Medical Marijuana (photo: Coaster420/wikimedia)

Following the recent petition delivery by medical marijuana activists to her San Fransisco office, Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put out a statement expressing strong concerns about the federal government’s increasingly aggressive efforts against medical marijuana. From her office:

“I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana.

“Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include improving the quality of life for patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other severe medical conditions.

[...]

“For these reasons, I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana, that respects the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill individuals, and that prevents the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law. I will continue to strongly support those efforts.”

The administration has been particularly aggressive about going after medical marijuana establishments in the San Francisco Bay area. In the last several months threats from U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag has result in nine dispensaries in San Francisco shutting down. It was also only one month ago that the DEA and IRS raided Oaksterdam University in neighboring Oakland.

The new statement puts Pelosi at odds with the Obama administration who in the past few years waged an aggressive multi-agency war against medical marijuana. Unlike Obama’s recent actions towards medical marijuana, Pelosi’s support for respecting states’ medical marijuana laws is inline with public opinion. A CBS News poll from last year found 77% of the country supports medical marijuana.

While attending the White House Correspondents’ dinner Attorney General Eric Holder admitted to the Huffington Post that President Obama misled Rolling Stone about federal marijuana law. From the Huffington Post:

Attorney General Eric Holder was a guest of The Huffington Post at the correspondents’ dinner. Before it began, a HuffPost reporter noted to Holder that Obama’s reference to “congressional law” was misleading because the executive branch could simply remove marijuana from its “schedule one” designation, thereby recognizing its medical use.

“That’s right,” Holder said.

After Kimmel’s speech, a Holder deputy told HuffPost that there was no coordinated war on medical marijuana, but that some individual clinics were breaking both state and federal laws.

In a recent Rolling Stone interview, Obama provided a factually wrong answer that radically distorted the nature of federal law in an attempt to deflect criticism for the federal crackdown on medical marijuana. Obama claimed he “can’t nullify Congressional law” when it comes to medical marijuana, even though the Controlled Substance Act actually gives the Executive branch the authority to “reschedule” (reclassify) marijuana without Congressional action. By simply moving marijuana to a lower schedule the Obama administration could make medical marijuana legal under federal law. Obama would not need to nullify this Congressional law, because Congress already gave him the authority to change marijuana’s legal status.

It is very important that Attorney General Holder himself admits that Obama’s “can’t nullify Congressional law” statement is completely misleading, because the relevant section of the Controlled Substance Act specifically gives him, the Attorney General, the power to implement a process to reschedule cannabis administratively.

Even Obama’s Attorney General admits there is nothing forcing the administration to wage a war on medical marijuana and nothing stopping the administration from making medical marijuana legal under federal law. This is an active choice the administration is making.

(photo: mrceder/flickr)

Late Wednesday night the Connecticut House of Representatives approved CT HB 5289, a bill that would legalize and regulate the use of medical marijuana under state law. From the Yale Daily News:

The legalization of medical marijuana moved a step closer to reality in Connecticut after a Wednesday vote by the State House of Representatives.

The House voted 96 to 51 to pass a bill that would legalize medical marijuana in the state following an afternoon of debate and a last-minute attempt by opponents to block it. If the legislation clears the Senate, Gov. Dannel Malloy has said he will sign it.

Under the bill, patients suffering from certain illnesses like AIDS or cancer could obtain a one-month supply of marijuana for medical use with a doctor’s permission. The bill would also license and regulate medical marijuana producers.

Previously, in 2007, the Connecticut General Assembly approved a medical marijuana bill, but it was vetoed by then Republican governor M. Jodi Rell. Since the election of Democratic Governor Dannel Malloy in 2010, who has proven to be much more supportive of marijuana reform, there has been a renewed push to get the state to legalize medical marijuana. Last year Malloy actively supported and then signed into law a bill significantly reducing the penalties for marijuana possession.

Now that this medical marijuana bill has cleared the House, it heads to the slightly more conservative state senate. Indications are that the bill stands a good chance of winning approval there before the legislative session is up.

There is a good chance that in the near future Connecticut will become the 17th state to adopt medical marijuana.

Apparently unable to find a legitimate or honest defense for his administration’s behavior regarding medical marijuana, President Obama instead resorted to a lie to Rolling Stone about what the law actually says.  From his recent interview with Jann S. Wenner in Rolling Stone:

[Wenner] Let me ask you about the War on Drugs. You vowed in 2008, when you were running for election, that you would not “use Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state laws about medical marijuana.” Yet we just ran a story that shows your administration is launching more raids on medical pot than the Bush administration did. What’s up with that?

[Obama] Here’s what’s up: What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law. I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books.” What I can say is, “Use your prosecutorial discretion and properly prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing folks damage.” As a consequence, there haven’t been prosecutions of users of marijuana for medical purposes.

(emphasis mine)

This is an outright lie by Obama about federal law regarding medical marijuana. Drugs are governed under the Controlled Substance Act, and the important thing is that this law explicitly gives the executive branch the power to unilaterally change the legal status of particular drugs. Obama wouldn’t need to “nullify congressional law,” because he currently has the legal power to change marijuana’s classification.

Marijuana is categorized as schedule I, which means it legally has no accepted medical use. This is why medical marijuana, while legal under some state laws, is illegal under federal law.

However, the law explicitly gives the executive branch the power to change the scheduling of particular drugs without needing Congressional action. Obama can instruct the relevant agencies under him to take an honest look at the research and reschedule marijuana so it qualifies as having legitimate medical uses. The Obama administration could easily and justifiably move marijuana to, say, schedule III, which happens to be the same schedule that synthetic THC is in, making medical marijuana legal under federal law.

There would be nothing unusual, extraordinary or legally suspect about Obama doing this. The executive branch has often moved certain drugs to lower or higher schedules based on new data without Congressional involvement. In fact, multiple sitting governors have petitioned the Obama administration asking him to move marijuana to a lower schedule, so he should be aware of the flexible authority he has.

Obama is not some hapless victim whose actions on this issue are constrained by congressional law. The truth is pretty much the exact opposite. Under current law Obama effectively has the power to unilaterally make medical marijuana legal. Obama is not legally forced to wage a war on medical marijuana; it is something his administration is actively choosing to do.

With today being the unofficial holiday for cannabis in the United States, it is a good time to look back at the advances the marijuana reform movement has made in the past 365 days.

Popular Opinion – Perhaps the single biggest development for the marijuana legalization movement in the last year is that it finally started winning the war of popular opinion. For the first time in forty years Gallup found more American adults thought marijuana should be legal than illegal. Gallup’s October poll was the first time it found that 50% of Americans thought marijuana should be legal.

Legislative front – The movement has scored some solid victories in the state legislatures since the last April 20th. In Vermont. Gov. Peter Shumlin (D) signed a new law that will permit the creation of medical marijuana dispensaries last June. In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) signed law that decriminalized possession of a small amount of marijuana last July.

Rescheduling - Another huge development for medical marijuana in the past years is that several sitting governors decided to actively petition the federal government to reschedule marijuana to make medically prescribed marijuana legal under federal law. The petition was filed by Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire (D) and Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I). Since it was started Vermont Gov. Shumlin has also joined the effort.

At the Ballot – Potentially the most important thing to happen for the movement this year for the long term is that marijuana legalization initiatives have qualified for the November ballot in two states. In Washington state Initiative 502 qualified for the ballot in January, and in Colorado Amendment 64 qualified for the ballot in February. In both Washington and Colorado, the initiatives have received support from their respective state Democratic parties. This should not only help the campaign’s appeal to undecided voters but is a sign that the proposal is becoming part of the political mainstream. In addition, the first round of signatures for a medical marijuana initiative was certified in Massachusetts, so it is almost assured to appear on the ballot this November.

The Bad News – The big dark spot in an otherwise solid year has been the Obama administration’s aggressive multi-agency war on medical marijuana. President Obama’s recent behavior on this issue is worse than George W. Bush’s ever was. Federal agencies have even recently targeted the home and business of Richard Lee, a leading marijuana legalization advocate and the primary backer of California’s Proposition 19in 2010. Another unfortunate development is that despite promises to change, the New York City police again set a new record for marijuana arrests, most of whom were minorities.

While at times it appears slow, there is clear and steady progress made to reform America’s illogical and unjust marijuana laws. The next 365 days could be some of the most monumental in the history of the movement. Given that we are experiencing a demographically driven huge swing in popular opinion about marijuana legalization, if voters in one or both states approves legalization this November it could serve as a tipping point for a wave of reforms nationally and internationally in the coming years.