It does seem like an odd time to choose to resend the order to leave the medical marijuana people alone. Unless Obama is trying to win some police votes and he did not think the medical marijuana people would get out and vote against him.
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Obama's War on Weed
In a strange about-face, the president tries to hack medical marijuana off at the knees
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The new federal crackdown on medical marijuana announced on Oct. 7 by California’s four U.S. attorneys sent chills throughout the industry. It was a stunning reversal by the Obama administration.
Only two years ago, Deputy U.S. Attorney General David Ogden wrote his infamous “Ogden Memo,” announcing that the feds wouldn’t bother businesses in compliance with their own state laws. It proved a dose of Miracle-Gro to California, where pot-selling stores have multiplied since voters approved the state’s 1996 medical marijuana law. By late last year, California reportedly had more dispensaries than Starbucks outlets.
Colorado also made it legal in 2000 and saw a similar explosion of new storefronts. The same thing was happening to varying degrees in 16 states, from Arizona to Washington, New Jersey to Delaware.
But the feds’ tolerance wasn’t quite what it seemed. While legal weed grew into an industry worth an estimated $10 billion to $100 billion annually — no one’s quite sure of the exact figure — activists noticed an alarming undercurrent to the rhetoric: Raids on growers and dispensaries actually increased under Obama.
As hundreds of thousands of state-approved, doctor-recommended patients happily bought their medicine in well-lit stores from knowledgeable “budtenders,” the ire of cops and prohibitionists rose.
The first sign of Obama’s subterfuge came in late 2010, as California prepared to vote on a ballot proposition that would have legalized growing and possessing small amounts of marijuana for anyone older than 21. Under pressure from teetotalers — nine former Drug Enforcement Agency chiefs begged Obama to oppose the measure — Attorney General Eric Holder said it didn’t matter what Californians thought. The feds would continue to bust people regardless of the election.
The measure got 46 percent of the vote but not enough to pass. Yet the medical side of things kept going strong — too strong for Obama.
When the Oakland City Council prepared to authorize large-scale cultivation centers, Melinda Haag, the U.S. attorney for California’s Northern District, issued the first in what would become a series of letters from her fellow attorneys general. She reminded residents — in no uncertain terms — that marijuana was still criminalized under federal law, considered equal to heroin or methamphetamine, irrespective of its medicinal value.
Nor did she care what California law said. Her “core priority” would be to prosecute “business enterprises that unlawfully market and sell marijuana” under federal law.
Over the next few months, attorneys general from Maine to Washington wrote their own increasingly menacing letters. In Washington, the feds even threatened to arrest state workers who helped foster the industry.
Then the Obama administration released a new letter to “clarify” Ogden’s memo. Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole verified the about-face: The only people safe from arrest were “seriously ill” patients and their caregivers.
Everyone else? Be warned.
The letter didn’t just target those directly involved in the trade. Cole also was threatening supporting industries — read: banks — with money-laundering charges for dealing in the proceeds from marijuana. Obama had launched a full-on attack on the industries essential to any functioning enterprise.
Banks responded by canceling their weed-related accounts. “Perhaps there may be a few financial institutions here or there that are still accepting accounts,” says Caroline Joy, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Bankers Association. “Those facilities don’t want to reveal who they are.”
The president’s push grew louder last month. The U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau warned medical marijuana patients that they couldn’t legally use pot and own or buy guns.
Then came a one-two punch.
On Oct. 5, the IRS ruled that one of the largest California dispensaries, Harborside Health Center, owed $2.5 million in taxes because federal law precluded standard deductions for businesses engaging in illegal activity.
In other words, Obama was not only blowing off state laws. He was also declaring that legal businesses were now nothing more than criminal rackets. And he was carving away every tool they needed to function.
Harborside’s owner said he’d go out of business if the IRS didn’t reverse course. Dispensaries nationwide saw it as a crippling decision.
Then came another blow two days later: The bombshell dropped by California’s four U.S. attorneys. They were now going after people who leased stores and land to the pot industry. Violators were given 45 days to close doors, uproot plants and kick out renters. The penalty for not acting: seizure of property and arrest.
Laura Duffy, the U.S attorney for California’s Southern District, went so far as to threaten media with prosecution for taking pot advertising. [Disclosure: This newspaper accepts such ads.]
There was no doubt about it: Obama was intent on killing an entire industry — in the midst of a horrible economy, no less. Left unexplained was why, especially since he was giving the finger to voters in 16 states just a year before he would face them in his own election.
30 comments
yes he did .....once again obama does nothing he promised .I think its time we gave obama a change vote him out, this is got to stop ,focusing on this is a waste of money and obviously the tax payer cant afford this boondoggle of state laws he needs to focus on real issues and stop wasting my damn money
Didn't Obama smoke weed in the past for recreation use.....cus from gallery pictures I have seen...it did not like he was using it for medicinal use....so find it hard to believe he would make it a personal project to rid them from legal geographical establishments. Obama must be under a lot of pressure from those opponent officials if he's gone puppet president on an issue like this.
Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate committed to decriminalizing marijuana and other drugs.http://www.ronpaul2012.com/the...
I can't believe that LA Weekly allowed such a clearly biased article without labeling it an opinion piece. In all of these facts I don't see how Obama has made this a personal project as seems to be implied throughout the entire article. It's worth noting that medicinal marijuana has largely become legal within the last 5-10 years which could explain the surge in raids during his term. Also, although there are claims that raids have increased & medicinal marijuana has been targeted more during Obama's term, I'd like to see some statistics or comparisons to similar actions taken during Bush's term that further prove that point.
All of this are nothing more than a "WITCH HUNT PROJECT". They are never going to get anywhere or arrest anyone important. They are BLUFFING with nothing in the HOLD. All they do are acting like a BIG little Wiz behind the curtains.
It is clear that a lot of work went into this article and I appreciate the information in it. But it does appear to be slanted as there is no discussion about whether and to what extent the medical marijuana dispensaries are serving people that do not really have an illness or how many people might be getting prescriptions that do not have illnesses. I write this as someone who believes marijuana should be legalized. But I do prefer accurate and what, at least, ostensibly is unbiased reporting.
FYI, I did address it, though perhaps not to the extent that met with your approval:
Are lots of people using weed without suffering from a medical problem? Absolutely. But just because you’ve heard that half or more of the patients take the drug for “severe and chronic pain” doesn’t mean they’re all faking it.
In June, the Institute of Medicine estimated that 116 million Americans suffer from significant, chronic pain.
So, what are we saying, a Republicant is a better choice than a Democrat? You actually think a Romney or Perry, dudes who would make the OTHER personal issue - abortion - illegal would REIN IN the DEA? Hardly. There is a HUGE, 100-billion-dollar-a-year industry in keeping ALL drugs illegal or corporate controlled (no way corporations can EVER own pot) so what DO we do with DEA thugs & local narcs? The Drug War employs tens of thousands, Obama knows that to legalize dope puts the thugs outta work- you ain't gonna put a 40k-a-year prison guard, narc or DEA UC to work flipping burgers. the last 20 years have seen MORE compounds and chemicals outlawed (with nary a peep from the "states rights" crowd), the prison population has grown accordingly. Ya gotta admit, rationalizing the torture and incarceration of us druggies is politically simpler than laying off Good American LEOs. Sooner or later, they'll run out of prisons and haveta start executing stoners. Let's see how much the Teabaggers cry out for Second Amendment solutions THEN....
The Government need to clean-up them self first before they can point their fingers at anybody... For an example, Dept. of ABC and Dept. of Homeland undercover agents do not get drugs tested (confirm by Marcie Griffin of ABC), and they are the only people I know that go around in Hollywood and pretended to be drugs dealers. Everyone knows DRUGS and LIQUORS combine make lots of MONEY!!! So, if an ABC agent, Who is handling drugs and also has power over the liquor license, and he knows that he doesn't get tested for drugs, then it is very easy for him to be corrupt... That is the case with Primetime Pub and ABC agents.
Obama's pretty much lost my vote over this. I certainly won't be working the phones or walking door-to-door for him this election cycle.
I appreciate your challenge to examine the issue more deeply, but I did not choose an angle I thought would be "easier" or the "simplest explanation." I chose what I thought was the most appropriate angle supported by the available facts. If Obama's crackdown intends to target Mexican cartels, why did the DEA raid the farm of Northstone Organics in Mendocino?
Also, the crackdown wasn't needed to put the medical marijuana issue in a courtroom -- besides the Raich SCOTUS case that Bigmouth mentioned, there were other medical-pot lawsuits already wending through the court system before the Oct. 7 crackdown. In my home state of Arizona, as my article mentions, Governor Jan Brewer sued in federal court to get a declaratory judgment about whether our new law is legal, federally. The U.S. Justice Department is fighting that lawsuit, so I think that blows your theory that the crackdown is supposed to help launch a lawsuit.
I'm somewhat familiar with the Northstone case. A few weeks ago local sheriffs arrested a couple of people who were driving a few pounds of weed from Northstone to patients in the Bay Area. As you may know, the laws regarding transport of medical weed from growers to dispensaries or to patients have long been an enormous muddle - the original law passed in '96 simply didn't provide for that step in the process. There is an "implied defense" statute that you can use to prove that transporting the weed is "reasonably related" to a patient's needs, but I think what constitutes "reasonably related" is a big gray area. If the authorities want to be dicks about it, they will be dicks about it. In any case, there is a possibility that these arrests, coming just as the feds were gearing up for raids, attracted the DEA's attention to Northstone. Now, reasonable people would conclude this arrest and raid are a bunch of bullshit, but reason has long ago been tossed out the window when it comes to drug laws.
As for the Arizona situation, it's not unusual for the feds to defend the government from a lawsuit even in cases where said defense contradicts policy statements made elsewhere. Someone still has to defend the government's side in court. Hell, if they don't, I believe the judge could pass summary judgement in Arizona's favor, and Jan Brewer wins. And I don't think said defense completely invalidates my theory anyway. If the feds win and Arizona can start opening legal dispensaries, then the owners in Arizona would have a stake in joining any lawsuits with dispensaries in other states.
In any case, as I said below, the Obama administration very clearly said that they would not allow any traffickers to use state medical marijuana laws as cover to push weed illegally, so calling a crackdown by the DOJ a "betrayal" is, I think, awfully strong. Whether the DOJ is cracking down on the RIGHT dispensaries, that is certainly a legitimate question, but your story seems to presume that ALL dispensaries are legit, and that is not necessarily the case. Now, the feds, as they do, might be trying to kill a fly with a machine gun. But all this story tells me is that the conflict between federal and state laws on this issue is still such a muddle that neither side really knows which way is up.
You are missing two possibilities here:
1) Drug cartels are smuggling weed in by the ton, which is helping to fuel the drug war along the border that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Mexican nationals. Some of that weed is presumably finding its way into some of the dispensaries here in California, and the Mexican government is upset because demand in the U.S. is killing so many of its citizens and wreaking such havoc. Add to that the recent embarrassment of the "Fast and Furious" program, which purposefully let American guns across the border to be used by cartels. This crackdown on weed could therefore be an effort (IMO a misguided one, but that's another debate) by the Obama administration to soothe very ruffled feathers within the Mexican government by showing that we take the cartel problem seriously.
2) The administration may be trying to force this issue into federal court to decide medical pot's future once and for all. It's an old government trick with regulations that Congress wants to block. Let's say dispensary owners from some or all the states with medical marijuana laws band together in a class-action suit. This suit could wend its way up to the SCOTUS, and if it has been framed correctly, would force the Supreme Court to rule on whether federal law should trump state laws on this issue. Because medical marijuana laws and regulations vary widely from state to state (and even city to city as we've seen in California), such a ruling could grant a set of uniform guidelines for all states that have enacted or seek to enact medical marijuana laws in the future.
I so wish journalists would look at the wider issues instead of turning these sorts of stories into the usual fear-mongering and outrage about the gubmint done wantin' to take yer pot and yer livelihood. I know it's easier to slant it as another Obama sellout, or big government intrusion on our lives, but sometimes the simplest explanation is not the correct one.
First, why would legal dispensaries would buy their weed from illegal drug cartels? I mean, I'm sure it happens, but it seems ludicrous to think it's a substantial amount. Do you have any facts and figures?
Second, didn't the Supreme Court already decide this issue in Raich? Federal law trumps state law where medical marijuana is concerned. Supposedly "principled" Justices like Scalia decided states' rights doesn't apply to pot.
Third, do you have any idea how hard it is to certify classes of plaintiffs these days?
No offense, but your more "complex" explanation isn't very compelling.
As to your first point, I did qualify my statement with "presumably," and no, I don't have facts and figures. I doubt anyone could say for sure what percentage of weed is coming from unlicensed sources. That said, it's clear not all the dispensaries are legal in the strictest sense. In L.A. the city had made it so easy to open a dispensary that owners could at one point do so without proper certification from the city. The sheer number of dispensaries suggests that a fair number were opened with profits in mind by people looking to take advantage of lax rules and enforcement. Supposedly there are more dispensaries in L.A. than Starbucks, and I for one just don't believe there are that many compassionate caregivers serving the sick and who are doing it on a non-profit basis as required by the law. It's not much of a leap to think that shady dispensary owners will get their weed from shady sources, and not from the small-time growers licensed by California to provide weed to dispensaries. And it has clearly never been the intention of the Obama administration to let the medical marijuana market go along completely unfettered.
Eric Holder himself provided essentially that last point in early 2009: "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal." And Obama himself is on record as being opposed to legalization.
Second: I'm not familiar with Raich, so I looked it up and skimmed some of the info. I'm not a lawyer, so I don't know for sure if it would be considered the last word or not, but one can certainly bring a lawsuit with a different argument than that pushed by Raich (which had actually a somewhat narrow focus, according to SCOTUS itself.) Plus the make-up of the Supreme Court has changed and even if a new suit was filed in federal court tomorrow, it could change even further by the time the case makes it to the SCOTUS (Raich took three years, which is actually pretty speedy.) Three of the justices who ruled on Raich are now gone (Souter, O'Connor, Rehnquist - and believe it or not, O'Connor and Rehnquist were dissenters on this one, as was Thomas.)
In any case, Raich was not a class-action lawsuit. I'm aware that defining classes is difficult, but a smart and ambitious lawyer could find a way to do it. And the medical pot industry has deep pockets.
Fair point regarding the cartels. And even if there were no evidence, I could see the crackdowns' being a symbolic concession to the Mexican government.
As for the legal issues, however, you clearly are not informed enough about them to lecture the author of this article for oversimplifying things. Please take it from someone who litigates class actions and follows constitutional law closely, your comments about the Supreme Court are naive and unrealistic.
yet another lie from OBAMA.
Sure, lets make it criminal but still let mexicans run wild in.
More like the US is demanding the weed for money and Mexicans are supplying it just like the Canadians did w/booze. The same horrible side effects of gang violence and corruption of our police by gangsters with tons of money (that could be paying in taxes)! The real issue is that this man has smoked and he knows in his heart that all the crap news about pot being "a drug as dangerous as heroin" is as big a lie as "job creators" BS from the right! He is somehow willing to let the feds interfere in state's rights to declare what it believes is best for its citizens in their pursuit of their UNALIENABLE right to happiness" guaranteed to US in our constitution! He is willing to allow people to be jailed for ????
Dept. of Homeland Sec. in Washington D.C. send their best high ranking agents to Hollywood to conducting a major drugs operation in Feb.2009. Douglas Chapman was the director of the operation. Most of the Federal agents we worked with are weeds smoker!! I know, because I smoked with them. I did asked the Director, Douglas Chapman if he think I should quit smoking Marijuana? And he told me "not yet". He also told me to buy Marijuana from Don Whittington only, don't get it from Federal agents, because it may not be clean. I filed this complaint with Homeland OIG in mid august 2011.
On May 19, 2011 at the Hollywood Community Police Advisory Board nightclub sub-commitee meeting, located at Paramount Studios. Dept. of ABC law enforcement talked about related drugs crimes in nightclub industry. I asked the ABC District Administrator Marcie Griffin, do ABC undercover agents get mandatory drugs testing? she refused to answers the question... Then again, why test something when she already knows it's dirty?! The LAPD did answers to the same question. YES, they do!!
Spend trillions killing and con-questing, steal trillions and every banker and congressman has each other back, but the American people are not free to alter their state of conscious via any means they decide rather the state will decide what substances i can use to change my conscious i.e cigs, beer, soda, caffeine..mind control people! This is about controlling culture and controlling human ideas and free will, that is what we are fighting for!!!!
This is one very valid reason for Obama suddenly attacking the weed industry.
But the obvious reason is more sinister - lobby groups acting on behalf of big pharmaceutical companies are pressuring him.
The last thing the pharma industry wants is a natural and risk-free medicine that can be grown for free in your back yard. They want people to be a slave to their products, for obvious reasons.
THIS IS FACTS: The BIGGEST PROVED ILLEGAL MARIJUANA DEALERS IN HOLLYWOOD ARE GOVERNMENT AGENTS!!! and they let go by the POUNDS!!! if they did it to Hollywood, then they can do that to everywhere else. They have been doing that since Feb 2009, they want the people to get used to weeds, and think it's o.k. to smoked. At the same time, they hired a bunch of new investigators( low-life spies) to be ready to go out and rake in the money by give out big fines. I did complain about this to Hollywood LAPD on Feb.15 2011 after I got the evidence and witness. the LAPD officer Rodriguez told me to take the complaint to the Government OIG. I also used that for my Discovery evidence in my Hollywood case...
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