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| Obama's New Pot-Friendly Policy |
| 2009-10-19 |
| Barack Obama is telling the feds to stop, like, totally freaking out, man, and take it easy on medical marijuana. Two Justice Department officials told the Associated Press that the Obama Administration will be sending out a three-page memo on Monday instructing federal prosecutors, the FBI, and the DEA not to harsh the buzz of stoners who aren't breaking state laws. Fourteen states have active medical marijuana programs including the entire West Coast and much of New England. Obama's memo doesn't mean the feds are completely cool with medical marijuana. The AP's sources describe the memo as a set of "prosecutorial priorities" that doesn't rule out going after pot growers and distributors who aren't breaking state law. Dope smokers who can't score a pot prescription or don't live in one of the hippie enclaves where medical marijuana is legal will still need to rely on shady delivery services and streetcorner hustlers. This new policy may be limited, but it certainly makes things much more mellow for pot clubs than they were under the Bush Administration when DEA agents regularly raided medical marijuana operations. The different Presidential positions on pot aren't surprising considering the fact that weed was Obama's youthful drug of choice while Bush always preferred booze and blow. New medical marijuana policy issued |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #19 Many law enforcement folks are opposed to legalization for different reasons. I suspect they fear the ruined lives associated with drug use would be increased in numbers. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-10-19 20:08 |
| #18 It's designed to keep everyone from getting angry. "Let me have my toaster and my tv and my steel belted radials and my wow and my pot..." Well, my opinion? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-10-19 18:04 |
| #17 Under influence of hashish (which I understand stronger than marijuana) you lose all caution, and everything is funny. Driving head on into another car would be an enormous joke. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-19 17:40 |
| #16 Do you suppose the next step for BO is the de facto decriminalization/legalization of marijuana? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2009-10-19 17:06 |
| #15 Not really, nor drunk drivers and we have a lot of pubs, the police just stop a lot of drivers and the courts are quite strict on drunk/drug driving (DUI). The U.K. police now have drug testing kits. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-10-19 15:54 |
| #14 You ever seen a stoned driver, BP? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2009-10-19 15:19 |
| #13 Why will it drive police nuts? Stoners are generally easy to control, non-violent and non-objecting. This was told to me by a UK policeman. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-10-19 15:16 |
| #12 Anonymouse, you are right but by semi-legalizing it on the National Level it encourages states to follow suit. Once enough states have made the leap (assuming that happens) it would be easy to Federalize control again. Sort of like in a tug of war where you give a bit to off-balance your opponent then yank. It also has two benefits that a fellow like Obama might like (a) Might drive police and others nuts (b) the policy should help him shore up the left wingnuts a bit. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-10-19 13:54 |
| #11 Federalism? Is he gonna let states that have the drinking age at 16 have federal highway funds? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-10-19 13:28 |
| #10 What is this poorly-written crap from Gawker doing here? |
| Posted by: gromky 2009-10-19 12:48 |
| #9 Finally people will start paying attention to my posts. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2009-10-19 12:04 |
| #8 For once, albeit unintentionally, Obama may have a successful policy. This is because it, again unintentionally, recognizes federalism. Were Obama to be told this he would freak out, because that is the last thing he wants. However, right now, it is the winning way to go. The pendulum has swung way too far on the side of centralized power, and is desperate to swing back in favor of federalism. Obama's other policies have pushed it beyond the breaking point. They will fail because it is out of control in that direction. But recognizing, unintentionally, that marijuana is a State problem, *not* a US government problem, is just a hair's breadth back from the extreme of centralized power. As such, it is a major success for federalism, and invites more federalist efforts. Hopefully Obama will try to follow up this success in other ways, preferring pleasure to pain. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-10-19 11:28 |
| #7 if the gals on the View were stoned it might not be as bad as it is |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-10-19 09:47 |
| #6 Always heard Obama was a stoner. Castrate smokers and the tobacco industry, but when it comes to getting spaced out on pot, its a go. What sick prick. |
| Posted by: Blinky Whath1594 2009-10-19 09:41 |
| #5 really far away man..... |
| Posted by: armyguy 2009-10-19 09:40 |
| #4 It gives all the young people something distracting to do during their funemployment. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-10-19 09:34 |
| #3 Duuuuude.... |
| Posted by: Mike 2009-10-19 09:20 |
| #2 Explains much about the economic policies of the Obama administration. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2009-10-19 06:39 |
| #1 Finally something sensible out of the O administration. |
| Posted by: Shavise Guelph3916 2009-10-19 06:17 |