Comments on: Holder Says No More Federal Medical Marijuana Raids

By: San Diego Flowers

San Diego Flowers — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 20:34:47 +0000

About time to legalize all of it and stop wasting tax payer’s dollars on jailing drug dealers.

By: nemo

nemo — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:23:54 +0000

I consider this as only being a bow to the obvious. The Treasury is busted, the currency inflated, our foreign creditors won't lend anymore until we get our economic house in order, and that means some cuts in Gub'mint 'services' will have to be made. And one such 'service' should be the DrugWar as it is presently waged. A politically safer move to make now, given that only a very few people (cops, judges, prosecutors, prison builders, etc.) actually benefit from it, while everybody else pays for it. When Joe Sixpack is staring at a pink slip, and is wondering how he's going to feed and house his family, he's not going to want to hear some fat-cat bureaucrat saying that he can't have the money he needs in unemployment insurance because it's already allocated to 'save the children from drugs!' This could be the first step in a gradual drawing down of the DrugWar, using an economic reason as cover to counter the inevitable screeching that one may expect from the sado-moralists. The same thing happened during alcohol Prohibition; seeing as history does tend to repeat itself, we may be seeing the same process in operation yet again...

By: Ruffle Bikini

Ruffle Bikini — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:18:36 +0000

This and stem cell research being back on the table are good news. Printing a trillion dollars, not such good news. Glad you could find the good in this early administration though.

By: markm

markm — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 03:01:12 +0000

Not until it’s backed by action.

And meanwhile, Holder is lying about guns in Mexico to try to justify a new “assault weapon” ban. That is, he is saying that Mexican drug gangs with full-auto weapons and grenades, in which the legal trade in the USA has been regulated to almost non-existence ever since 1934, requires banning semi-auto rifles in the USA.

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 01:52:32 +0000

Shouldn’t this announcement move the liberty meter a bit?

By: Phelps

Phelps — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:38:19 +0000

The raids have continued at the same pace since he was sworn in, and all we have heard is talk. I'll believe him when the actions change. BHO is the king of telling people what he thinks they want to hear, and then going along with business as usual.

By: Andy Craig

Andy Craig — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:13:19 +0000

Note that Federal raids in states without medical marijuana laws will continue. So this isn’t even as federalist as some people are making it out to be- people in California still have to subsidize the drug war, including against marijuana patients, in Arkansas.

A step in the right direction, though.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 21:21:10 +0000

#20 They’re smart enough to realize that putting the AWB back up will mean loss of their majority in 2010. Democrats have finally gotten the word (mostly) that gun control laws are political suicide.

By: InFrequently Asked Questions

InFrequently Asked Questions — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:10:07 +0000

Obama To End Federal Raids On Medical Marijuana Clinics…

The DEA will stop raiding dispensaries and clinics that provide medical marijuana in states where it has been legalized. How will the drug warriors explain why the world does not end in a spectacular ball of sulfur, hellfire and brimstone?

…

By: TC

TC — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 16:52:53 +0000

But the fucker is gonna come for your guns and ammo!

By: B

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:30:41 +0000

I’m happy to hear Holder say this, to be sure.

However, the first few weeks of the Pax Obama have certainly reinstated my default position of “I will believe it when I see it.” So I’ll be keeping my dick out of mouths and side dishes for the moment, and hoping for the best.

By: Speaking Of Federalism And Freedom | QandO

Speaking Of Federalism And Freedom | QandO — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:27:08 +0000

[...] Radley Balko says: It’ll be interesting to see if this tiny bit of federalism will hold should some states or cities decriminalize or even legalize marijuana entirely. [...]

By: djbeefhart`

djbeefhart` — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 08:42:01 +0000

your link got drudged – nice work!

By: Cynical In CA

Cynical In CA — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:24:30 +0000

Chris K: “So lets not go sucking each others dicks just yet gentlemen”

Winston Wolf, Pulp Fiction

By: Andrew

Andrew — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 05:11:29 +0000

Obama is probably just marshaling the manpower for gun raids.

Those cancer patients are pushovers what with their wheelchairs and crutches. A guy with a rifle is a much tougher nut to crack.

By: Chuchundra

Chuchundra — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 03:29:45 +0000

FYI, both Pelosi and Reid oppose reinstituting the AGW ban.

By: Credit Where Due: Obama Pulling Back in the War on Drugs Citizens? « ricketyclick

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 02:38:18 +0000

[...] The Agitator, Radley [...]

By: chance

chance — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:14:20 +0000

@ParatrooperJJ,

Unless the law specifies that the DEA must raid clinics, it is well within the power of the POTUS to prioritize tasks and determine how the DEA will use its resources.

By: Helmut O' Hooligan

Helmut O' Hooligan — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 00:06:08 +0000

#15 nobahdi:
Thanks. I was just too lazy to look that up.

By: Rhayader

Rhayader — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:26:12 +0000

Interesting announcement, particularly in light of Ammiano’s recent proposal to legalize it. This surely isn’t then end-all be-all, but I feel like momentum is starting to head in the right direction.