Obama Administration: We're Not Going to Arrest Sick People for Smoking Pot.
By Susie Madrak Monday Oct 19, 2009 6:00amI think it's awfully nice of them to promise not to arrest sick people who are trying not to puke their guts out:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- 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.
Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.
The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.
Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.
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what states allow med mary jane? I only know of California.
Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Let's see, if I'm in Florida, the nearest state would be....what were we talking about?
Oh noes! Looks like the South don't believe in the negro medicine. Must compete wit tobacci.
tahbackky
I believe the correct spelling is...
Ruth.
; P
Just for eating Twinkies:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/18/o...
"The sponsor of that law, the Republican state senator Todd Lamb, said it was intended to give the mother "as much information as possible about that baby" because it might grow up to win the Nobel prize."
After seeing their QB injured twice while dropping back to pass, Oklahoma Sooner coaches are force feeding their offensive linemen
twinkies "to give them as much weight as possible to protect that QBaby who might just grow up to win another Heisman prize."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFRbZJXjWIA
When will these socialist commies stop forcing their radical... states rights agenda... um... Mr. Beck, Ms. Bachmann? Help? I'm kinda lost here...
Meant to Post new, not reply! Sorry, Ys!
Clinically, Captainapathy, you were right. Bachmnann and Beck
are Wailers.
The obvious next step is to begin to change state laws so that people who choose to relax with a little MJ instead of the more lethal alternates (such as alcohol) can do so without the fear of going to jail.
In NY - Gov. Paterson is in big trouble.
Let him put the decriminalization of possession, sale and growing of MJ on his platform and he will be swept into office on a beam of joy.
... good to see some common sense finally making it through!
toke for man, one righteous hit for the Obama administration?
.
very good indeed.
clinically open this thread to Balloon Boy commentary?
that's funny!
.
Difference between humanity... eh? One scummer is pleased when his police force can exact more pain on those suffering and then a compassionate man can see the wrong in it and has the power to change it - and does.
...makes me sick!
to LEGALIZE AND TAX MARIJUANA in California. The supporters are now trying to gather the necessary 434,000 qualified signatures for the November 2010 California ballot.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/...
If any one of these initiatives passes and becomes law in California THAT will be the major showdown as to states rights.
In light of the fact that California is teetering on bankruptcy, I think taxing the herb looks like a pretty ingenious way to raise revenue for the state. Especially when you consider that people are going to grow and smoke pot regardless of ANY laws.
... simply releasing all the minor drug offenders and stop wasting state resources going after people smoking a f*cking plant could do wonders to alleviate the fiscal burden in this state.
for bankrupting the state and forcing them to tax the herb.
And people using it for medicinal purposes should be exempt from being taxed on their medication.
The way you win the "war on drugs" has always been to make that shyt legal. Just like prohibition - when the liquor was made legal, Eliot Ness and his Untouchables had to find something else to be "untouchable" about.
According to Wikipedia:
Required findings for drugs to be placed in this schedule:[1]
1. The drug or other substance has a high potential for abuse.
2. The drug or other substance has no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States.
3. There is a lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision.
Well it appears that the government is admitting that #2 does not apply to marijuana. When will marijuana be dropped from the DEA's list of Schedule 1 drugs?
There is nothing listed on Schedule I which actually matches all of those criteria. The only thing I know of that could fit them is tobacco.
The entire scope of USA drug prohibition began as "civil morality" attacks upon minority laborers. First it was puritanical "temperance league"-inspired legislation against opium (Chinese), and then it was against marijuana (Mexicans). Alcohol Prohibition drove many otherwise law-abiding people into Speakeasies or to "alternative" social lubricants like cannabis. The end of Alcohol Prohibition and the start of Cannabis Prohibition were historically almost simultaneous, no coincidence IMHO.
Propaganda, such as the "Refer Madness" movie, and not scientific facts have always driven the legislation against marijuana. Even it's moniker as a "gateway drug" has been proven wrong by numerous studies. The GWOD was begun in ernest by President Richard Nixon, who initiated and then buried a far-reaching scientific (Shafer Commission, 1972) report in order to use the full weight of the law to go after the anti-war movement. Yet, even the US Government has patents they are squatting on that bely the Big Lie (google US Patent # 6630507).
The GWOD has proven, over the past 3+ decades to be a boon to certain Corporatist State beneficiaries, including Big Pharma (Marinol), the DEA and State and local police departments (asset seizure laws), and the Private Prisons industry, not to mention the ability to strip citizens of their voting rights (subjugate likely Populist voters). Check out [NORML.org] and [LEAP.cc] and [FEAR.org] for a better assessment.
Imagine the financial harm done to Big Pharma and the Prohibition Industrial Complex if USA citizens were allowed to grow MJ legally. Just how many snake-oil poisons, OTC or otherwise, that Big Pharma pushes (Mad Ave propaganda) down our throats would not be purchased? Just how many officers of the law, or even prison guards, would have to find other employment? Just how many other sources of revenue would have to be found to replace Asset Forfeiture? Just how large a portion of USA foreign policy (Corporatist Imperialism) would have to be amended? Just how many Judges, Lawmen, and Politicians would have to find other, legal sources of income?
(Nice dream, though ... 8^))
and right on the money.
was aimed by the mostly Protestant WASPs at the mostly Catholic Irish, Italians, and other undesirable ethnic groups. All it did was create organized crime and ultimately empower those very groups.
Prohibition, whether Alcohol or other Drugs, has always targeted "undesirable ethic groups", by design. Todays' analog is the vast difference in sentencing guidelines between Crack and Powder Cocaine. Senator Jim Webb (D - VA) is attempting to address these sentencing inequities, among others.
And the GWoD has, since 1972, accomplished little more than increasing the organizational skills, subterfuge, and bank accounts of the new generation of Organized Crime syndicates. The cure for the inherent and rising violence in the streets, both here in the USA as well as Mexico, is total repeal of Prohibition for All Drugs. If it's ALL legal, it can be taxed AND regulated. Drug abuse should be treated as a medical condition, not as a law enforcement problem.
Marijuana will be dropped from the list WHEN THE GOVERNMENT MAKES A LOT OF MONEY ON IT.
The ONLY reasons the government doesn't like marijuana are:
They CAN'T CONTROL WHO MAKES IT.
They CAN'T CONTROL WHO DISTRIBUTES IT.
They can't control WHO SELLS IT.
According to the Harrison Act (1914), if you want to use, distribute, or sell drugs, YOU HAVE TO PAY A TAX ON IT.
http://law.jrank.org/pages/12360/Harrison-Act...
http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/history/e...
when the tobacco lobby's grip on the Congresscritters is loosened - you know, like health care.
Oh, and the military industrial complex that also makes gazillions on the "war on drugs" - what would their motivation for legalization be?
but the liquor lobby might.
I would bet that the oil and petro-chemical industries would object, too.
now, repeal DADT, close Gitmo, pull the troops home, demand a strong public option, prosecute the torture king pins and I'll become a charter member of the new and improved Barack Hussein Obama Booster Club.
I'll say it again. Legalize marijuana, regulate it, tax it and sell it like cigarettes - the federal deficit will be erased by Thursday..
.........huh, (cough)...no boudt adout it!
This is only happening because the money well the Gub'mint's been using to run the Drugwar is bottoming out.
It truly is 'guns or butter' time, and all those people on unemployment and whose kids are in danger of homelessness and malnutrition don't want some fat-cat bureaucrat lecturing them on the necessity for maintaining his/her little 'anti-drugs' satrapy on the taxpayer's dime.
Alcohol Prohibition ended in no small part because the Great Depression made it too expensive for government to prosecute. The same thing is happening now.
to realize that people needed a f*cking break.
I sometimes wonder if the Puritans did not leave the old world on their own device, as much as they were politely asked to leave the f*ck out of the old world.
Well, yhis maybe the 2nd thing good to happen since Obama came into office, oh wow.
I still say Federal agents have no right to trump state laws, I am pretty sure that is the way it was set up? maybe somebody should ask Eric holder if that is to be the case as defined in the federal constitution originally.
Obama just took a step towards restoring the republic, a Democrat restoring the republic!
It should be legalized and used for food and fuel tax revunue, IDIOTS!!!! You all know it, they all know it. I all know it. Glenn Beck even knows it for short periods of time. Whats the hold up?
Pottv Network on you tube is getting interesting, he is doing prison pot casts from jail, Mark Emery the Prince of Pot. He also just recently uploaded an interview with a Natcotics officer, for a nice twist the Narc took a giant bong hit of hard core hash, funny to see the perfect disfunction in the officers mind while intoxicated from THC.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PotTVNetwork#p/u/...
Start there, I think, great stuff.
Heres the strat of the Narc interview.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PotTVNetwork#p/u/...
You shouldv'e put a gaint picture of a pot leaf in the post :(.
than just stop you from puking - removes blood clots from your legs and fluid from the lungs, stops mutating cells and rejuvenates healthy cells.
Run From The Cure...The Best Hemp Documentary ever made!
I would like to clear up a few misperceptions that your post would appear to promulgate.
Firstly, the "processed" medication, as in processed by Big Pharma, is pure THC, either extracted or synthetic, and is known as "Marinol". Marinol is most widely prescribed as a pill, in very specific formulations by milligram, and frequently either too small or too large a dose. Chemotherapy patients have difficulty keeping anything in their stomachs, including Marinol pills.
Secondly, THC is not the only "active" ingredient in marijuana - there are dozens, including cannabinoids. Big Pharma has had many years to evaluate these other compounds. They have either not made these clinical studies, or they have internally suppressed them (politics OR profits OR Both).
Thirdly, the USA "on-label" applications of THC include the treatment of glaucoma (nice, heh?)
Finally, the term "Hemp" is more appropriately assigned to those strains of Marijuana that have no "active" ingredients, like THC or cannabinoids. Rope, twine, paper, clothing, and construction materials are what "Hemp", if legalized in the USA, could be used for - not medical or recreational Marijuana. (That's like putting DINOs in the same category as liberal progressives, just because they have a (D) by their names.)
Hope this helps ... 8^)
you couldn't be more off the mark, Spanky.
thanks for keeping my scroll finger in shape!
Thanks a lot for your ever-so-insightful response, including name-calling - very adult, engaging, and informative.
You used the phrase "as a "processed" medication, it does more". AFAIK, there are 2 ways to "process" MJ medication that is approved by the USA Federal government. One is as a smokable cigarette, of dubious quality from a single government-approved supplier (University of Mississippi) as I recall, and the other is pharmaceutically pure THC in liquid or pill (Marinol) form. Since the pill is self-administered, it is the most widely prescribed modality for the treatment of side effects of chemotherapy.
Neither officially approved modality for pharmaceutical THC provides for any adjustment in the ratio of "active components" found naturally in Cannabis Sativa or Cannabis Indica that are more useful to those patients for whom Medical Marijuana would provide either relief of symptoms, or cure. As a Schedule 1 substance, it is nearly impossible to obtain official approval for the use of Marijuana for treatment of disease, beyond those specific on-label (approved) applications. One of the very few USA patents obtained for components of Marijuana (#6630507, circa 2003) is, ironically, held by the Federal government itself.
Thanks, anyway, for playing along ...
In support of the great leader's decision I will take one bonghit for every comment posted on this thread.
;-)
You're excuse number 37. (cough cough)
.
Is right twice a day. And I cannot help but condone such actions at such times, as well!
Just saying ... 8^)
I'm still on probation, but at least I don't have to piss in a cup for them anymore. Unfortunately, doing job interviews (and their requisite drug tests) keep me from enjoying :(
And this really serves to show just how twisted this Corporatist State is, IMHO.
Even in States where MJ is legal (like Medical MJ in 13 States), there is no prohibition (sorry for the pun) against employers (or prospective employers) from discriminating against either Medical MJ or casual, recreational (weekend warrior) MJ users. And yet, there have been studies made (not in the USA) that demonstrate that the performance of employees in certain occupations is actually benefitted by the consumption of MJ - including high-rise steel/construction workers (I kid you not!) Apparently, the MJ tends to slow the workers down enough to narrowly focus on their highly dangerous skill-set. The result - better productivity and far fewer accidents - who knew?
I wouldn't try to use such an argument with a prospective employer, though ...
Just saying ... 8^)
That's kinda funny I was foreman of a construction crew and we were accident free the whole time I was in charge.(I kid you not!)
If THIS is Obamacare, then im SO on board. Otherwise, not so much.
It will be interesting to see how the "public option" will treat those who have a medical recommendation. Will it be zero tolerance or pre-existing condition time or will they really leave us alone?
Back off, suit.
Dope addicted Dumbo, Limbaugh attacks potheads:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/
Odd that a guy addicted to hard narcotics (Oxycontin - Hillbilly Heroin) would slam others who use pot medicinally but considering the hypocrisy of the GOP leaders like Rush, Stalin, Hitler and Hannity anything is possible.
The feds are told not to prosecute cases if mj use is according to state law.
So if it isn't, and a state declines to prosecute, will the feds now step in?
Congress should repeal ALL LAWS pertaining to mj and leave it to the states. PERIOD.
Yea till obama takes actions I think we all should take anything he saids from now on with a grain of salt.
Of all the things that Wingers have been hypocritical about, this is one of the most outrageous. You can count on constitutional originalists to suddenly suffer from amnesia about states' rights and want to prosecute medical marijuana users (and growers, but their case is a bit more complicated) because they decide which to favor -- states' rights or federal -- depending on which corresponds with their own ideology. If ever there was a case that didn't need the Feds to get involved, this was it.
A lot of the same people, you know them, they're the ones practicing ritualistic symbolic cannibalism on Sundays, would never think of supporting a law that makes it a crime for idiots (and that is what they are -- no matter which party they support) to talk on cell phones while driving, because that is a horrendous assault on personal liberty. But for someone in severe pain or suffering from debilitating nausea to resort to marijuana for relief, why that is unspeakable.
The war on drugs is, if anything, even more insupportable than the Iraq War, and it has been managed at least as poorly. And that's quite an accomplishment. I'm sure Obama will take a lot of flak from some Wingers, because it's pretty obvious that only socialistic, communistic, Nazis would support not persecuting sick people. I imagine there will be some trouble from a few Conservadems, too. Where does arch-Liberal Joe Lieberdouche stand on this issue? If he's supported medical marijuana in the past, I imagine this would be the ideal time for him to re-examine his position and come out four-square against it now.
some toker to death then find out they have a prescription they'll have to let them go?
I'll believe it when I see it with my own eyes.
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