Okay, try and stay with me if you can.
While campaigning for the US presidency, Barack Obama pledged not to “use Justice Department resources to try and circumvent state (medical marijuana) laws.”
Nearly three-quarters of the American public agrees with this position. According to a new national poll of 1,053 likely voters by Zogby International and commissioned by the NORML Foundation, seventy-two percent of voters say that President Obama should “stop federal raids against medical marijuana providers in the 13 states where medical marijuana has become legal.”
But since President Obama took office two weeks ago, the US Drug Enforcement Administration has undertaken at least seven separate raids of state-authorized medical marijuana providers in California and Colorado. Most recently, on Wednesday DEA officials — acting without the cooperation of state or local law enforcement agencies — served federal search warrants on at least four Los Angeles based medical marijuana collectives. Agents seized medicine, cash, financial records, and computers, but did not make any arrests.
Still with me? Good, because things are about to get even more confusing.
Today, in a front page article in The Washington Times White House spokesperson Nick Shapiro said, “The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind.”
Huh?
Okay, maybe I missed something but last time I checked Barack Obama is, in fact, the 44th President of the United States — which means he has the authority to tell both the US Department of Justice and DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart: “No more raids. Period!” (NORML podcaster Russ Belville has already drafted Obama the requisite memo here.)
Or, if Obama doesn’t want to be the one who personally rains on the DEA’s eight-year parade, then he can demand his newly sworn in U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to tell Ms. Leonhart and the DEA: “When President Obama says ‘no more raids,’ he means no more raids! Any more ‘smash and grabs’ in California — or any other state that’s legalized the medical use of cannabis — and you’re all out of your jobs. Got it?”
Of course, given the likelihood that President Obama won’t be making such demands of his new Attorney General any time soon, why don’t you?
Click here and tell US Attorney General Eric Holder to uphold the will of the President and the public. It’s time for the DEA to stop circumventing state medical marijuana laws. It’s time for the raids to come to an end.
Interestingly enough, the folks over at Americans for Safe Access sent me an email about this, but their stance is totally different. The title reads,”White House Statement Signals the Beginning of the End.” They seem to be quite happy about the new statement. Hopefully, the Obama Administration keeps its promise, and ends these attacks on the sick and dying.
we just need to legalize hemp and tax it. My grandchildren can get pot easier than they can get cigarettes.The dealers don’t care about the age limit as long as the kids have the money. People keep saying ” what about the children” Make it legal so kids have a harder time buying it and that certainly would get some jobs going for this country, which is what we need, lower interest rates don’t mean s**t if you don’t have a job!
obamas a liar man… i lost respect for him since the FIRST raid. i still cannot believe he has stayed quiet about this! wow. ='(
I’m sure in 3&1/2 years Obama will rediscover his pledge. At least until you lemmings vote for him again.
Bam! Message sent.
I said it from the start, never trust a lawyer, their profession by nature is to interrpret the truth; when done, however, any interpretation is inherently biased with that person’s personal agenda, i.e. (in this case) becoming the president. You suckers wanted this so i hope you enjoy the ride.
I sent a email US Attorney General about the issue as I hope all of us did. I’m going to get more into this as well as I will be getting a license soon. This is a very major issue for me, and is the first step in total legalization.
D E A
PLEASE GO AWAY…
EVERYONE IS TIRED OF YOUR OLD WAYS…
BOYCOTT KELLOGG http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_sp_ot/swm_phelps_suspended
http://www2.kelloggs.com/Product/Product.aspx
It seems like the DEA (DEAD END ATROCITIES) still have the green light to keep on doing at what they are doing. It must be a new strategy not to make an arrest, which is a start in the right direction or a trojan horse move. Besides that they have confiscated everything else. You people out there are going to have to realise that the DEA still has the draconian mentality of power and the only way they going to get rid of it is HR 5842. So you people in Washington DC get off your butts and pass this bill and take care of business. NOW IS THE TIME FOR CHANGE FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!
its sad people believe the lies they were told.wake up guys our government that is not ours.is run by criminals robbing your tax money.obamas change is the new world order means control,being watched 24-7.weed will never become legal,with criminal drug companies running the show.obama is a puppet with empty promises he has fooled people!sacred herb is in the way of drug companies they want all your money get it!they want you sick!wake up see the big picture!they do not care about your heath only profits.you guys need to study this! chem trails,monosanto gm foods.femma camps,martail law and all the rest.i am not nuts i have been studying this hard.and it makes my guts turn.i hope you can understand .the raids are not going to stop under obama.he is just a war monger like the rest.but still more pressure must be put on them.they will take advantage of every opening they can find.we have to block the openings and close in on them!!!
A boycott of KELLOGG would be the perfect way to demonstrate our ability to mobilize large numbers of voters. Not only would it demonstrate political will but would do so without embarrassing the Obama administration or directly antagonizing him. If only there was some, I don’t know, like national organization or something that worked to. like, you know, reform marijuana laws.
Obama and I were born the same year. I was born into this nation’s most privileged class, him into the least privileged. We probably started smoking marijuana around the same time, he later quit and I didn’t. He’s now The President of the United States and commands the respect of millions all over the world. I work in retail and command the respect of no one, not even myself. I would never be stupid enough to stick my neck out with you guys watching my back, he sure as hell isn’t. The last president who supported Marijuana Reform was Jimmy Carter, how many of you old timers voted for him? The most anti Marijauna president was Ronald Reagan. How many of you voted for him? Even if Obama were to give you everything you want a lot of you would vote against him because some idiot on Fox news told you to. I doubt prohibition is going to get any worse under Obama but I don’t expect it to get any better either. EXPLAIN THIS: THE SAME STATES THAT VOTE IN MEDICAL MARIJUANA BY LARGE MARGINS ARE THE SAME STATES THE SEND THE MOST ARDENT DRUG WARRIORS TO CONGRESS ( WHERE BY THE WAY LAWS ARE MADE).
At least calling for no more raids is something that the Bush administration would have never done. It has to begin somehow and this is a pretty good start. One day I hope we’ll all be able to walk into our closest mini-mart and buy a pack of doobs. Or we can wait until Obama’s own daughters are caught with it in the future and turned into criminals themselves. Hopefully he’ll have the courage to legalize it so that when it happens, and it will happen, then his daughters won’t have to apologize like Phelps did for doing something that he knows he’ll do again.
Sadly you cannot expect miracles from one man in the few short weeks he has been President. Pro-Marijuana users are fighting a hard fight, and everyday I see it getting stronger. We are almost there.. Just wait.. the time will come.
ron paul in 2012!
I still have faith in Obama.
i used to love frosted flakes but i shall eat it…no more. weak kellogg’s weak.
I was looking at that pie chart and I am wondering who are those 21% in the red slice? Why do they think the way they do and what can we do to win them over?
Clearly they are either misinformed or biased in some way. Or more accurately they have been brainwashed by 75 years of propaganda.
Anyway, don’t let them make you hate! Things always get worse before they get better; it’s what motivates us to get it in gear and finish the job!
Maybe its time for a revolution.
Lets take a stand and protest, they can’t stop us all.
Personally, not that I am defending the DEA, I see this as a “Cold war action”. The DEA, at the respect of the people, are not going after the people, just the substance and paraphernalia.
Again, I don’t believe this is right, but I do see this as an, “Acceptable transition”. Like when the emissions computers for smog-testing failed to report correct numbers, and failed a majority of people. They still required testing, but made changes to allow free follow-up testing after a failure. (Until the machines were fixed.)
I see this as a positive step towards change. I am sure the investigations and orders to act, were prior to Obama’s control. It seems apparent that the memo is circulating. They do not seem to be “Prosecuting”, those who the states see as “Allowed”, to operate.
If this is the sign of change, and they do ultimately allow the states to hold local enforcement, this is the way I would imagine they would operate it. Until the states or the government has, “Regulation” in place, the only way for them to regulate, or determine “Abuse of operation”, is to collect untampered evidence, for examination, if they don’t allow it in the future.
I would find it comforting to know that the government is using, “Cold war”, or “Friendly capture”, as opposed to gun-blazing, when they know there is no, or little, potential threat. I have mixed feelings about them leaving a “Messenger”, behind. (Leaving the person behind to voice the story, as opposed to locking them up, and gagging them to silence without a lawyer.)
{Shakes head}
Reading these stories makes me think… Though I am unsure what to think, what they want us to think, what they are thinking.
He’s been in office for 2 weeks. and marijuana lawsare not the priority when he is pushing for the stimulus package. At least give him a month before calling him a liar.
The raids continue without arrests because it’s free bud and free money. Now they’re just doing it because they can, and don’t bother to hide it anymore.
It’s up to us whether we accept complete tyranny, or hold on to the grand illusion of freedom.
i just went to the kelloggs link above and left a message that i will now boycott all of their products.
Lol did this article really just try to allude that there where no DEA raids during the Clinton administration. I’m starting to think half our population is closer related to an alligorical ostrich(with it’s head in the sand and it’s ass in the air) than they are to chimps. How can anyone be so blind as to listen to a word that comes out of Obama’s mouth? Read a couple of his books, not alot at once of course because they are written in a brainwashing fashion(between the bad grammer and the over use of 5 syllable words in one sentence that even the well educated can fall prey to). Go through and fact check the things he says “Almost 90 percent of the Indonesia’s population practice Islam.”-The Audacity of Hope pg.271 second paragraph. Yeah and just call me Lestat and there goes my good buddy Bugs Bunny. The actual percent of the Indonesians who adhere to Islam is somewhere around 15.6%, he is a bold faced liar period.
I am starting to think Obama is a Pit Bull with no teeth. All bark and no bite!
RT
http://www.online-anonymity.at.tc
In response to lori’s comment. I agree, and there’s more to it as well. It has to do with agism and the fact that we don’t raise children realistically. These young so-called thugs are simply mislead by the confusing world that is advertised to them daily. They live largely in environments of control, because we don’t want them to know what the world is Really Like, or else because we feel we need to train them so that they don’t fail in this cold world. This is where many problems start in our culture. It’s no wonder that young people rebel from our obviously absurd ways. Government and Economy working hand in hand to diminish my ability to struggle against a REAL WORLD, instead I have to worry about this fairy tale land of money that gets handed out to rich, and rich that don’t pay taxes and cheat every step of the way. I’m not saying that differences aren’t natural, but the greed and contempt with which the leaders of our nation work is dispicable. Go on and tell me I’m foolish for wanting to work and plow a field and watch real growth and blooming, the kind that comes from quiet patience and care, working together for each other…that’s what this is all about. You go on and keep working the divisions, Republicans and Democrats…We are the Liberation Party…coming up slowly from the ranks, we will find a new space to contemplate ReDeclaring Independence from your King! King of confusion. Building a tomorrow where we all live in tiny spaces, like the cars and rooms we occupy to keep up our impersonalities. Go on and wage war and fight for “freedom and justice” while you oppress your own people for wanting to socialize with a smoke and talk about beauty, art, love, politics….We are obviously to blame for this Depression! (sorry for ranting..i change tangents quickly and have so much to say…i’m learning to use my voice…bare with me those that read these regularly…thank you. It’s freedom for my heart to know that other people wish they didn’t have to hide and feel ashamed for a bunch of shit that has been brainwashed into us…truth is we are all teachers and students that need to be real and teach truth, literacy, empathy, and most of all, LOVE!
Oh and before people start correcting me on that they only get 6 religions to choose from not exactly freedom of religion, so I count it as the average extent for example that the bulk of the US considers themselves Christian(not too mention differing branches are almost always insulted to be lumped in with the other) compared to the number that go to church every Sunday, don’t Curse, and adhere to “true Christian beliefs” is a deep contrast in percentage with our census. I mean let’s be really honest alot of our ancestors lied to the ruling bodies on religion to save thier lives(hiding thier true beliefs in the state religion), so thus no census could truely be considered an accurate gauge of the actual beliefs in someones heart and mind especially when we have such a harsh ratio that they percieve themselves to be so vastly outnumbered.
just sent holder/doj the email message, hope everyone else did to.
It’s war on the streets & the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs-2pac
I’m so tired of seen tax dollars waisted on hurting the good people who provide the medicine to the cancer patient to the hiv patient to the person with chronic pain or recreational use . STOP THE RAIDS. IT’S time for the american people to vote the people out that don’t agree with us.
he’s gonna have to fire them anyway. What good are enough troops to raid 50 states of quality cannabis when it’s legal in 14 of the states? it would be a gigantic waste to pay them (with my tax dollars, !!1elevenetc) to sit around doing nothing. Fire them. Government’s gotta tighten it’s belt too, remember, Obama?
I would love to boycott Kellog for this, but I just love those damn cheeze it’s too much…
oh come one people. Give it some time. Do you have any idea how much time it takes to plan a raid? anyone? right, well i do, and it takes weeks if not months and they’re planned well in advance. While i agree he appears to be dragging his feet on this particularly important executive order, he has made it clear he will follow up. GIVE IT SOME TIME. He’s the president of the GD USA. It’s going to take some time for him to accomplish both his short term goals and his long term ones. I’m not going to start bitching until after he appoints the new DEA Czar. buncha freakin whiners.
The impetus is behind the already in motion DEA.
They are trying to clean up cases they’ve long held (probably trying to wait for the folks to do worse than smoke a joint, eh?) and, in any changing of the guard, there are always idiots who wanted everything to stay the way it was.
Just look at a couple of the morons that wrote in here, still going on about how upset they are that we didn’t elect an old man and a witch from Alaska.
Pot WILL become legal, and taxed (95 million adult users in the USA wouldn’t mind paying taxes for that privilege and, believe me, the government NEEDS the money) just as soon as PROFESSIONAL POLITICIANS get their heads out of their butts!
I think the reason they raid but don’t arrest, which is the case in the majority of raids they have conducted since prop 215s inception, is that they don’t want a precedent to be established if they lose the case. So they only prosecute what they know they can win. The rest is just smash and grab intimidation. I mean come on they smashed security cameras in their latest raids, seized money and pot, left no receipt for items taken, and made no arrests. Sounds like a gang to me.
I still think this is all wrong.
The right to regulate commerce cannot prevent you from selling a product, thanks to the 9th and 10th amendments. Instead of trying to get rights back, point out and class action the illegal prevention of our rights.
Marijuana is not an intoxicating liquor.
So, instead of asking the AG to stop doing this, force them to stop by pointing out that we have the right.
Or, we can continue to go down the same wrong path that people have been persuing for many decades now with very little progress.
Obama = Bush
Rahm Emmanuel = Cheney
Ron Paul said it all along my friends. He is the only mainstream politician who will end the war on drugs. He is the only one who cares about our personal freedom.
Check out http://www.campaignforliberty.com
Uhm…. LOL @ Ron Paul is the answer
Last night, the Obama administration announced that there will no longer be DEA raids. Especially when he announces his new Drug czar.
I believe you should check out
http://www.google.com
Before you compare the 2 to the Bush administration.
To all the ”awww give him a chance it’s only 2 weeks……” crowd:
if our new toy puppet president were serious about any of the …ahem….. serious proposals and specific plans, well then he would have had lots and lots of days to truly prepare for his new role. too busy speechifyin and conversatalating and signifying.
too busy licking the boots of the CFR .
he will be nothing like his campaign alluded to.
wow. just like every other president.
it’s almost like some weird cult or something.
i’ll have to try googling some stuff and look into this.
hmmmmmmmmm
Well, i myself am beginning to realize that cannabis is an amazing treatment for depression. Only one inhalation and poof, i feel fine better. And when i tried to take paxil, wellbuttrin, etc, etc, 4 different ones i tried! and i didnt give up right away, they just didnt work my friend. I would have terrible constant anxiety with those serotonin reuptake inhibitors. I.E. I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I’d be sitting on the couch at 4 am turning over in pain wondering when these “side-effects” will eventually ease. Paxil was the first anti-depressant i tried. It didn’t work and in a fit of anger i threw it down the toilet. Well, that was a bad idea because paxil is PHYSICALLY addictive. I mean terribly addictive, for the next month i had motion sickness. Whenever i would turn my head i felt like the motion wouldnt stop. Its hard to explain. I just wish i could use cannabis legally under a doctors supervision to treat my depression. But avast i cant, i live in a nazi land of marijuana laws called florida.
has anybody seen the message left by Catherine Patterson on January 15th at this site
http://www.blogforchange.org/?p=20#comment-60856
She needs our reinforcement yesterday!
Ron Paul is the answer? Why has he been hiding and not voicing his outrage over those providers who were raided in california the other day? Any politician who in the passed has expressed support but failed to step up to the plate even with just one negative comment to the media regarding these raids has their own agenda and it aint ours. Supporting someone like that makes as much sence as as eating air when your hungy (unless you’re trying to loose weight).
To what Niel said I know what you mean(diag. bi-polar), but unfortunately we don’t count to anyone except ourselves and on occassion our families & friends(excluding the ones that like to play pass the buck to the Emotionaly Disturbed person). I live in Colorado a medical marijuana state and tried to get placed on Medical Marijuana, but alas to my shagrin my pain doesn’t count because they would rather put me on Neurontin(I was more suicidal on that crap I just was too zombiefied to actually do anything) or some other bs drug with harmful neurological and liver failure(good idea for someone born with jondis) causing effects. We as a group historically and in some cases still to this day have been electrocuted, had parts of our brains removed, cast the constent villian(funny seeing as we’re much more likely to be the victims of crimes than there perpatraitors) in every form of media, even pushed to the limits of the human psyche all because every once in a while someone retaleates in a war(if you can look at the so called humanity we’ve been shown and not see that, you’re lacking wisdom even more so than Barack Obama and Ron Paul combined) we didn’t even start all for what currency and asshole poloticians and kings, worked out really well for you didn’t it society. I can tell you right now if not for marijuana I would have killed myself by now, but even to groups like NORML that’s not important because we don’t gain “enough positive media attention” for them to even bother fighting for us to share the right to toke up to ease our pains. We are truely second class citizens, even though our plit knows not gender, race, nor creed. Hell what else can someone be fired for in this country that’s outside of thier control? And we can’t even sue for discrimination when they put it right on the file in big letters, even after jumping through every hoop put before us to prove we’re no physical danger to them or ourselves(I didn’t downward spiral until OfficeMax fired me for being a Manic depressive, which only became known there because a 60lb. chair fell 15 feet and nailed me right in the back of the head and hell I even worked my shift the next day, go figure). I severely doubt you’ll ever see a change to this as long as we still use money, so in short either way we’re damned to face criminal charges for possession and use for what could be a very long time(excluding in a couple of states I think for now), so toke up my brother and tell those Nazi’s to fuck off.
Bush has so destroyed the honor, integrity and moral power of the presidency that everyone now seems to think it’s OK to flout the new president’s wishes and requests. From the Gitmo military judge to the DEA, none of them care what the president wants and none of them pay an ounce of heed to his orders.
I agree 100% with your position. However, I don’t think Obama can risk changing any drug policy while the economy is failing. If he made a change in drug policy right now, the Republicans and Democrats would tear him apart for legimatizing drug use and for not focusing on the more mainstream problems (e.g. economy, wars).
It would be political suicide.
Yeah cause it’s not like there was something called Iran-Contra or anything, dumbass.
Did you really believe Obama would change anything? He himself has tried pot. He does not care about upholding any promises. He is here as a puppet to do the will of his masters just like Bush did. Two wings of the same bird. When people start realizing that little factoid when they vote, then change will occur. Otherwise keep dreaming. Ron Paul was our Hope For Change.
THIS JUST IN:
“A special panel of federal judges tentatively ruled Monday that California must release tens of thousands of inmates to relieve overcrowding…”
“The order comes as California struggles to bridge a $42 billion budget deficit that is forcing the state to furlough its employees two days each month.”
link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29108435/
Now would be a good time to lobby for the release of those put in prison for non-violent ‘crimes’, such as marijuana possession.
got this back when i sent the email to doj
“Thank you for contacting the Department of Justice. This is an automatic acknowledgement that your e-mail was received. It will be reviewed in the order it was received.”