U.S. Attorney General Says Justice Department Will No Longer Interfere With States’ M

greenearth5

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
U.S. Attorney General Says Justice Department Will No Longer Interfere With States’ Medical Pot Policies

February 26th, 2009 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
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Score one for the good guys!
Earlier this month, new U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder promised a clean break from the policies of the Bush administration. Yesterday, during a live interview on C-Span, he affirmed that this change includes ending the DEA raids of state-authorized medical marijuana providers!
Responding to a reporter’s question regarding the DEA’s recent actions against several California medical cannabis providers, Holder stated: “What the President said during the campaign . . . will be consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement. . . What [President Obama] said during the campaign . . . is now American policy.”
You can watch the video of Attorney General Holder’s remarks here.
Holder’s statement marks a dramatic shift in U.S. drug policy, and is a major victory for the 72 million Americans who reside in states where the use of medical cannabis is legal! It also lends support to the ongoing efforts in Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island — each of which are debating legislative proposals to make the production and distribution of medical cannabis legal under state law.
At this time, NORML would like to personally thank those of you who responded to our request to contact the Attorney General’s office and urge Eric Holder to call off the DEA raids. Your phone calls and e-mails have helped to change U.S. marijuana policy!
So go ahead and give yourself a pat on the back. And while you’re at it, click here to thank the new Attorney General for supporting the will of the people and the health and welfare of seriously ill patients.
“Change we can believe in?” Yes it is, and it’s about time.




you can find this artcile on www.norml.com:peace:
 
I

Intellectual Pothead

Well-Known Member
lmao where are the obama bashers now?

well even if he doesn't legalize it or even decriminalize. atleast he's willing to take federal resources and devote them to better purposes.

conservatives just like to hate, i think obama is doing a decent job. other than these ridiculous stimulus plans :(
 
Big P

Big P

Well-Known Member
this opens the door to legalize weed in any state, now is the time, which state will grab this boondoggle of revenue first?


greed my freinds thier greed will work to our benifit for once:fire:
 
greenearth5

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
there is something about obama that makes me believe that he is a man of his word.... i was starting to wonder thou... but i didnt loose my trust in him... THANK YOU OBAMA!!!bongsmilie
 
greenearth5

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
Only the medical marijuana is approved at the moment and this is for the entire USA not just cali..... but its still illagle all over for recreational usage....althought cali does have a bill introduced to legalize marijuana recreationally

EDIT: its legal for orgeon, washington, hawaii, calirornia, and all the other states that i missed.....

Big P said:
so basically its legal in cali for real now, you got the presidents approval:bigjoint:
Click to expand...
 
natmoon

natmoon

Well-Known Member
The DEA are still raiding medical grows,they are totally ignoring your own president.
Dont be an ostrich,these are just 3 of 2,270,000 results for dea still raiding;-)
DEA Still Raiding: Is This The Last Gasp Of A Dying Policy?

January 23rd, 2009 By: Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director
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There may be a new president, but in DEA-land, it’s still business as usual — at least for the time being.
On Thursday, just two days after President Barack Obama was sworn into office, DEA officials raided the office of a California medical marijuana provider, as well as two medical grow houses in Colorado.
Is this behavior the final gasp of a dying regime, or an unfortunate harbinger of things to come? That could be up to you.
Several marijuana law reform groups, including Americans for Safe Access and MPP — as well as national media outlets — are urging concerned citizens to contact the new administration in opposition to the DEA’s actions.
Call or e-mail the White House and tell Obama’s staff that our new President must honor his campaign pledge not to use Justice Department resources to circumvent state medical marijuana laws.
In the coming months, President Obama and his team will be appointing new DEA administrators. Congress will also be holding additional hearings regarding Obama’s pick for U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. Let’s make it clear to the President, now, that the DEA’s behavior is unacceptable and must not continue under an Obama administration.
Let’s make yesterday’s raids the last acts of a morally and fiscally bankrupt federal policy. Act now.


DEA pot raids go on; Obama opposes

President vowed to end policy

Stephen Dinan and Ben Conery, THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Thursday, February 5, 2009


Buzz up!

Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign promises to stop the raids.
DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.
“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," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said.
Medical use of marijuana is legal under the law in California and a dozen other states, but the federal government under President Bush, bolstered by a 2005 Supreme Court ruling, argued that federal interests trumped state law.
Dogged by marijuana advocates throughout the campaign, Mr. Obama repeatedly said he was opposed to using the federal government to raid medical marijuana shops, particularly because it was an infringement on states' decisions.
“I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," Mr. Obama told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Oregon in March, during the Democratic primary campaign.
He told the newspaper the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."
Mr. Obama is still filling key law enforcement posts. For now, DEA is run by acting Administrator Michele Leonhart, a Bush appointee.
Special Agent Sarah Pullen of the DEA's Los Angeles office said agents raided four marijuana dispensaries about noon Tuesday. Two were in Venice and one each was in Marina Del Rey and Playa Del Ray -- all in the Los Angeles area.
A man who answered the phone at Marina Caregivers in Marina Del Rey said his shop was the target of a raid but declined to elaborate, saying the shop was just trying to get back to operating.
Agent Pullen said the four raids seized $10,000 in cash and 224 kilograms of marijuana and marijuana-laced food, such as cookies. No one was arrested, she said, but the raid is part of an ongoing investigation seeking to trace the marijuana back to its suppliers or source.
She said agents have conducted 30 or 40 similar raids in the past several years, many of which resulted in prosecutions.
"It's clear that the DEA is showing no respect for President Obama's campaign promises," said Dan Bernath, a spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, which advocates for medical marijuana and for decriminalizing the drug.
California allows patients whose doctors prescribe marijuana to use the drug. The state has set up a registry to allow patients to obtain cards allowing them to possess, grow, transport and use marijuana.
Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access, a medical marijuana advocacy group in California, called the raids an attempt to undermine state law and said they were apparently conducted without the knowledge of Los Angeles city or police officials.
He said the DEA has raided five medical marijuana dispensaries in the state since Mr. Obama was inaugurated and that the first took place on Jan. 22 in South Lake Tahoe.
"President Obama needs to keep a promise he made, not just in one campaign stop, but in multiple speeches that he would not be spending Justice Department funds on these kinds of raids," Mr. Hermes said. "We do want to give him a little bit of leeway, but at the same time we're expecting him to stop this egregious enforcement policy that is continuing into his presidency."
He said he is aware that Mr. Obama has not installed his own DEA chief but that new Attorney General "Eric Holder can still suspend these types of operations."
The Justice Department referred questions to the White House.



DEA still raids Medical Marijuana outlets, as if we did not have a new President

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February 4, 9:10 AM
by Kay Ebeling, LA City Buzz Examiner


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‘"I'm not going to use Justice Department resources to circumvent state laws on this issue.’ - Barack Obama, March 2008
On the day that Eric Holder was sworn in as the next U.S. Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided a medical marijuana dispensary in Los Angeles and possibly two others in the area, the ASA reports from Washington, D.C.
They never arrest anybody when they do these raids. but typical of such raids, money and medical marijuana were seized from the facility. The new head of the Department of Justice needs to respect existing medical marijuana laws and end federal raids in California and other states, say medical marijuana advocates.


Typical of such raids, DEA Agents leave with money and medical marijuana, they've seized from the dispensaries.
Now that we have a new confirmed Attorney General, sick people in California who use medical marijuana are pleading with our new President Barack Obama to end federal raids in California and in other states where the people have voted medical marijuana to be legal.
"I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users,’ Senator Barack Obama, August 2007
Then-Senator Obama stated in August 2007 that he "would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users...It's not a good use of our resources."
Then in March 2008 Obama commented "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue."

Advocates have been waiting in anticipation for the confirmation of a new U.S. Attorney General so President Obama can put his new medical marijuana policy into effect.
"As the new Attorney General, one of Eric Holder's top priorities should be to end these harmful raids on state-sanctioned medical marijuana providers," said Caren Woodson, Director of Government Affairs with Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's largest medical marijuana advocacy organization. "And, until a new head of the DEA is confirmed, Holder has a responsibility to cease the existing policy being carried out by Bush Administration officials."
 
Big P

Big P

Well-Known Member
greenearth5 said:
Only the medical marijuana is approved at the moment and this is for the entire USA not just cali..... but its still illagle all over for recreational usage....althought cali does have a bill introduced to legalize marijuana recreationally

EDIT: its legal for orgeon, washington, hawaii, calirornia, and all the other states that i missed.....
Click to expand...

ya true but really anyone with $80 and a "bad back" can smoke weed in cali
 
greenearth5

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
NATMOON: Those are all old articles and the facts in their do not pertain to today. Those are historical facts and were true a few months ago. But things have changed in the past few days and they will no longer be raided UNLESS they are a "front" for a different crime like sex slaves or meth or stolen cars... no body else is going to get raided for MEDICAL MARIJUANA... maybe recreational but not medical
 
natmoon

natmoon

Well-Known Member
greenearth5 said:
NATMOON: Those are all old articles and the facts in their do not pertain to today. Those are historical facts and were true a few months ago. But things have changed in the past few days and they will no longer be raided UNLESS they are a "front" for a different crime like sex slaves or meth or stolen cars... no body else is going to get raided for MEDICAL MARIJUANA... maybe recreational but not medical
Click to expand...
Actually the first article was last month and the others are dated on the 5th of this month,lol.
Also they will raid whoever they like and say that their was evidence of whatever they like.
They ignore your own president,in the words of your own norml director,and do what they like,they are a power unto themselves.
You seem to have the illusion of freedom confused with actual freedom.
Dont get me wrong i truly hope that the DEA will curl up and die but dont let the wool get pulled over your eyesbongsmilie
 
greenearth5

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
I think youre illusion is from watching to many cops episodes.. Obama strictly ordered the dea to stop the raids... the attorney general stated in a press conference today that they will stop... obama is fireing the head of the dea and replacing them with someone else.. those articles of yours are nearly a month old... this one is from today... check into your sources again and quiet acting dillusional

natmoon said:
Actually the first article was last month and the others are dated on the 5th of this month,lol.
Also they will raid whoever they like and say that their was evidence of whatever they like.
They ignore your own president,in the words of your own norml director,and do what they like,they are a power unto themselves.
You seem to have the illusion of freedom confused with actual freedom.
Dont get me wrong i truly hope that the DEA will curl up and die but dont let the wool get pulled over your eyesbongsmilie
Click to expand...
 
misshestermoffitt

misshestermoffitt

New Member
Natmoon, the article that Greenearth started this thread with was from today. This is todays news. Obama signed a measure on Feb 5 to end DEA raids on med states and today they went public with it.
 
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