Obama Cracks Down On Medical Marijuana

[meow mix]

you know who is taking it seriously these days? The Obama administration, which recently lashed out against the drug in three distinct ways.

First, on Monday, the White House released its National Drug Control Strategy, reporting that use of marijuana is the highest it's been in eight years. The policy document went out of its way to oppose marijuana legalization, arguing the drug is addictive and unsafe.

Second, late last week, the Drug Enforcement Administration concluded that marijuana has no accepted medical use. So the DEA rejected a years-long effort to reclassify marijuana from a heavily restricted drug like heroin under the Controlled Substances Act to one that can be used more widely.

Finally, the Justice Department has taken a tough line on marijuana too. Federal prosecutors say they won't go after sick people. But late last month, they warned that big medical marijuana shops aren't exempt from federal prosecution if they distribute the drug, even in states where medical marijuana is legal.

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/12/137791944/obama-cracks-down-on-medical-marijuana?ps=cprs


sheer luck obama didnt get treated to the oppression millions of americans enjoy. during his toking days

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I do NOT get what his problem is.

Is this his way of appealing to the fundies?

I mean, REALLY.

:shrug:

[KittyWampus]

6. He's taking this all the way to the extreme and forcing it into the courts.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. First medical marijuana user I ever knew was a fundie

Got glaucoma. This was way back when I was a kid. The doctor told her to use marijuana which he could not give her. At first she resisted, but she prayed and studied and had a nice list of Bible to go with her when she finally copped a bag. Eyesight to the blind. Praise the Lord indeed.
His problem is he's a conservative hypocrite. Also, he says he used as much cocaine as possible in his youth, and many drunks and coke heads who also smoke a bit wind up lumping the pot in with their harder habits when they clean up, if they clean up. Coke heads and former coke heads, the 'as much as we could afford' sort are a very special sort of wet noodle.

[Cal33]

8. Maybe he is listening too much to his Repub. advisers. Well, he chose them.

[SugarShack]

9. Really? I'll tell you what...Obama said while campaigning he'd RESPECT states rightts!!!

And the FDA is full of shit...it has many medical values you are not told about.

And the Justice Dept????? Eric Holder??? The guy who Obama picked to be our AG, dropped cased of torture AND allowed the biggest theft of american's dollar's ever! No one is going to prison! So don't tell me about the DOJ. I called them, and they were not interested in those using MM and following the law. When our Justice Dept. makes real criminals accountable, I'll listen to his MM debate. Right now that is law...and they will not procecute actual crimes! This is bullshit!

[amborin]

18. it's to keep big Pharma happy

[DeSwiss]

19. Always....

...follow the money.

[Dawson Leery]

2. "F**K the DEA"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx8e6mnkaH4

Not a SINGLE DEA agent has EVER done anything good for society, and yes I said that!!!

These parasites need to be disbanded!

[NC_Nurse]

3. Funny how nobody cares about the deficit when it comes to all of our "wars".

[CarmanK]

4. THE BUSHROACHES are infesting the FED still!

This is utterly ridiculous and a waste of the limited resources that the repugs are allotting for the department. POT needs to be legalized. I don't know where the years of research has gone to come to the conclusion that POT has not medicinal purposes. there are sure a lot of cancer patients out there that would contradict such a ludicrous allegation. Any way, I think POT should be legalize like it was before PROHIBITION, packaged safely, sold and taxed to the general public. The DRUG war was a waste. The drug cartels in Mexico are flourishing and the POT fields in our national forests are a danger to tourists.

[AndyTiedye]

5. The War on Pot is THE Most Sacred Cow in DC

They'll shut down Social Security, Medicare, and even the military before they give up the war on pot. :wtf:

[Cal33]

10. Yeah, and it was started by Reagan.

[AndyTiedye]

11. Nixon, Actually (Operation Intercept)

[somone]

12. Real medicine comes from Big Pharma.

Accept no substitutes. :sarcasm:

[felix_numinous]

13. If there were any non batshit crazy opponents in 2012

I wonder what the WH policy would be then? I don't get why there is such a hard line against MM dispensaries and legalization, other than special interests and a lack of competition for the WH.

[Countdown_3_2_1]

14. Looking tough for Election 2012?

Is this just a way to move to the center?

[cui bono]

21. "Is this just a way to move to the center?" No, because he's already right of center. n/t

[ProfessionalLeftist]

15. Propofol is not even a controlled substance

But marijuana is more restricted ie: "controlled substance"?

:wtf:

[slay]

16. Yet alcohol and cigarettes which kill 100,000 and 5 million people PER YEAR respectively are legal

there are NO documented deaths by marijuana! this is bullshit. total fucking bullshit that marijuana is illegal - and not just illegal, but in the same category as heroin? fuck that. i'm done voting for Dems who promote this hypocritical bullshit. :mad: :grr:

*edited to add the source for the figures listed in the subject line: http://www.mjlegal.org/alctob.html

[0rganism]

20. MJ criminalization was never about risk

While it's true that alcohol and tobacco have very powerful lobbies, I think there's a degree to which alcohol and cigarettes get special status because of their death toll, not in spite of it. That 5.1 million annual deaths is 5.1 million people who won't collect Medicare or SSI bennies anymore, so the gov's counting on those folks (mostly elderly) to roll off the books ASAP. If elderly people were the primary users of cocaine and heroin, they might be legal too (as they once were).

Keeping MJ illegal is all about having a way to crack down on working class users, providing a permanent criminal sub-caste among blacks, hispanics, and liberal activists.

[slay]

22. Oh I know. Much of it is also pressure from the pharmaceutical and other entrenched industries

as well as left over puritanical shit where - anything that feels good is bad. Just sucks that pot smokers have to suffer, waste tons of money, support drug lords, and risk jail/prison time themselves for all these bullshit so called "reasons" for keeping it not only illegal, but in the same category as heroin.

[in_cog_ni_to]

17. Pot's addictive? Really? I smoked pot for the better part of 15 years...

every day...morning, noon and night (because I liked it) and decided one day that I didn't like it anymore and QUIT. Never looked back. Never missed it. Never craved it. I didn't have to have a fix of THC. It's not addictive. You may smoke it often because of how it makes you feel, but it's not something you can't just walk away from. It's NOTHING like cigarettes. NOTHING like cigarettes.

What's wrong with giving sick people some relief? What the hell is his problem with pot?