2 Diverse Groups Call for DEA to End Medical Marijuana Raids
Tenth Amendment Center, Firedoglake Publisher Join Drug Policy Organizations’ Condemnation of Recent Raids
WASHINGTON — Two ideologically diverse advocates today echoed an earlier call by a coalition of drug-policy reform groups by condemning a series of recent raids by the Drug Enforcement Administration on medical marijuana collectives that were operating legally under state law. The Tenth Amendment Center, a group that advocates on behalf of states’ rights, and Jane Hamsher, the publisher of Firedoglake.com, called on the DEA to respect duly adopted state medical marijuana laws and immediately end these raids.
“The federal government is only authorized to exercise those powers that ‘We the People’ delegated to it in the Constitution. Included among the myriad of constitutional violations from D.C. are federal laws that ban the use of cannabis,” said Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center. “It is especially egregious when these laws are used to justify raids in states where the use and distribution of cannabis is expressly allowed by law. How many hundreds of thousands of people are going to be arrested before We the People say ‘enough is enough’? The time to end this unconstitutional, immoral, and costly federal war on people is now.”
Under the leadership of acting-administrator Michele Leonhart, the DEA has staged medical marijuana raids in apparent disregard of Attorney General Eric Holder's directive to respect state medical marijuana laws. Most recently, DEA agents flouted a pioneering Mendocino County (CA) ordinance to regulate medical marijuana cultivation by raiding the very first grower to register with the sheriff. Joy Greenfield, 69, had paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local sheriff.
Informed that Ms. Greenfield had the support of the sheriff, the DEA agent in charge responded by saying, “I don’t care what the sheriff says.” The DEA's conduct is inconsistent with an October 2009 Department of Justice memo directing officials not to prosecute individuals “whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana.”
“At least 73% of Americans support medical marijuana, according to recent polls, and its use has been made legal in 14 states plus the District of Columbia,” said Jane Hamsher, publisher of progressive political blog and advocacy group Firedoglake.com. “Attorney General Eric Holder was crystal clear last year when he directed officials within his department not to waste federal resources interfering with state medical marijuana laws. Yet throughout the tenure of President Obama’s administration, the DEA’s raids have continued in a manner wholly inconsistent with the spirit of that directive. What part of ‘not a priority’ does Michele Leonhart not understand?”
“We are pleased that opposition to the DEA’s over-aggressive behavior is spreading across the political spectrum,” said Steve Fox, director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project. “The agency is defiantly sending agents on missions to destroy the private property of citizens who are in full compliance with state medical marijuana laws. In doing so, the DEA is intentionally undermining the will of state voters and lawmakers who have acted to ensure that medical marijuana patients are no longer treated as criminals. Such acts are not just an insult to advocates of medical marijuana – but also demonstrate a desire to flaunt the power of the federal government in a manner that denies states the right to pass and carry out laws in the best interest of its own citizens.”
Based in large part on these recent raids, a coalition of drug policy organizations—including MPP, NORML, California NORML, the Drug Policy Alliance, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, and Students for Sensible Drug Policy—last week called on President Obama to withdraw the nomination of Ms. Leonhart to be the permanent head of the DEA.
OV Social
California Proposition 19 will allow ordinary American citizens to grow a little marijuana in their own backyards. It will carve the guts out of the drug gangs, get the drug cartels out of our National forests, and put an end to most of the border violence .
I hope my kids don’t use marijuana, either as teenagers or as young adults, but if they do, I REALLY hope they don’t end up in jail! As parents, let’s work together to stop putting our own kids in jail over something as silly as marijuana. The effects of marijuana aren’t NEARLY as bad as the effects of JAIL WITH THE SEXUAL PREDATORS, and loss of financial aid, etc. It’s time to stop government officials from ruining our kids’ lives over a little marijuana!
Let's remember to ask ourselves, "If my child or grandchild used a little marijuana, would I want him or her to go to jail?"
Californians: register to vote at
h t t p s://w w w .sos.ca.gov/nvrc/fedform/ Just fill out the form and mail it in!
Other states: Google your state name and “voter registration” to find out how to register!
all the money wasted on the so call war on drugs (marijauana) could have this country on its way out of debt..but no the dea wants to piss away our tax dollars to go after us that tax payer..watch the dea start cryin when one of there idiots gets shot breaking into someones home in the middle of the night..its high time the b.s stops and the federal goverment stop raiding peoples medications we the people have voted..the time to STOP is now..before someone gets hurt of killed over a weed...
PEOPLE WHEN ARE YOU ALL GONNA WAKE UP? FOR THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE THATS A JOKE DID ANYONE SEE THE STATE APPLICATION FOR COLORADO TO BE LEGAL?
Section 8:
"The Congress shall have power to... provide for the... general welfare of the United States"
"To regulate commerce... among the several states"
"To make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof."
Section 10:
"No state shall... pass any... ex post facto law "
Seeing the moronic claims on constitutional grounds suggests the morons making the claims have never read the Constitution. Drug trafficking DOES take place in interstate commerce and Congress DOES have the power to regulate such. Congress DOES have the power to provide for the general welfare of the United States. Congress DOES have the power to enact legislation to meet those ends. States DO NOT have the power to pass ex post facto laws, i.e. laws that decriminalize acts that are criminal in nature at the time they are committed.
Not only does the plain language of the Constitution give Congress exclusive jurisdiction to regulate marijuana , that jurisdiction has been upheld by wide margins in one Supreme Court case after another. States have no more authority to decriminalize marijuana trafficking than they do to decriminalize bank robbery . Federal law controls and preempts. State laws in conflict with Federal law are null and void.
Putting a modern definition on words in an 18th century legal document is idiotic.
The word "regulate" at the time of the founding did not mean "prohibit," " ban ," or "control."
Thinking it did either shows the commenter's ignorance, or dishonesty.
A recommendation would be a good 18th Century law dictionary, like one from Giles Jacob.
Restraint of trade is not regulation, Don.
It's easy to dismiss the concept of medical marijuana use because so many seem to enjoy it's effects.
But dozens of references were used by the US Department of Health and Human Services in it's April 21, 1999 application for 2003 US Patent No. 6630507, entitled, "Cannabinoids as antioxidants and neuroprotectants".
Millions of otherwise law -abiding citizens are falsely arrested on the basis of this claim in US law: "Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance, based on its high potential for abuse , no accepted medical use, and no accepted safety for use in medically supervised treatment ".
Reparations are long past due.
- - -
Google Marc Emery. Free us all.
Sure, and many otherwise law abiding citizens are prosecuted for bank robbery .
In the mean time, aside from the DEA issues, the FDA has exclusive jurisdiction over approving substances for medical use. Until the FDA recognizes a medical use for marijuana , legally, there isn't one. If Merck or Glaxco came up with a new pain medicine tomorrow, they'd go straight to prison if they tried to market as a cure for pain without FDA approval.
On your theory penalties are higher for Schedule I drugs , the bottom line is you don't know what you're talking about. Here's a table of penalties from the DEA's website . Marijuana is treated less harshly than any other controlled substance.
http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/penalties.htm
So, tell us, if marijuana is such a safe and harmless drug, why are people willing to risk a felony conviction rather than do without it? Personally, I've found asprin to be quite effective on a variety of aches and pains, but if it was outlawed tomorrow, I sure as hell wouldn't risk going to prison to keep using it.
At some level, the arguments of drug addicts have to look every bit as foolish to those making the arguments as they do to everyone else.
Any way you slice it, if you scoff at laws , you will be punished. It doesn't matter if you're doing 10 over on a lonely stretch of freeway where you're sure it's safe, or if you're smoking dope. If you believe the speed limit is unfair, you can petition the government body having jurisdiction over such things to change it. The same goes for marijuana.
Send your lobbyists to DC if you like, and push for legislation for an independent study of the medical benefits of marijuana or lack thereof. Don't ask state voters to do it, because state voters don't have the legal authority to make the call.
And, please, don't make silly arguments related to patent claims. The patent office is loaded with things with wild claims that never have, and never will, go to market for the simple reason they don't work .
As a suggestion, why not try cutting a deal with tobacco companies and pharmacoms before sending your lobbyists to DC. I'm sure a tobacco company would be happy to grow marijuana for you and roll it up into nice packages for sale. I'm equally sure a big pharmacom would be happy to license and market the result for distribution. Both likely have better lobbyists than any of the marijuana organizations.
The bottom line is there are ways to do it right, but scoffing at existing laws isn't one of them. All that will get you is unpleasant run ins with law enforcement. You know what the law is before you broke it and I don't have a bit of sympathy for you because you got caught.
It cannot be lawful to arrest on the basis of a false claim.
Either cannabis has safe , accepted medical use in the United States or not:
http://tinyurl.com/classactionlawsuit
Not to be rude, but I think I can speak for every medical marijuana patient in the country when i say that we don't want a tobacco company spraying down our medicine with inorganic pesticides and addictive chemicals . As for your comment about aspirin, that particular over-the-counter medication kills over 1,000 people every year; marijuana hasn't killed anyone in the 5,000+ years that humans have been using it. If a person speeds, they should be written a ticket...it's illegal to speed. A person should NOT get arrested for growing marijuana in a state where it is legal to do so. How many folks are swallowing prescription oxycontin in America? It's cool for them though, because the government profits from a pharmaceutical patent on an addictive substance...you can't patent a plant, so there is no money in it...might as well make it illegal, psshh