People keep going around about here about the recent crackdown on dispensaries in CA and other places. One side claims Obama has changed his stance. The other side claims he is in full support of medical marijuana. Both are wrong.
The recent federal actions are consistent with his policy memos and his refusal to address THE issue behind all of this:
The issue is prohibition itself. Obama is on the side of prohibition of cannabis for anyone except for patients for whom is it prescribed and given to for free. He is against smoking cannabis as a way to deliver the cannabinoids that provide health benefits, in spite of doctors and caregivers who dispense or recommend medical marijuana without compensation who disagree - who find that inhalation provides the most immediate benefit. The Obama administration is in favor of pharmaceutically-created cannabis medicines that comply with the current view of how medicines are administered. Yet this administration continues to allow the DEA and HHS to refuse research unless that research meets the goal of the federal govt. - which is to find no acceptable use for cannabis. This is his stance based upon the actions, memos and avoidance of his administration.
clear as mud...
The current crackdowns are about the feds acting against normalizing cannabis sale and cultivation in states - the feds have stated they are not going after individuals or individual caregivers. They also note, however, that they ARE going after large-scale (and "large" seems to include medium or any for-profit scale) production facilities because they view these in the same way that they view the Mexican drug cartels.
To me, the irony in this, along with the note, in the Ogden memo, that cannabis sales remains the greatest money-maker for Mexican drug cartels, is that the feds are HELPING the MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS by closing off the means to produce and distribute locally-produced and sold cannabis. California is trying to work toward a way to move cannabis from an illegal to a legal substance.
Yes, the medical marijuana laws have been used by commercial producers as a way to get a foothold in what they (and others) see as an emerging, new legal market... Because of this, they are in violation of state and federal laws. However, since a majority of the American population views cannabis prohibition as bad law, those who are trying to change it by flaunting it are not viewed as the "bad guys" by so many because, in truth, cannabis is the largest cash crop in the U.S. and offers potential revenue streams for California municipalities that need the revenue. The prohibition itself is arbitrary - as is obvious when compared to alcohol. This is where the frustration comes in.
The prohibition itself is the problem.Those who want to change this law are eliding the difference between legally-provided medical marijuana (i.e. non-profit and small-scale) and commercial enterprises as a way to attack the recent raids by claiming they are an attack on medical marijuana - and to those who use these services they can be and are effected by access- but these money-making dispensaries remain illegal by state law - the state, however, has been trying to work out how to regulate this market and they don't want the feds to interfere. Even if local communities have allowed businesses to operate, those for-profit businesses still violate state law.
Those who want to attack Obama claim this is a change in policy - when, in fact, it is not. It is an implementation of policy that was expressed more than 2 year ago. If there was any question about whether or not the Obama Administration supported the recent actions by the 4 Attns Gen, it should have been settled with the Friday release of the reply to petitions to regulate cannabis like alcohol and tobacco. That reply reiterated claims that "smoked" marijuana does not comply with the fed. govt's view of what constitutes acceptable medicine.
It is ridiculous to try to make the claim this was done w/o Obama's okay or that his stance that he supports medical marijuana means that he did not intend to come down on for-profit dispensaries - we have two years of clarification to indicate that Obama's pov matches that of the DoJ.
So, it is JUST as disingenuous to claim that Obama had nothing to do with these raids as it is to claim the raids are a change of policy. Of course these raids reflect his policy views. How do we know this? by the memos that undergird the actions by the 4 Attns. Gen, by the way that this crackdown on for-profit cannabis dispensaries (as well as RESEARCH) has been coordinated across several federal agencies - the DoJ, the IRS, the DEA, the Bureau of ATF and the Dept. of Health and Human Services and by the statement from Obama's appointed director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske, just this last Friday.
---Here is the paper trail for those who are interested----
The Ogden Memorandum:
http://blogs.usdoj.gov/blog/archives/192October 2009:
In an October 2009 memo, previous Deputy Attorney General David Ogden said U.S. attorneys “should not focus federal resources” on prosecuting those who are in “clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”
That includes the 4 who were the spokespersons for this raid. Now, the kicker in this is that the businesses that were raided are not in compliance with existing state law, because the state law protects those who are providing NON-PROFIT cannabis cultivation. This memorandum indicates that what is going on now is NOT A REVERSAL of the Ogden memo, tho many who didn't read it may try to pretend this is the case.
The prosecution of significant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, and the disruption of illegal drug manufacturing and trafficking networks continues to be a core priority in the Department’s efforts against narcotics and dangerous drugs, and the Department’s investigative and prosecutorial resources should be directed towards these objectives. As a general matter, pursuit of these priorities should not focus federal resources in your States on individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana. For example, prosecution of individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or those caregivers in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state law who provide such individuals with marijuana, is unlikely to be an efficient use of limited federal resources. On the other hand, prosecution of commercial enterprises that unlawfully market and sell marijuana for profit continues to be an enforcement priority of the Department. To be sure, claims of compliance with state or local law may mask operations inconsistent with the terms, conditions, or purposes of those laws, and federal law enforcement should not be deterred by such assertions when otherwise pursuing the Department’s core enforcement priorities.
Holder noted this same position here in 2009:
“For those organizations that are doing so sanctioned by state law, and doing it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that will not be an emphasis for this administration,” Holder said.
The Cole memo came out this year that reiterated, not changed, what does not constitute compliance with the law:
http://www.freedomisgreen.com/full-text-department-of-justice-memo-on-medical-marijuana/
The term “caregiver” as used in the memorandum meant just that: individuals providing care to individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses, not commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana.
...within the past 12 months, several jurisdictions have considered or enacted legislation to authorize multiple large-scale, privately-operated industrial marijuana cultivation centers. Some of these planned facilities have revenue projections of the millions of dollars based on the plant cultivation of tens of thousands of cannabis plants.
The Odgen Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating. selling, or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law. Consistent with the resource constraints and the discretion you may exercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA.
Here's the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy response to online petitions:
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/response/what-we-have-say-about-legalizing-marijuanaimo, those who say Obama supports medical marijuana without any actual analysis of what this means are as wrong as those who claim these actions are meant to eliminate the medical marijuana program. These actions are meant to eliminate is the normalization of the sale of cannabis. But they won't. It's another waste of taxpayer money on the failed WoD and another example of the way in which the bureaucracies that oversee this issue are no longer serving the American people, but rather serving their own interests.
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