StoptheDrugWar.org Pelosi Condemns Medical Marijuana Crackdown by Phillip Smith
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US House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) issued a statement Wednesday condemning the federal campaign against medical marijuana businesses operating in compliance with state law. The prominent Democrat’s statement is a clear shot across the bow for President Obama and his Justice Department, which is leading the charge against dispensaries and associated medical marijuana enterprises. Nancy Pelosi had Obama’s ear after he won the White House in 2008. Will he listen to her now? (Wikimedia.org) “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,” Pelosi said. The House Minority Leader said access to medical marijuana is “both a medical and a states’ rights issue” and that it has “proven medical uses,” including alleviating the suffering of AIDS patients. “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 respect the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill individuals, and that prevent the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law,” Pelosi said. “I will continue to strongly support those efforts.” Pelosi’s statement came the same day that the Alameda County (Oakland) Democratic Party unanimously adopted a resolution “decrying the federal raids on dispensaries and calling for the US Department of Justice to refrain from future expenditure of public resources on any act that contradicts the will of the California voters regarding medical marijuana” and just days after the San Francisco Democratic Party passed a similar resolution. he Bay Area Democrats are responding to a coordinated crackdown on the medical marijuana industry by federal prosecutors in the state that began last fall and has led to the forced closing of dozens of California dispensaries and related businesses, including such well-respected institutions as the Marin Alliance for Medical Marijuana and the Berkeley Patients Group, as well as last month’s raid that crippled Oaksterdam University. The toll includes five dispensaries in San Francisco itself. Another four San Francisco dispensaries or their landlords have received similar threatening letters from US Attorney for Northern California Melinda Haag. The politicians are being prodded by San Francisco United for Safe Access, an ad hoc group of patients, patient advocates, dispensaries, and other stakeholders led by Americans for Safe Access (ASA). The coalition was formed to mobilize political opposition to the Obama administration’s crackdown. “We applaud Pelosi’s leadership in urging President Obama to address medical marijuana as a public health issue,” said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. “Rather than defending a policy of intolerance, President Obama should end his unnecessary and harmful attacks once and for all.” There have been more than 200 SWAT-style raids on dispensaries, growers, and associated businesses since Obama took office in January 2009. Most of them have taken place since the administration unleashed its offensive in March 2011 with a series of DEA raids in Montana that decimated that state’s until-then booming medical marijuana industry.
Attorney General Admits Obama Was Wrong About Medical Marijuana Laws by Scott Morgan
Obama’s recent claim that he can’t do anything about the illegality of medical marijuana has drawn plenty of criticism, but this ought to take the cake. 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. [Huffington Post] Okay, can we please stop making excuses for the President? Legally, he does not have to wage war on medical marijuana. Politically, he doesn’t have to do this either. Yet the war rages on and the people responsible are still denying what they’re doing right before our eyes. To those who say we shouldn’t blame Obama for this outrage, I say of course we should. He has the biggest microphone in the nation and if he can’t use it to tell the truth and stand up for a human rights issue as basic as this one, then he needs to hear from us. To remain silent is to reward intransigence and invite injustice.
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