About the “new” federal medical marijuana policy
Longtime readers will know that I have been very supportive of state initiatives on medical marijuana dating back to my years at the Seattle Times (see here, here, and here).
So, I have no general policy quarrel with this at all. Finally, an Obama policy that officially reduces the role of the federal government. Or so it seems:
Federal drug agents won’t pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.
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 law…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.
The question is: Why is this “news?”
AG Eric Holder announced it back in March:
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Wednesday outlined a shift in the enforcement of federal drug laws, saying the administration would effectively end the Bush administration’s frequent raids on distributors of medical marijuana.
Speaking with reporters, Mr. Holder provided few specifics but said the Justice Department’s enforcement policy would now be restricted to traffickers who falsely masqueraded as medical dispensaries and “use medical marijuana laws as a shield.”
In the Bush administration, federal agents raided medical marijuana distributors that violated federal statutes even if the dispensaries appeared to be complying with state laws. The raids produced a flood of complaints, particularly in California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctors’ prescriptions.
Graham Boyd, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union drug law project, said Mr. Holder’s remarks created a reasonable balance between conflicting state and federal laws and “seem to finally end the policy war over medical marijuana.” He said officials in California and the 12 other states that have authorized the use of medical marijuana had hesitated to adopt regulations to carry out their laws because of uncertainty created by the Bush administration.
Mr. Holder said the new approach was consistent with statements made by President Obama in the campaign and was based on an assessment of how to allocate scarce enforcement resources. He said dispensaries operating in accord with California law would not be a priority for the administration.
Mr. Holder’s comments appeared to be an effort to clarify the policy after some news reports last month interpreted his answer to a reporter’s question to be a flat assertion that all raids on marijuana growers would cease. Department officials said Mr. Holder had not intended to assert any policy change last month but was decidedly doing so on Wednesday.
The “clarifying” memo that will be sent out today, seven months after Holder first announced the “shift,” makes clear that the Obama administration will actually retain the same discretion the Bush administration exercises to prosecute someone whose activities are deemed legal in states that allow medical marijuana use.
A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.
The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.
“This is a major step forward,” said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. “This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality.”
At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.
In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or involvement in other crimes.
And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.
In other words, they will continue Bush-era policies when they find it expedient to do so in the future — but they want praise and obeisance from the Left for paying lip service to Transformative Change now. It’s the Obama way!
***
Meanwhile, the Big Nanny feds continue their power grab over tobacco:
Except menthol, that is:
Because of a loophole written into the law, the FDA banned all flavored cigarettes except menthol. The only flavor sold by Philip Morris, the FDA’s industry ally in passing legislation to allow the ban, just happens to be menthol.
Sold as a way to protect public health, the ban is more flash than substance. At the time he signed the legislation President Obama crowed, “The decades-long effort to protect our children [has] emerged victorious. … Today, change has come.” Change came, but it didn’t do much when it got here.
Menthol is the No. 1 cigarette flavor used by underaged smokers and the most popular among all smokers. A menthol ban would have had many times the impact of banning all other flavors combined.
The menthol exception makes the new regulation particularly toothless among blacks. Mentholated brands are preferred by three-quarters of black smokers. Blacks tend to be more likely to smoke and to smoke more. As a result, blacks suffer a disproportionate share of lung cancer.
Consumers should be able to decide for themselves whether they want to smoke or go hang gliding or eat fattening ice cream, but even by the standards of nanny state advocates this rule is ludicrous. There is no logical health explanation for why menthol flavored cigarettes are allowed but other flavors are banned.
However, there is an economic reason for the distinction and for Philip Morris to be a cheerleader for regulation. The more regulatory hurdles faced by potential competitors, the easier it is for large tobacco concerns to keep their markets.
The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday began collecting millions in fees from the nation’s tobacco companies to help fund the agency’s newly granted authority to regulate the industry.
The user fees, which will be collected quarterly, are based on each company’s share of the U.S. tobacco market. The FDA will collect about $23 million for fiscal 2009. That will rise to $235 million in 2010 and grow to $712 million by 2019.
The FDA would not disclose the assessments for specific companies.
Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. analyst Christopher Growe said in a note to investors that Richmond, Va.-based Altria Group Inc., owner of market-leading Philip Morris USA, would be responsible for about 50 percent of the fees.
FDA spokeswoman Kathleen Quinn said the fees will be used to fund the Center for Tobacco Products, the agency’s group tasked with regulating tobacco. The fees will pay for staffing, offices, systems that will be used to register products and outside contractors.
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Sounds like the federal government wants to get into the pot business. You know, provide competition and choice.
yes, but G-d forbid they smoke a tobacco cigarette on their back patio!
Cretins.
Classic DemoCommie theory:
Smoking Tobacco, Horrible.
Smoking Pot, Not so bad.
A State’s right to allow distribution of controlled narcotics at will: Not so bad
Any States’ rights that conflict with the will of the DemoCommies: Horrible.
And they wonder why we hate them so..
I guess that check from the Marijuana Growers Association finally cleared.
And meanwhile, California’s pot growers and hideaway meth labs will continue their project of clear-burning the entire state.
They should go ahead and legalize pot. That way we may all be stoned when they set up a Communist dictatorship.
“Did you see the Capitol burn down? Wow, like that was awesome dude.”
/sarc
I can see the potential for a massive shakedown in the wings. Has your dispensary given the proper “homage” to the President’s never-ending campaign? Are they supportive of the SEIU? Better keep those checks coming or Holder’s goon squads will be knocking on your doors.
Free pot for everyone, coming to your city soon. The dumbing down of America continues. By the way, when I smoked, 30 years ago, I smoked menthol only. Banning menthol back then would have probably caused me to quit faster…OR, I would have resorted to getting my menthol cigarettes illegally. You can be sure these flavored cigarettes will continue to be found somewhere. Just like banning guns. People have a way of finding them, but illegally with no taxes! Ha!
My girlfriend and her brother – both adults in their 40s – smoke Djarums, Indonesian clove cigarettes, and have been scrambling to stockpile them since Uncle Nanny’s ban included them, too. Apparently online forums are full of anger against Obama, but I wonder how many of these chumps voted for Hopey Changerson?
Long story short: if it makes money, they want the government to own it.
Of course, I think the system is developing along rather different lines from what was originally intended. This piece from the Glendale Cherry Creek Chronicle (a free rag that gets dumped in my mailbox every so often) illustrates the growth of “medical marijuana” in the Denver metro area. (It may not be quite the same down in the Springs.)
“Dispensaries” for pot are popping up all over the place; the one they visit in the article is actually just up the road from where I live. The system for getting official cards to be able to spark up “legally” is obviously being gamed (89.4% of users claim “severe pain”…and the “dispensaries” are happy to steer you to a doctor that will recommend you for one). Even kids under 18 can get these cards, as long as they have “hip” parents, basically.
I don’t partake myself, but neither am I really inclined to go after those who do, and I did vote for Amendment 20, just as I had earlier voted for the California initiative that did the same thing. But I’m not sure this is what I had in mind when I did…and there may be a number of Colorado voters that are thinking the same thing.
***
“Medical” marijuana and other illicit drug legalization is the real agenda. Maybe President Obama (PBUH) sees this as a great new tax revenue source. I worked around 3 “potheads” in the Army in the mid 1960′s. Totally worthless at any critical tasks–like loading and arming the missiles during tests, changing a flat tire, etc. They just stayed out of the way and screwed other things up. They were in a drug induced stupor most of the time.
***
The chemical in “medical” marijuana–THC–is available by prescription for those cancer patients who can benefit from it. And without the need to damage their lungs with smoke and other unknown pollutants in the illegal weed they are smoking.
***
Look at the photos of those in line at the “clinics”–mainly hippy drug addicts–very few look like real patients with medical needs. And we will get to subsidize their medical problem and rehabilitation costs.
***
SMOKE ‘EM IF YOU GOT ‘EM–somewhere far away from me.
***
John Bibb
***
I think Big Tobacco will just end up diversifying their product line and start marketing for marijauana. You know, like:
“I’d walk a mile for a Spliff!”
“L.S.M.F.M. Luck Strike Means Fine Marijuana”
“Marijuana Man”
The question is: Why is this “news?”
Because, people BLOG about Michelle Obama’s arms, and consider that worthy. One person’s news is another person’s fish wrap. Go figure.
Luck = Lucky (slap!)
I have never been a pot smoker or illegal drug user but I think that if the stuff is being sold legally on every street corner then more potential first time users will be tempted to experiment with it.
I just heard yesterday that the United Kingdom is giving away free Heroin to addicts who ask for it. They say that drug-related crime is down 66% as a result of this.
The whole problem with the medical marijuana laws has been they have not implemented the other laws needed to grow and distribute it legally. In CA was most assumed after Prop 215 passed that the CA legislation would do this, but instead they buried their heads in the sand and attempted to make counties and cities do this, which means local governments fought with the federal government instead of the state doing this.
This push by the DOJ still does not address that issue because as they stated they are going to go after anyone supplying any of this distributors.
I guess we all know what flavor coffin nails Duh One likes to smoke.
That would primarily be the murderous gangs along the Mexico/U.S. border.
If they are going to allow/regulate using, they should allow/regulate/tax the production and distribution too.
As Yoda told Luke Skywalker “do or do not, there is no try.”
I’m not a lawyer but it does look to me that in this case, the Feds are backing off from an issue where they over-stepped their jurisdiction. This new policy seems to me to acknowledge state jurisdiction.
In any event, LA City Attorney Steve Cooley has vowed to close down all of the pot shops in LA. It is probably naive to believe that many (if any) of these shops are toeing the law. Why do we need specialty shops for pot? We don’t have insulin shops or Plavix shops.
Let the doctors do the dispensing themselves and suffer the consequences for frivolous prescriptions. My bet is that demand would plummet by 95% or more.
The money will be used to grab more power and money. The water will be used to make things wet.
It has always been interesting that people have no problem breathing in diesel truck smoke, or car fumes,especially in traffic jams and smog. They have no problem with pot smoke, but go hysterical over cigarette smoke. I once saw some people ask a gentleman to put out his cigarette in front of a building, while we were all standing there with a truck pouring out a “carton” a minute. I could only shake my head at the ignorance.
So it’s now almost easier to buy pot than Sudafed? What a screwed up mess this country is becoming.
What they don’t want is a battle with states over this issue. They used the “commerce” clause to regulate it in the first place. Using the same tactic they did to ban automatic weapons.
If they go to court with the states and the states win like they should then they face another battle they don’t want to loose.
Prendad,
The Euros have been giving Heroin away for a while. Yes, it cuts down on the number of Junkies robbing liquor stores to get fix money. However, public toilets are lit by blacklights (’cause you can’t see veins under UV light) and your kids get to see Junkies lying in street corners and along the road. My colleague in Germany tells a great story of some Junkie shooting up behind his car – he had to drag the guy’s body out of the way to back out and go to work (something that would be considered “assault” in the Netherlands).
I live in Amsterdam. If you want pot – it’s legal. If you want Cocaine, it isn’t but the cops will never bother you – men stand on the street – even in somewhat nice areas and say “Coke” as you walk by.. Heroin can be obtained on the cheap if you are a certified addict (yes, they even have a Junkie license here). Ecstasy is everywhere.
The only thing that is difficult to get is Meth. Thank God.
However, it is illegal to smoke tobacco indoors. The Dutch think it is the same everywhere in America. When I tell them it isn’t illegal in all states they think I am lying (because they saw it on TV so it must be true). The big complaint when they stopped tobacco smoking indoors here was from the “coffee shops” (where they sell pot) because hippies normally mixed hash with rolling tobacco. No tobacco inside meant they got high too quickly and left the bar – costing the owner money. You can smoke pure hash or pot legally – just no tobacco.
Nothing is nastier than pot being smoked in public – except maybe used needles on park benches. You can’t imagine how much fun it is to constantly have to check public park areas to make sure your kids won’t find a used needle and play with it. Try explaining to a 4 year old why you just freaked out when they ran to the swing set before you could get there and check it.
But hey, the Demo Commies want America to be just like it is here.
I come home in 3 weeks for good. I couldn’t be happier.
Oh, BTW, the reason it’s so difficult to find Meth in a country where every other drug is sold openly – All Pseudafed (sorry, spelling) type cold medicine is illegal. When you buy cold medicine at the pharmacy here, they laugh and tell you to go to Germany if you want it.
The heroin clinic is two doors down.
The problem is, Michelle, that almost NONE of the people fighting for medical marijuana, have any interest whatsoever in medical marijuana, they are perfectly healthy stoners who want laws making it easier for them to get stoned.
Nor does the Obama administrations policy announcement have anything to do with medical marijuana. They are saying to their stoned supporters, “wanna bong? Go ahead! we got yer back!”
The American people pass laws through their representatives. We should not support selective enforcement! That’s how we end up with things like “sanctuary cities.” You cannot complain that the government is not enforcing immigration laws, or other laws, while you simultaneously approve of their not enforcing other laws.
I know I will catch grief but frankly they should decriminalize pot (not legalize) for adults. Same as it is in the Netherlands (it’s not legal just less than a class c misdemeanor so the cops don’t enforce it). To me it is ridiculous to spend $B’s enforcing and prosecuting marijauna laws or for the incarceration of said “criminals”, with absolutely no measureable positive results. We shoudln’t encourage it though, obviosuly. That $ is better spent going after hard drugs instead. It would also remove the criminal element from marijauna distribution channels. Oh, don’t bother with ridiculous comparisons or take this thinking to some extreme. I just don’t frankly care if someone wants to get high in their own house (don’t do it in public or drive afterwards).
In 1975 Alaska decriminalized pot. There weren’t stoners everywhere, in fact, nothing changed at all. Those who smoked it continued doing so. The law stated it was legal to have up to 4 oz. in your home for personal use. It was illegal to carry it outside of your home.
This always puzzled me. If it was legal to smoke it in the home, but illegal to sell, buy, manufacture, or transport, there was really no legal way to acquire it. Unless it fell out of the sky and down your chimney? Santa Claus?
Not quite yet, but the “dispensaries” will practically hold your hand to get you through the process. See, for instance, CannaMed’s Web site. Of course, the “Resources” page on that site practically gives away their real game, with links to NORML, SAFER, and so forth. But there’s a very “wink wink, nudge nudge” atmosphere to the whole thing.
Geeze, you really brought back some old memories for me. I was in and out of Amsterdam several times while stationed in Iceland. We would fly in to Valkenburg Air Base and ride the bus into town. I guess things have only gotten worse there.
So, medicine to ease symptoms of your illness and help you to heal, illegal.
Narcotics that people use to get high, legal.
You aren’t living in Europe, you’re living in the Twilight Zone.
Tre,
Sory, it ain’t the twilight zone – it’s Europe today. After chasing a lot of meth tweakers on my job back in the US, I would be wiling to go without cold meds to see meth go away. It’s about as nasty a drug there is. Horrible.
Prendad,
It isn’t bad, it was just better before the anti tobacco hypocrites rode in to town. Even the Dutch hate it. Every bar in town has heaters outside so the patrons can smoke.
I’m for legalizing pot – as long as it isn’t smoked in public or before driving. I am also in favor of the pillory for anyone abusing the privilege.
I was eating at a KFC (they are better over here, I promise) the other day and luckily walked back to my car before my family. Sitting next to my car is a Euro Buggy (lowered sub-compact painted purple) with 4 teenage boys in it smoking a really big joint. Parking space is rare here and I couldn’t bring myself to let my kids walk through the smoke. The cops won’t do anything about it (the KFC is next to a police station – no one cares) and if I were to give the little critters the thrashing they deserve, I would go to jail. So, I got in the car first and almost wrecked it backing out. Marijuana and hash are just unpleasant if you aren’t a user. Before the tobacco smoking ban, stoners just lit up inside the coffee shops – at that point, ruin your own life, I don’t care. After the ban, they light up outside all over town. It stinks (literally).
Like I said, 3 weeks and I’m back in the sunny South. Europe can deal with it’s own problems.
If Liberals want to be “like” Europe so badly, they should all move here.
They can keep it.
Let’s not kid ourselves: there are legal pharmaceutical alternatives to smoking pot and this is a back-door way to legalize marijuana. The medical marijuana supporters who haven’t actually worked it out for legalizing the production of it for such purposes also fail to realize the pot that’s currently used for it is otherwise peddled by criminals who would kill a cop trying to seize it if they could. Try to remember the family of the cop that has to endure such danger doing his job before getting all squishy about this farce. If people want to legalize marijuana, fine, but until then, giving some users a pass amidst the sea of illicit narcotics does nothing but further the agendas of some really bad guys out there, and I mean BAD.
I strongly support any states right to legalize pot if they wish to do so. I have not smoked it since my early 20′s, more than 30 years ago, but I really don’t see it as a major problem and I certainly don’t see it as a fed issue.
Somehow, the idea that drugs have always been illegal has implanted itself firmly into the collective conscious. But we all need to take a closer look at the history surrounding prohibition. Prohibition and the War on Drugs are the exact same thing — An attempt to control man’s appetite for sin through legislation. They are merely two different faces of the same creature – the temperance movement of the 1800s. And although America thought it finally beat this monster back in the 1930s with the 21st amendment, the truth is that the war was just beginning.
The fact that most people don’t see the relation between the war on drugs and prohibition is perhaps one of the greatest marketing feats of the 20th century. They are the exact same thing… A small group of people believes that an activity is dangerous. — They try to convince people to stop partaking in that activity. — The people ignore them. — They convince the government to pass a law to abolish the activity. — The people ignore the law. — The people become criminals. — The people go to jail — People begin profiting by providing the illegal service to other people — People kill each other to protect their profits. — More people go to jail. — People begin asking government to rethink its policy.
We should legalize Marijuana and over night the criminals, politicians, judges, cops, and many others that profit from it being illegal will be out of business overnight. They will have to find a real job and more than likely it will be taxed to death just like the rest of the sins we tax.
To think we learned our lesson from prohibition, apparently not from some of the posts here.
BTW- I am retired Law Enforcement and do not smoke pot but am a proud member of LEAP
It’s one thing to criminalize dangerous drugs like LSD, but marijuana isn’t one of them. Where are the REAL cases of someone ODing on pot? DUI with pot and killing someone? As far as I know, there are none. Yet pot is illegal and alcohol isn’t when alcohol is a far more dangerous drug.
This is one area where libertarians are right. If I want to smoke pot or cigarettes or have a drink with dinner, that should be my business. If someone commits a crime under the influence of any of the above, THEN prosecute them.
If I need ClaritinD for my allergies, I shouldn’t be treated as a potential criminal and asked to register every time I buy it. If you make meth out of it, throw away the book.
14 states have decided to decriminalize pot for medical use, the Feds should stay out of it. The Feds should limit themselves to their defined duties in the Constitution. We may have won the Civil War, but we lost the meaning of state’s rights along with it.
For all of you tobacco addicts out there, why not make your own? Nicotania is an annual garden flower. Just like I have mint growing in my yard for tea, you can have tobacco growing in your yard for your cigs and flavor it any way you want, including with the mint (menthol).
Could not agree more.
BTW-Have you been successful in growing tobacco?
I hear it is really hard to grow and dry tobacco for smoking use.
Scotty,
I grew tobacco. A couple of things:
1. It ALL depends on soil and..
2. Curing it isn’t fun.
You can’t really just hang it to dry – it has to be held under heat in the correct humidity over time.
The reason Russian and Chinese cigarettes are so horrible is because they don’t cure them properly.
That being said, it takes 60 days for Tobacco to be ready for harvest and one plant will make you a carton or so of smokes – if you are willing to cure them properly.
I’m for legalization but.. those of you who don’t see it as a problem should ask yourselves if you ant your kids smoking it. Or, do you want stupid people made that much stupider?
The one thing I can tell about pot – it drops intelligence levels over time. ever wonder why stoners wear such stupid looking clothing? The pot makes them think it actually looks good!
Now, does this mean that ALL states rights issues will be off limits to the Obama Administration?
To agree with this idea is absurd. They will pick and choose which fights to fight.
Thanks for the tobacco info, I heard that it was very difficult too to make your own for smokes.
No, I do not want my kids smoking it but they can get all they want from drug dealers right now.
The reason it should be legalized and regulated is to get the criminal element out of the equation and to stop wasting our valuable resources on a war that will never be won.
We have spent billions and billions on the War on Drugs. Drugs are still freely available and cheaper than ever.
People erroneously believe that Prohibition was ended because of popular demand. Actually, the majority of people supported the idea of prohibition.
But when the FDR administration and the Democrat congress needed a new source of revenue (since the Depression had cut deeply into tax remittances), they started a campaign to repeal the 18th Amendment, so they could tax the booze.
I’m not saying that there should or shouldn’t be a continuation of Federal drug policies – I actually believe this should be left to the states – but never believe a Democrat has any interest at heart other than growing government and accruing power.
That’s all they know.
Scotty,
I feel the same way about legalization. However, the environment it has created over here isn’t pleasant. As long as people can’t smoke in public or drive, I’m fine with it. Second hand tobacco is one thing. Second hand pot is far, far worse.
Google “grow your own tobacco” and you will get plenty of hits. They are all pretty much the same. The curing process is the tough part. There are plans for kilns on the internet – but you have to really be good at it.
Nothing good is easy.. as they say.