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(photo: O'Dea)
The Obama administration’s war against medical marijuana ratcheted up in a major way. Today, in a joint press conference, the four United States attorneys in charge of California announced that they will start prosecuting medical marijuana dispensaries for violating the federal law against marijuana.From Rolling Stone:
The state’s four United States attorneys announced at a news conference in Sacramento today that they’ve dailed [sic] up efforts to curb marijuana farming and retail sales of pot under the state’s 15-year-old law. Federal prosecutors have sent out letters ordering dozens of medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down in 45 days or face criminal charges, AP reports. They’re not going after every shop in the state, but targeting those located close to schools, parks, sports fields and other places where there are a lot of children (which, come on, covers a lot of ground) and what U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner called “significant commercial operations.”
How and when the four attorneys will start applying this new effort against medical marijuana in the state will be more clear in the coming days and weeks. They could be going after only the limited number of dispensaries they sent letters to or this could be the start of a campaign to shut down almost all dispensaries in the state.
This move to shut down “significant commercial operations” comes only days after the IRS ruled that Harborside Health Center, one of California largest medical marijuana dispensaries, couldn’t take standard deductions due to an obscure tax code provision from 1982 that was designed to help the police go after drug traffickers. If the IRS ruling stands, and is applied broadly, it could potentially put almost all medical marijuana dispensaries in this country out of business. It also comes only a few weeks after the ATF said medical marijuana patients will be denied their right to bear arms.
A pattern is clearly forming. The Obama administration is using multiple federal departments to curb or significantly cripple the medical marijuana in the states were it was legalized by the voters. This recent move is not only another direct violation of Obama’s campaign promise to respect state’s medical marijuana laws, but the Obama administration’s is now more aggressively anti-medical marijuana than even the George W. Bush’ administration ever was.
77 Comments
Outrageous, and even more so when you realize that the ATF are complicit in the killing of at least one Customs Agent, whose guns they let get into the hands of Mexican drug cartels (literally on purpose), while marijuana hasn’t killed anyone.
The whole issue is upside down. It is the government and their war on drugs that is harming people, not marijuana. As a mental health provider, I can tell you that no drug is completely safe, and many drugs, including over the counter drugs can and are being abused. These are matters for public health policy, not jails.
I just emailed President Obama (http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/president-obama)and told him and his administration as a liberal Vietnam era veteran I would not be voting for him if they continued to assault medical mj in California. Please consider joining me in enlightening Mr. Obama.
wtf is the matter with him?
Oblahblah reminds me of the dude who runs the meth lab on the Breaking Bad TV series. The guy looks like a perfect gentleman but, as you know if you watch the show, he will slit your throat from ear to ear. Oblahblah prolly does’nt want to share any of the market.
Detached Apathy Syndrome.
What The Fuck is wrong with the Obama “Justice” Dept?
They can ignore war crimes, massive financial fraud and more, but medicinal marijuana requires a big sweep?
Holy Jeebus, I thought Ashcroft, Gonzales and Mukasey were the worst, but Holder has lowered The Bar even further.
Dog save us from these idiots.
Yeah.
I don’t get it.
Wow! The ATF can unilaterally interpret and even supercede The Constitution. Who knew?
A pattern probably linked to less beer sales and pain killer sales when I unloaded trucks at UPS I drank a 6 pack sometimes more a day to deal with the back pain.
The insanity of this is beyond belief. He is going to please people who will never vote for him and alienate people who might vote for him in a state he absolutely must win to get re-elected.
The Obama administration will go after or ignore anybody or anything that fracks with their income, depending on the circumstances. Prosecuting war crimes is going to cost them money and so does allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to exist. Therefore they ignore the war criminals and go after the pot growers, sellers and users. Everything comes back to the money and the control.
This SOB is trying to show he’s tough. He wants to get elected to a second term – he’ll do anything he has to. He has no principles, no integrity, no soul. I hope he rots in hell.
Jesus. Of all the things this asshole could prosecute this is the least important.
With his numbers slipping he finds yet another way to turn former supporters against him. President Romney will be no worse than this.
Let’s see… we’ve been the professional left and the sanctimonious left and fucking retards. What we will be this time? The stoner left?
Vote for Obama… We need a fourth Bush term.
/bs
It’s almost like he’s doing everything he can to damage his re-election prospects: throwing ss cuts on the table during the debt ceiling negotiations therefore pissing all over the well-known 3rd rail of american politics, lecturing the black caucus to quit crying, and now aggressively going after pot legalization which he damn well knows is important to many of the young voters whose support he desperately needs to win in 2012.
But we know that he wouldn’t want an out … “I can’t win so it’s best that I pass the torch to someone else to keep those evil republicans out of the oval office” … to get of running for re-election and going on to a very lucrative and relatively stress-free post-presidency becoz it’s well-known that once presidents win one-term a desire to win a 2nd term gets embedded into their dna.
Z
Lets not forget how many African Americans who are in jail for selling weed getting higher sentences for the same crime that Whites do.
Obama has done squat to fix the difference in sentencing between African Americans, poor people who can’t afford lawyers etc.
McCain’s wife got busted for enough drugs to get a small town high no prison time. Rudy Giuliani’s South Carolina Campaign Chairman got busted with a half kilo and is out of jail already.
America has a 2 tiered justice system safe drugs like pot throw the book at Oxy, booze etc free pass the big money guys own those drugs.
Poor people get judged harsh rich and politically connected people never have to worry even for amounts that you would expect from a drug lord.
How many farmers would not need federal tax dollars if they could all grow an acre of pot?
Why does the phrase “stance toward whistleblowers” come to mind?
O is freak’n amazing.
This is the same as the 121 THOUSAND dollar bail set for the volunteer at a co-op that sold raw milk: medical marijuana sales cut into sales by Big(ass)Pharma, or BigFarm(ag-biz).
How many jobs would legal pot create? How many people with pain short term or chronic self medicate with booze or if they have insurance get hooked on pain killers? How many people hooked on pain killers or booze with pain move on to other drugs?
Yep.
I Posted About This.
Thanks for your further coverage . . . shit’s hittin the fan, on all fronts.
*bows*
Could this be the other shoe dropping in Obama’s sellout to big pharma during the healthcare debate?
“Give me some money to run ads and I’ll go after your competition.”
And yet no time to go after the corrupt banksters on Wall Street that helped tank the economy.
We need a list of all the campaign promises Obama has broken. I will walk a picket line with you, I will end torture, I will renegotiate NAFTA.
Yes add in cash from the booze industry the oxy mills in Florida etc.
He’s already got about 70,000 signature on a white house petition for legalizing MJ.
over at Lawyers Guns & Money while discussing another amoral stance on whitey bulgar victims they also wondered about the attack on Medical MJ…
So I wonder if this isn’t a passive aggressive attack for the wall street protests, and his pharma donors would want this.
Pots illegal prison expenses will rise and the states will fire more teachers, police, firemen as Texas burns from global warming which is another thing Obama has done nothing about. I’m sure the private prison industry will step in and do the job cheaper.
Next step private police to do the job cheaper and break the prison guard and police unions.
Pots illegal prison expenses will rise and the states will fire more teachers, police, firemen as Texas burns from global warming which is another thing Obama has done nothing about. I’m sure the private prison industry will step in and do the job cheaper.
Next step private police to do the job cheaper and break the prison guard and police unions.
Mitt is the replacement the finance world is wooing as a Republican replacement. We probably wont be able to tell them apart in the dark.
I’m glad Obama’s not wasting money on prosecuting bankers or going after home mortage fraud, you know, silly things like that.
Seems Obama’s getting tough again on liberal minded voters. Great way to motivate the base, Obama.
President Romney isn’t sounding so bad.
There is one important difference between Obama and Romney. One is honest about his party affliation.
Pots illegal prison expenses will rise and the states will fire more teachers, police, firemen as Texas burns from global warming which is another thing Obama has done nothing about. I’m sure the private prison industry will step in and do the job cheaper.
Next step private police to do the job cheaper and break the prison guard and police unions. Look at what Obama did to the autoworkers pensions I think the prison guard’s and police pensions are next.
Don’t get mad.
Get even.
Join OWS
What is our demand? Very simply: LEAVE OLIGARCHS.
“Today, in a joint press conference…” the four United States attorneys smoked a joint(duh!) and issued a cease & desist order against Eric Holder and Baralph Obama.
More grist for the 99%. Enough is e-fuckingnough.
Pots illegal prison expenses will rise and the states will fire more teachers, police, firemen as Texas burns from global warming which is another thing Obama has done nothing about. I’m sure the private prison industry will step in and do the job cheaper.
Next step private police to do the job cheaper and break the prison guard and police unions. Look at what Obama did to the autoworkers pensions I think the prison guard’s and police pensions are next.
wrong questions.. what’s in it for Obama? He’s the only one that matters.
I would agree with you if Romney were a normal republican. He’s also a pandering liar.
The liars, Paternalistic ones that tell us they have to bomb people to protect them, and trash our civil liberties for our own good. I feel like they represent so much a greater danger to us than the Republican cavemen. Obama will having us living under totalitarianism if he gets another term.
He must think this will impress “independents” and Republicans. Who the hell knows with this guy?
Don’t forget that Obama has also been overly aggressive with deportations. I guess he’s
panderingreaching out to the xenophobes who would never vote for him anyway.It’s NO coincidence that this news is coming when the peeps are protesting all over the country.
This is an attempt to placate the “law and order” types who are seeing the DFH’s out in the streets again and feel they need more punching.
This guy is a real asshole.He must think that picking on the sick and dying makes him look tough on crime and hence will bolster his declining support among independents.These people live in a bubble and might actually believe such an absurd calculation.This will cost him dearly when considering licensees’ family members and those who found solace in knowing such expedient access would be there if they ever needed it.
Or he’s punishing the base for the Occupy protests. These lawyers can’t figure him out either.
Behold, the pharma lobby hard at work. Nothing else explains it.
So where’s the Firedoglake petition opposing this for Obama, and anybody else that needs to hear it? Feinstein won’t support it of course …
Jimmy Carter is Hercules compared to this pushover fraud.
When people say Obama is tone deaf, they are usually speaking figuratively. I think the statement should be taken literally. He is actually, musically tone deaf and this is the reason for his inexplicable, pointless insensitivity to the music of everyday life. Having been around a lot of politicians, I think that actual tone deafness is typical of a great many of them. It seems to go with the territory.
California should be governed from Sacramento. What does California need Washington for?
Here’s the *real* reason, at MSNBC, a sellout in the works to big pharma:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44820367/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
As for using marijuana as medicine, Sabet said the proper path should be one where components of marijuana are studied and possibly approved by the Food & Drug Administration for use in pharmaceuticals.
“You synthesize and deliver it in the way we deliver medicines in this country,” he said, “through pharmacies — not dispensaries with 300-pound bouncers, bars on the windows and neon lights.”
I’d suggest that his pals in the “prisons for profit” industry have an interest in this as well.
More prosecutions for pot —> more prisoners —> more $$$ for them [and more campaign contributions for Obama].
the neon, a real irritation.
Margaret,
Meeting with my GP Doctor last year, he said me:
“It doesn’t make sense to me to not legalize marijuana.”
I replied that the drug cartels are a big business, and like every big business they hire lobbyists in DC (who pretend to have “moral values”) to make sure that pot is never legalized.
My Doc was shocked at this response and said “I never thought of it like that.”
Obama is nothing but an empty suit, but ten times as useless for the true masses of Our country…
Can’t wait for Mother Nature to rescind his time on Earth…. He is not worth the star dust he is made of…. Give it back asshole sucker…
Calderon probably complained to Obama that the dispensaries were hurting the economy of Mexico.
Once again, this administration seems to have its priorities slightly mixed up.
It’s Wall Street and the banksters that are harming people, and this administration keeps feeding them more weapons.
And there is plenty of evidence that Wall Street and the banksters are complicit with the illegal drug trade. Protecting each other and their dirty money.
The big boys needed a professional clown to continue the Neocon nightmare. What better place to find one than Chicago, land of corrupt slick politicians. The black thing was a nice touch. Nothing like a little guilt to coax people into selling themselves out.
“Great way to motivate the “crying, f*ing retarded” base.”
Holder goes after the low hanging fruit: the sick and vulnerable. Way to go, Mr. Courage. You can’t get within smelling distance of Dick the Cheney, but you can stick your penis into the medicine of a cancer patient.
Obama should be ashamed. But he isn’t. Obama knows better, but it doesn’t matter. I read speculation that Mr. Change has superb hearing when the pharmaceutical industry whispers. They’re clearly the ones to gain by Holder’s fleshy squeeze.
“More prosecutions for pot —> more prisoners —> more $$$ for them [and more campaign contributions for Obama].”
At some point you still need actual votes. This is going to piss off more potential Obama voters than it is voters for the eventual other guy.
Do you think that the same drug cartels that the Obama FBI provided thousands of automatic weapons have provided cash in return and requested that competition in the marijuana market be stopped?
I listened to the statement on MSNBC by the California based federal prosecutor and the contradictions in her statement are as glaring as the provision of automatic weapons to the drug cartels facilitated by the FBI.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44820367/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.To_9y12ZA3A
As far as dispensaries located near schools or playgrounds the law in California is that medical marijuana dispensaries cannot be located within 1000 feet of any such facility, which makes it difficult to place one in small towns. Even in big cities it’s difficult to get more than 1000 feet from a school or child care center.
The Wall Street banksters go free, and safe provision of medicine is being prosecuted. Obama is the weakest person to ever hold the office of President. He himself ordered the summary execution of an American citizen which was carried out. That constitutes the crime of murder.
And the bombings and other actions against brown people throughout the Arab world and elsewhere are mass murder.
One of the many reasons I plan to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary in my state. And no, I don’t agree with him about everything. But there are enough top priority issues on which I do agree with him and for which no other candidate even takes a stand. I hope he does well enough in the Republican primaries to make a difference in the national discussion.
Anti-war candidate Ron Paul on ending the War on Drugs
Ron Paul on removing prohibitions against marijuana and ending war on drugs.
Ron Paul interview with NORML on his bill to legalize the farming of hemp.
Don’t know what happened to my comment. It disappeared when I submitted it.
At the risk of double-posting — this one of the many urgent reasons I plan to vote for Ron Paul in the Republican primary in my state. And no, I don’t agree with him about everything. I don’t have to. But I agree with him on more things than I agree with any other candidate. If he were to do well in the Republican primaries, I hope it could change the national discussion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8S8N2OG7sU – Anti-war candidate Ron Paul on ending the War on Drugs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0GZznxMC14&feature=related – Ron Paul on removing prohibitions against marijuana and ending war on drugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8t7jqis2Mc&feature=related – Ron Paul interview with NORML on his bill to legalize the farming of hemp.
Going a big step further Rep Lamar Smith is pushing a bill to criminalize goings on overseas by US residents. . .
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/06/us-drug-policy-war-congress_n_998993.html?ir=Crime
How he would propose this be enforced is unclear.
My take, too.
Is this coincidental to the DNA code to pot recently being broken, which can produce a GM product without the psychoactive effects? I imagine this new strain is ripe for the pharmaceutical picking.
Never mind the dying and sick folks, the state majority votes for medical pot, or how the medical legalization of it could significantly curb the cartel involvement with it in the states.
What’s next that could be seized by the Pharma and GMO industries?
I am not sure that the banksta-gangstas are not behind this.
When I read that the CA medical pot industry was 1.6 billion, I wondered how that translated to street pot.
It has been reported that the banks sole liquidity in 2008 was the money they were laundering for the drug cartels. As we head into another 2008 meltdown, is there a connection?
We are so farked.
Thanks Evelyn. I will be voting for Paul in the Louisiana primary. If he were to be nominated I would vote for him against Obama.
worst. president. ever.
dumb as a brick
and a nasty mf, too
please go away, mr. obama
and take that lying scumbag holder w you (if he isn’t doing time for perjury)
Until the military industrial complex which dominates our government and society is brought under control or collapses under the weight of its own criminality anyone who is President is going to be presented with crazy options like using drone aircraft to summarily execute people with no habeas corpus or any sort of right to trial, i.e. murder. Presidents are always going to be presented with crazy ideas like bailing out criminal banksters while allowing millions of people to lose their homes. Presidents are always going to be presented with crazy ideas like turning the tar sands of Alberta into the dirtiest source of oil imaginable resulting in catastrophic climate change. Presidents are always going to be presented with crazy ideas like provoking war with Pakistan, a nuclear power with 180 million citizens 12 time zones away.
What is needed in that office is someone with the sort of vision and will Steve Jobs possessed. A strong person. Someone with the courage to say NO to crazy ideas and enough sense to fire people who come to them with crazy ideas like the ones Obama keeps acquiescing in. Obama has proved that he is not man enough for the job.
How do we get rid of him? I don’t think we can afford another four years of this mess, and none of the Republicans, obviously, have even a remote clue.
Hope this motivates the national movement and its major funders into a bigger effort.
more unity and support for the voter initiatives looks like the best option to stop this cruelty.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Whether or not you believe there might be a “cure” for cancer, this video on cancer and cannabinoids is well worth the watch:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/5949726/cannabis_cures_cancer_part_2_the_chemistry/
While I am not yet fully convinced this is a cure, I do believe the pharmaceutical industry wants to patent and monopolize the production and sale of all forms of cannabis.
“and none of the Republicans, obviously, have even a remote clue.”
You might want to check out Evelyn’s comments @58.
Among the folks who don’t want to share the market are Pfizer (I think) and assorted other Big Phrma members who have been working to develop synthetic marijuana pill (and other) forms of medical alternatives for several years. These efforts will eventually produce hugely profitable markets and the Obama administration is protecting one of their biggest donor groups. These drug firms know that marijuana is an extremely effective means for resolving many chronic health problems and the crackdown, I would bet big money, is part of a very calculated strategy to clear the decks to insure maximized monopolistic profits.
I’ve known of at least three clinical trials here in Sacramento to test potential medications, have even helped recruit trial participants because we’ve known for some years that marijuana is an effective med for managing neuropathic pain and distress for folks with neuropathy or MS, etc.
I’m sure there is gross abuse of the California medical marijuana’s original intent, but this crack down is not just about that.
Strange that the Obama administration doesn’t crack down on other entrepreneurial markets that are much more destructive. How about some real gun control measures instead?
But he will keep the nomination, acting aa a dog in the manger. He probably knows he will not win (especially if Romney, who can appear “normal.” is the R candidate), but he’s not going to act like LBJ and not run, opening the nomination to a Dem who can win.
He does not want a real Democrat to be nominated and win the presidency.
He was a stealth candidate for the Corporatists, and now he’s a placeholder to help bring about a Big Dem Loss, pulling down decent Dem Congressional candidates with him.
Obama does not hold Democratic principles, especially those of the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party. There are plenty of Dems who share his lack of principles, and it comes through in how DC Dems govern and will not protect their constituencies. They are too in thrall to the Powers That Be with their Big Money.
We need a new party, one with candidates who give a damn about the needs and wishes of the non-wealthy.
And until such things are produced, which won’t be unless Big PhRMA is absolutely sure it can make Big Profit on them, to hell with patients needing the aid of marijuana. Who cares about the well-being and quality of life of a few sick people? Best they Hurry Up and Die…unless they can provide profits to the corporations.
Also, the active ingredient in marijuana has already been isolated and monetized, but, alas, for many people it doesn’t work the same way the natural plant products do. Seems there might be some interactions with micro elements in the plants which affect how the body utilizes the product. But this legal beagle seems to think everything can be synthesized or isolated and monetized.