA, ATF, US MARSHALLS, SS.

They all use busts and PR propaganda to justify their existence/budgets. BTW, all the enforcement agencies budgets have increased throughout this decade.

One excuse after another will be made to keep their funding rolling in...


they said this months ago and then raided a few dispensaries a few weeks later...

[/URL][URL]http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/BA5B16N9LR.DTL (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/BA5B16N9LR.DTL)

YouTube - DEA raids pot dispensary in SF (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kt96uf8mRJY)

San Francisco -- Federal agents raided a medical marijuana dispensary in San Francisco Wednesday, a week after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled that the Obama administration would not prosecute distributors of pot used for medicinal purposes that operate under sanction of state law.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided Emmalyn's California Cannabis Clinic at 1597 Howard St. in San Francisco's South of Market district mid-afternoon.

[Bruno]

Who has the time or money to fuck around getting high these days?
Last thing I want to do is dull my senses with all the shit flying around.

For most of us, marijuana enhances our senses, it does not dull them. ;)

You think differently, feel differently, taste differently, smell differently, and hear sounds differently. Marijuana makes you question everything, and think in different ways. Part of the reason govt. wants to keep it illegal, imo.

Who the f*ck has the time or money to see professional sports games, go to an overpriced concert, buy an automobile, have a few drinks at a bar, go out to eat at a nice restaurant, etc? Lots of people do. And some even choose to not do one or two of those activities and instead indulge in smoking some cannabis.