DEA to halt medical marijuana raids

[7greeneyes]

url source: hXXp://www.usnews.com/articles/news/national/2009/02/27/under-obama-drug-war-tactics-poised-to-shift.html Administration officials are hinting that the DEA's raids on medical marijuana sellers will likely end By Alex Kingsbury Posted February 27, 2009 President Obama couldn't have been clearer about his take on the so-called war on drugs. In 2004, he called decades of get-tough law enforcement "an utter failure." So it doesn't come as much of a surprise that the new attorney general, Eric Holder, hinted this month that the new administration will take a radically new approach to one drug issue in particular—medical marijuana. "What [President Obama] said during the campaign is now American policy," Holder told a news conference this week. Despite Obama's well-known views, federal Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided a few pot dispensaries in California two days after his inauguration, despite a state law permitting limited use and sale of medical marijuana. The raid came before Holder's confirmation, and it seems that no one in the new administration told the DEA to stop raiding some of the state's storefront dispensaries. The DEA has hit a few dozen every year since they began appearing in 2003. This time, the agency was continuing on autopilot under Michele Leonhart, a holdover from the Bush years who remains in charge of DEA until a successor is picked. The White House moved quickly to quiet the nervous uproar from the outraged left. "Federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws," says Nick Shapiro, an Obama spokesman. Holder's latest remarks appear to signal that the raids will end. The approach to states' rights in this case, however, is a notable departure from the one used to desegregate schools, close military bases, prosecute civil rights abuses, and link a drinking age to federal highway funds. "Frankly, it's extremely rare for the federal government to allow the states to say that something is legal when the federal law says the opposite," says Paul Rothstein, a law professor at Georgetown University. Not enforcing federal law in this instance is perhaps just a more politically palatable way of acknowledging how the political landscape of marijuana has changed in the past few years, says Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, which pushes for more lenient drug laws. Legal experts say whether Obama continues the DEA raids against the dispensaries—which now seems highly unlikely—is beside the point. A dozen states now have laws similar to California's, although often less permissive, and surveys show that the public generally supports some limited relaxation of drug laws for medical marijuana. States with swollen, costly prison populations are rethinking their sentencing policies for all kinds of nonviolent drug offenders. The New York State Legislature is considering revamping the most famous of these codes, the Rockefeller laws, which would be the first such move by the state in a generation. Meanwhile, advocates of revamping the nation's drug laws encourage Obama to take a page from Franklin Roosevelt, who spent his first few days in office fixing the crippled banking industry before overturning Prohibition. They wave economic studies, arguing that ending marijuana prohibition would create billions in tax revenue and allow cops to focus on more serious offenses. Repealing the 18th Amendment sent millions of dollars into government coffers by 1934 when breweries turned on the taps. "We're not there yet, but ending these punitive DEA raids is a very encouraging step," says Piper. But with a vice president who helped create the position of White House drug czar, Obama seems unlikely to take radical steps. Throughout the campaign, he stated clearly that he was not in favor of legalizing marijuana. Yet incremental moves can be powerful. And while the new DEA head hasn't been chosen, Gil Kerlikowske, Seattle's police chief, will reportedly be Obama's drug czar. If his record is any indication, the war on drugs may be due for a change in tactics. Since he took over in Seattle in 2000, misdemeanor marijuana possession arrests there have fallen by half.

 

[homegrown998]

I just got the email


When I spoke with Barack Obama at a Capitol Hill reception in September 2004 (two months before his election to the U.S. Senate), he said he agreed with me that states should have the right to determine their own medical marijuana policies without federal interference.
That was the beginning of a series of events that culminated two days ago, when Attorney General Eric Holder announced — while standing next to the current DEA administrator — there will be no more DEA raids on medical marijuana establishments in California or elsewhere. This is significant, given that Holder is the "top cop" of the nation and the boss of the DEA!
And, since Obama was elected, we've kept in touch with high-level staffers in the White House and on his transition team, as a way of keeping this issue on their radar screen until the policy was officially changed. Then, when Bush holdovers in the DEA raided five medical marijuana dispensaries in California in the days after Obama took office on January 20, MPP barraged the media and MPP members barraged the Obama administration to demand an end to the DEA's raids (and to fire the Bush holdovers).
And, of course, MPP and a host of other organizations — including conservative groups like Citizens Against Government Waste — have built support for the annual vote (from 2003 to 2007) on the House floor for an amendment that would have forbidden the DEA and the Justice Department from spending taxpayer money to subvert state-level medical marijuana laws.
All of this advocacy by thousands of patients, dispensary owners, volunteers, paid lobbyists, medical associations, and so many others has paid off. You did it; we all did it.
Now it's time for us to take our work to the next level by (1) enacting medical marijuana laws in Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and New York; (2) improving California's and Rhode Island's existing medical marijuana laws in order to provide licenses to dispensaries in both states; (3) reopening the federal "compassionate IND program" so that patients in all 50 states can obtain legal access to medical marijuana; and (4) passing our medical marijuana ballot initiative in Arizona in November 2010.

 

[420benny]

Thanks for posting this. Normally I let all spelling oops slide. Read your title.

 

[homegrown998]

I know but i think you know what i meant lol you cant edit the title without deleteing the whole post

 

[GrowinGreen]

Supporters of programs to provide legal marijuana to patients with painful medical conditions are celebrating Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries. Federal raids on medical marijuana distributors continued at least into the second week of Barack Obama’s presidency, when federal agents shut down at least two dispensaries in California on Feb. 3.

Holder was asked about those raids Wednesday in Santa Ana, Calif., at a news conference that was called to announce the arrests of 755 people in a nationwide crackdown on the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels. He said such operations would no longer be conducted.


“What the president said during the campaign ... will be consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement,” he said. “What (Obama) said during the campaign ... is now American policy.”

Obama indicated during the presidential campaign that he supported the controlled use of marijuana for medical purposes, saying he saw no difference between medical marijuana and other pain-control drugs.

“My attitude is if the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana, then that’s something I’m open to,” at a campaign stop in Audubon, Iowa. “There’s no difference between that and morphine when it comes to just giving people relief from pain.”

White House spokesman Nick Shapiro hinted at the policy shift shortly after the California raids, telling The Washington Times that the dispensaries were legal in California and that the Obama administration’s stance was that “federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws.”



Major shift in federal policy
The new policy represents a significant turnabout for the federal government. During the Bush administration, DEA agents shut down 30 to 40 marijuana dispensaries, the agency said.

The Web site of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy had yet to catch up to the policy shift as of Friday afternoon, and was still prominently featuring a “ declaring that “marijuana is not considered modern medicine” and arguing that “no animal or human data support the safety or efficacy of smoked marijuana for general medical use.”


Holder’s comments received little notice Wednesday, overshadowed by the news of the drug arrests. But supporters of legalized marijuana seized on them as an important sign of progress in their campaign.

“Holder’s statement marks a dramatic shift in U.S. drug policy and is a major victory for the 72 million Americans who reside in states where the use of medical cannabis is legal,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement.

Thirteen states allow the cultivation, sale and use of medical marijuana.

Armentano said the shift would add momentum to campaigns in states that are considering their own medical marijuana laws. The New Jersey Senate approved such a bill Monday, and Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign it if it cleared the state Assembly.
Charles Lynch, who operated a state-approved dispensary in Morro Bay, Calif., before it was raided in 2007, also welcomed the new policy.

“It’s a good thing for California. It’s a good thing for the other 12 states that have medical marijuana laws,” said Lynch, who was convicted in August of federal drug charges. Lynch could face five years in prison when he is sentenced late next month, but in light of the new federal policy, he said he would appeal his conviction and seek a presidential pardon.

Lynch contended that dispensaries like his were vital for patients in the last stages of a painful illness.
“Having one in your community, wherever that may be, is a good thing because it helps these people that need relief,” he said.


hXXp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29433708


• Alaska
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• Michigan
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• Oregon
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• Vermont
• Washington

 

[TerrorAP2]

What about Texas?!

That's it! I'm moving back to California. I never should have left in the first place.

 

[420benny]

Happened to me too. It was funny to me, that's all. Ironic.

 

[homegrown998]

ya, that w flipped the script on me, lol.

 

[ms4ms]

a hint of positive news is nice to read.n thanks for the post

 

[Firepower]

hxxp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29433708/

Holder confirms states to have final say on use of drug for pain control

Medical marijuana advocates and users confront Los Angeles police during a Drug Enforcement Administration raid of a medicial marijuana dispensary on July 25, 2007.

By Alex Johnson
Reporter
msnbc.com
updated 5:42 p.m. ET, Fri., Feb. 27, 2009 function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) { var n = document.getElementById("udtD"); if(pdt != '' && n && window.DateTime) { var dt = new DateTime(); pdt = dt.T2D(pdt); if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,((''.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true));} } } UpdateTimeStamp('633713713797630000');

Supporters of programs to provide legal marijuana to patients with painful medical conditions are celebrating Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries.
Federal raids on medical marijuana distributors continued at least into the second week of Barack Obama’s presidency, when federal agents shut down at least two dispensaries in California on Feb. 3.
Holder was asked about those raids Wednesday in Santa Ana, Calif., at a news conference that was called to announce the arrests of 755 people in a nationwide crackdown on the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels. He said such operations would no longer be conducted.

http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/“What the president said during the campaign ... will be consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement,” he said. “What (Obama) said during the campaign ... is now American policy.”
Obama indicated during the presidential campaign that he supported the controlled use of marijuana for medical purposes, saying he saw no difference between medical marijuana and other pain-control drugs.
“My attitude is if the science and the doctors suggest that the best palliative care and the way to relieve pain and suffering is medical marijuana, then that’s something I’m open to,” Obama said in November 2007 at a campaign stop in Audubon, Iowa. “There’s no difference between that and morphine when it comes to just giving people relief from pain.”
White House spokesman Nick Shapiro hinted at the policy shift shortly after the California raids, telling The Washington Times that the dispensaries were legal in California and that the Obama administration’s stance was that “federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws.”

Major shift in federal policy
The new policy represents a significant turnabout for the federal government. During the Bush administration, DEA agents shut down 30 to 40 marijuana dispensaries, the agency said.
The Web site of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy had yet to catch up to the policy shift as of Friday afternoon, and was still prominently featuring a “ Medical Marijuana Reality Check” declaring that “marijuana is not considered modern medicine” and arguing that “no animal or human data support the safety or efficacy of smoked marijuana for general medical use.”
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Holder’s comments received little notice Wednesday, overshadowed by the news of the drug arrests. But supporters of legalized marijuana seized on them as an important sign of progress in their campaign.
“Holder’s statement marks a dramatic shift in U.S. drug policy and is a major victory for the 72 million Americans who reside in states where the use of medical cannabis is legal,” said Paul Armentano, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said in a statement.
Thirteen states allow the cultivation, sale and use of medical marijuana.
Armentano said the shift would add momentum to campaigns in states that are considering their own medical marijuana laws. The New Jersey Senate approved such a bill Monday, and Gov. Jon Corzine said he would sign it if it cleared the state Assembly.
Charles Lynch, who operated a state-approved dispensary in Morro Bay, Calif., before it was raided in 2007, also welcomed the new policy.
“It’s a good thing for California. It’s a good thing for the other 12 states that have medical marijuana laws,” said Lynch, who was convicted in August of federal drug charges.
Lynch could face five years in prison when he is sentenced late next month, but in light of the new federal policy, he said he would appeal his conviction and seek a presidential pardon.
Lynch contended that dispensaries like his were vital for patients in the last stages of a painful illness.
“Having one in your community, wherever that may be, is a good thing because it helps these people that need relief,” he said.

 

[Il Stugots]

this is a huge step for the movement..i hope that guy Lynch gets off
i hope the judge sides with him on this

 

[robz]

Well I think the Feds need to seriously consider the fact that Americas largest cash crop is going untapped and untaxed and needs to be decriminalized. Given current circumstances you would think the time has come. How many billions a year could our government make to pay down the deffecit? Put towards education, or bail out the next failed bank? It's been in prohibition way too long and it has not worked.

 

[robz]

Flipping idiots!!