Feds threatening crackdown over medical marijuana

[pokerfan]

This is so stupid it burns. If a state chooses to legalize it, how does that undermine law enforcement? That is the point of legalization. If something is declared legal then there is no longer any law to enforce.

Washington's top federal prosecutors have threatened to crack down if the state goes forward with a proposal to legalize medical-marijuana dispensaries and growers, putting in jeopardy a bill that has already passed both chambers of the Legislature.

In a letter to Gov. Chris Gregoire on Thursday, U.S. Attorneys Jenny Durkan of Seattle and Michael Ormsby of Spokane wrote that the bill would undermine drug enforcement and could result in an array of prosecutions or civil penalties against dispensary owners and growers, as well as against state regulators enforcing the proposed law.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014777869_medpot15m.html

"What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue. Simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism. We’ve got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with." -Barack Obama in 2008

[Capitalocracy]

1. 2008 Obama standing up strong for the people once again!

I wonder when we'll see 2008 Obama come back. Probably right around election time... and not a minute beyond that.

[Vanje]

2. assholes nt

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Obama's stand on this is so wrong-headed.

VERY stupid.

We need to decriminalize marijuana, not make it into a federal case.

Damn.

We need to do what he said in 2008.

Recommended.

[pokerfan]

8. an outrage within an outrage within an outrage...

Remember Prop 215? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_McWilliams">Peter McWilliams (1949 – 2000) in 1998:

Medical marijuana prohibition is an outrage within an outrage within an outrage.

The first outrage, of course, is the War on Drugs itself. Prohibition does not work, has not worked, cannot work, and anyone who says it can is either deeply delusional or is making money on the drug war.

The next layer of outrage is marijuana prohibition. Marijuana 61 years ago was unjustly criminalized based upon lies by the self-serving drug czar of his time to a Congress who lapped it up like milk because it was hot and they wanted to go home. It happened in the summer. And so they voted in the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 after ninety seconds of debate. The prohibition has been unrelenting. More than 12 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana since that time. This is a plant that has never hurt anyone in 5,000 years in a country where 400,000 people die prematurely of cigarettes and 100,000 people die prematurely from alcohol. That this herb, this plant, this weed should be so illegal in this country that since the 1995 Omnibus Crime Bill if you possess enough of it, our government will put you to death. If you don't think marijuana is still prohibited keep in mind that 645,000 people were arrested in 1996 alone, the most ever. That's one arrest every 48 seconds. Meanwhile we have a speaker of the house and a president and a vice-president who have all admitted to smoking marijuana. These are pothead baby boomers and it's outrageous that they should put their fellows in prison.

Finally, the outrage within the outrage within the outrage is the War on Drugs, unlike any war in American history, unlike any modern civilized war of the past two centuries. In this War on Drugs they are not stopping the battle and allowing the Red Cross on the field. In fact, they are shooting directly at the sick and at those who are trying to help them. And they are shooting to kill. A friend of mine named Todd McCormick was arrested for growing marijuana in his own home after Proposition 215 passed in California that allowed for cultivation. He had had cancer nine times before he was 10. The DEA came in, destroyed his plants, and wants to put him in prison for the rest of his life, a ten-year mandatory minimum. Plus a $4 million fine. That's shooting to kill.

[Uncle Joe]

12. That's a good post, pokerfan.

Kicking and recommending the thread.

[RKP5637]

4. The Stupid in this country is incredible. It is a Stupid country, there is

no question about it, and a lot of citizens are Stupid as a bag of rocks. We're the laughing stock of the world, over and over again. US = United Stupidity. I used to make excuses for it, I no longer can.

[Warren DeMontague]

5. We could have schools closed, bridges collapsing, and medicare patients tossed out of hospitals

but there would still be plenty of money for the fucking military and idiotic god-damn war on pot smoking.

:mad:

[RKP5637]

7. It's unbelievable. As I said in #4, it's a F'en Stupid country. There are no

excuses anymore, it's just a F'en Stupid place. Everyday brings another WTF. The place is collapsing, yet it plods on with Stupid WTF inane solutions and wars.

[arcane1]

6. When I voted for him, I realistically expected to disagree more often than not

but I did NOT expect to disagree with him on this topic :mad:

[CrossChris]

9. Why would American families matter more than multi-national pharmaceutical companies?

Was there ever a time when people really expected our leaders not to make life hell for the bottom 99% for the benefit of the top 1%?

[DCKit]

10. Think about it this way....

If you (or me, or any of us) get sick and can't afford to live independently, we can always light up in front of the local DEA office and, before you know it, three squares and free healthcare for the next 20 years or so.

When there are more of us in prison than out, they might get a clue.

[Upton]

11. And now Gregoire says she won't sign the bill..

Gov. Chris Gregoire says she won't sign legislation to create licensed medical marijuana dispensaries in Washington state after the Justice Department warned it could result in a federal crackdown.
-------
Gregoire says there's no way she can sign a law that would open state employees to federal prosecution. But she says there are problems with the state's medical marijuana law that make it difficult for sick people to get the drug, and she'll cooperate with lawmakers to address those problems.

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/119930344.html

That's really standing up to the DOJ Chris...thanks a hell of a lot.

[pokerfan]

13. That's just f'ing great

This will never, ever be solved. There are just too many special interests arrayed against it... Law enforcement agencies, corrections agencies, pharmaceutical corporations. Beer, wine & liquor manufacturers and distributors.

[Cascadian]

16. OK! Gregoire just lost me then!

She's caving in? Then she should not get a third term.




John

(The Cascadian is back!)

[Upton]

17. She's not expected to run for a third term..

and there's been a lot of speculation as to why she would do this:

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/04/15/another-reason-gregoire-may-not-like-the-medical-marijuana-bill

[eowyn_of_rohan]

14. It is a big chunk of the shadow govt's income-nt

[Cascadian]

15. Another reason for Cascadia to be independent from the U.S.!

i hope everybody out there fights this. How dare they try to enforce their chicken shit upon us! The prohibition is a failure!




John

(The Cascadian is back!)

[pokerfan]

18. Viva la Cascadia!