The Audacity of Dope: Obama Breaks Medical Marijuana Promise
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The Prime Minister
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Obama is a sneaky ass dude. SMH
You can read the whole article here
On October 19, 2009, our hope was further bolstered with the issuance of formal written guidance (PDF) from the U.S. Justice Department related to medical marijuana.
The issuance of that guidance seemingly removed one of the last significant impediments to upstanding business entrepreneurs serving Colorado's suffering medical marijuana patients. A new industry started to form, creating jobs, paying taxes, and leasing vacant commercial space. The cobwebs began to clear from Colorado's dormant economy.
Then, on February 2, 2010, amid gasps from nearly the entire marijuana reform movement, medical marijuana patients, and other open-minded science-based thinkers, Obama formally nominated former Bush DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart, to head the Obama DEA.
Leonhart has a notorious career as a jack-booted administrator of the least successful government program in modern history, i.e. the Drug War, and has a fawning affection for the highest-paid DEA snitch of all time, Andrew Chambers, a criminal who has been found to have committed perjury by at least two federal appeals courts. Any hope that Obama would chart a new course on drug policy was dashed by this horrible nomination.
Only ten days after the Leonhart nomination, the belligerent Obama DEA dropped the equivalent of a nuclear bomb on Colorado's medical marijuana patients with an armed militarized raid on small-time home-based medical marijuana farmer Chris Bartkowicz. The day of this raid, the DEA Agent in Charge, Jeff Sweetin, declared open federal warfare on Colorado's entire nascent medical marijuana community.
"Technically, every dispensary in the state is in blatant violation of federal law," Sweetin told the Denver Post. "The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building and we arrest everybody. They're violating federal law; they're at risk of arrest and imprisonment."
Sweetin's apocalyptic declaration of war and threat to "arrest everybody" terrified Colorado's sick and suffering medical marijuana patients. The day after the raid, I filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility against the DEA agents involved in the raid. My complaint was quickly and decisively backed by U.S. Congressman Jared Polis.
To this date, months later, neither Congressman Polis nor myself have received any response to our pleas to the Obama administration to uphold its "American policy."
Although Sweetin eventually backed away from his full frontal declaration of war, and Obama sent him to Quantico, Virginia, Sweetin's words pale in comparison to what Obama's Justice Department had in store next.
On February 16, 2010, the U.S. Attorney for Colorado filed a criminal prosecution against Bartkowicz in federal court. Obama appointed John Walsh as U.S. Attorney, and Obama's hand-picked federal prosecutor further upped the ante, successfully requesting that the Court place a gag order on the Bartkowicz defense from even mentioning his intent to comply with Colorado state law at the jury trial.
The Obama Administration's court filings reveal that Bartkowicz faces a grotesquely disproportionate 20 years to life in prison only because he went on television to discuss what he believed were legal actions in growing medical marijuana.
Progress is being made against Marijuana Prohibition. Soon, this modern-day Prohibition will be as extinct as a saber tooth tiger. In the meantime, however, that cornered tiger still has sharp claws and long teeth that can destroy human life and freedom. Obama has done the opposite of what we thought, and what he promised. Instead of caging that tiger, he has unleashed it.
Colorado's medical marijuana community should fear the Obama Justice Department. An objective analysis reveals that, as far as Colorado medical marijuana is concerned, eight years of George W. Bush were better than one and a half years of Obama. Bush Justice did not prosecute a single Colorado medical marijuana grower or patient over eight years. Obama has conducted numerous medical marijuana raids and property forfeitures, and seeks to steal Chris Bartkowicz's youth from him. With Obama's term not even half over, there seems little "hope" for "change."
You can read the whole article here
On October 19, 2009, our hope was further bolstered with the issuance of formal written guidance (PDF) from the U.S. Justice Department related to medical marijuana.
The issuance of that guidance seemingly removed one of the last significant impediments to upstanding business entrepreneurs serving Colorado's suffering medical marijuana patients. A new industry started to form, creating jobs, paying taxes, and leasing vacant commercial space. The cobwebs began to clear from Colorado's dormant economy.
Then, on February 2, 2010, amid gasps from nearly the entire marijuana reform movement, medical marijuana patients, and other open-minded science-based thinkers, Obama formally nominated former Bush DEA Administrator Michelle Leonhart, to head the Obama DEA.
Leonhart has a notorious career as a jack-booted administrator of the least successful government program in modern history, i.e. the Drug War, and has a fawning affection for the highest-paid DEA snitch of all time, Andrew Chambers, a criminal who has been found to have committed perjury by at least two federal appeals courts. Any hope that Obama would chart a new course on drug policy was dashed by this horrible nomination.
Only ten days after the Leonhart nomination, the belligerent Obama DEA dropped the equivalent of a nuclear bomb on Colorado's medical marijuana patients with an armed militarized raid on small-time home-based medical marijuana farmer Chris Bartkowicz. The day of this raid, the DEA Agent in Charge, Jeff Sweetin, declared open federal warfare on Colorado's entire nascent medical marijuana community.
"Technically, every dispensary in the state is in blatant violation of federal law," Sweetin told the Denver Post. "The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building and we arrest everybody. They're violating federal law; they're at risk of arrest and imprisonment."
Sweetin's apocalyptic declaration of war and threat to "arrest everybody" terrified Colorado's sick and suffering medical marijuana patients. The day after the raid, I filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility against the DEA agents involved in the raid. My complaint was quickly and decisively backed by U.S. Congressman Jared Polis.
To this date, months later, neither Congressman Polis nor myself have received any response to our pleas to the Obama administration to uphold its "American policy."
Although Sweetin eventually backed away from his full frontal declaration of war, and Obama sent him to Quantico, Virginia, Sweetin's words pale in comparison to what Obama's Justice Department had in store next.
On February 16, 2010, the U.S. Attorney for Colorado filed a criminal prosecution against Bartkowicz in federal court. Obama appointed John Walsh as U.S. Attorney, and Obama's hand-picked federal prosecutor further upped the ante, successfully requesting that the Court place a gag order on the Bartkowicz defense from even mentioning his intent to comply with Colorado state law at the jury trial.
The Obama Administration's court filings reveal that Bartkowicz faces a grotesquely disproportionate 20 years to life in prison only because he went on television to discuss what he believed were legal actions in growing medical marijuana.
Progress is being made against Marijuana Prohibition. Soon, this modern-day Prohibition will be as extinct as a saber tooth tiger. In the meantime, however, that cornered tiger still has sharp claws and long teeth that can destroy human life and freedom. Obama has done the opposite of what we thought, and what he promised. Instead of caging that tiger, he has unleashed it.
Colorado's medical marijuana community should fear the Obama Justice Department. An objective analysis reveals that, as far as Colorado medical marijuana is concerned, eight years of George W. Bush were better than one and a half years of Obama. Bush Justice did not prosecute a single Colorado medical marijuana grower or patient over eight years. Obama has conducted numerous medical marijuana raids and property forfeitures, and seeks to steal Chris Bartkowicz's youth from him. With Obama's term not even half over, there seems little "hope" for "change."
Comments
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The Prime Minister wrote: »
"Technically, every dispensary in the state is in blatant violation of federal law," Sweetin told the Denver Post. "The time is coming when we go into a dispensary, we find out what their profit is, we seize the building and we arrest everybody. They're violating federal law; they're at risk of arrest and imprisonment."
Mr. Sweetin walked back that crazy-ass statement a few days later. Google "We are not declaring war on dispensaries". Also, if I recall, the dude in Colorado had more plants than he was licensed for. -
smh.
LET OUR PEOPLE SMOKE!
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man Im startin to feel like ? Obama more and more everyday, I aint voting for ? until weed is legalized. yes, feelings have been caught.
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One of the few things white and blacks get along with each other around, and the government thinks its bad and wont allow it....
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its over: 2012! wrote: »shut up you punk-bytch;
where's your cries of duplicate thread?
huh?........ -
Well this is disappointing, but I believe the trouble that this cause has is that while I'm not happy about this, I'm not anywhere near as angry about this as I was about the stimulus being too small, or the administration's foot dragging on getting rid of gitmo and DADT, or the healthcare bill having no public option, or the finance bill being a complete joke.
I know it's completely insane that alcohol is legal, plus doctors prescribe opiates and amphetamines every day, but we outlaw such a harmless plant, particularly one that can relieve pain and improve quality of life for sick people. I know this. But I just don't have any emotional investment in my opinion. I think we should legalize it, regulate it, and tax it, cause it would create (legal) jobs, decrease crime, and generate revenue, but for whatever reason, I'm not particularly worked up about it like I am most issues. I know quite a few others who are the same way. Til we get worked up, it seems pretty hopeless, even if the majority agree that the current policy is stupid. -
Swiffness! wrote: »Mr. Sweetin walked back that crazy-ass statement a few days later. Google "We are not declaring war on dispensaries". Also, if I recall, the dude in Colorado had more plants than he was licensed for.
If you do not click lanks then fine, but please read the entire article.
Word. -
smokelahoma wrote: »man Im startin to feel like ? Obama more and more everyday, I aint voting for ? until weed is legalized. yes, feelings have been caught.
As a herb user, I don't want weed to be legalized but I can say that Obama has bigger fish to fry so how this can even come back up for debate at this time, I don't know. -
Conscious__Nkechi wrote: »As a herb user, I don't want weed to be legalized but I can say that Obama has bigger fish to fry so how this can even come back up for debate at this time, I don't know.
Please elaborate..... -
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i like it being used in a Medical form, not being marketed like tobacco...
I don't want my ? tampered with by some company trying to make it addictive and ? but lessening the effect... nah i'm good. the little people want it, it belongs to the little people we should be allowed to regulate it ourselves without federal assistance...
^^
Add in the fact that it would then be taxed and who again benefits? The government.
No thanks. -
i like it being used in a Medical form, not being marketed like tobacco...
I don't want my ? tampered with by some company trying to make it addictive and ? but lessening the effect... nah i'm good. the little people want it, it belongs to the little people we should be allowed to regulate it ourselves without federal assistance...
so u think that people would quit growin weed just because its legal and regulated? yeah ? right. -
The user and all related content has been deleted.
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? medical marijuana just legalize the ? .
? , legalize all drugs I own my body and should be able to do with it as I please.
Drug War has done nothin but put black folks in jail, create a police state, and got a bunch of pigs nice overtime checks and the opportunity to play SWAT team. -
i like it being used in a Medical form, not being marketed like tobacco...
I don't want my ? tampered with by some company trying to make it addictive and ? but lessening the effect... nah i'm good. the little people want it, it belongs to the little people we should be allowed to regulate it ourselves without federal assistance...
couldnt you just easily buy from a company that doesnt tamper with it? like organic food? wouldnt a company just easily carve out niche market of untampered weed? like with alcohol you have a choice of national brands or microbreweries. -
Conscious__Nkechi wrote: »^^
Add in the fact that it would then be taxed and who again benefits? The government.
No thanks.
yeah well, the gov't would hopefully not use the money on dumb ? , and pay off debts, fix roads,etc., stop throwing people in jail for possession, and who benefits from that? you. -
Decriminalize weed >> legalize weed
I'm not a smoker btw. -
major pain wrote: »Decriminalize weed >> legalize weed
I'm not a smoker btw.
Decriminalize = It's bad, but Im going to look the other way
Legalize = Do what you want that ? is on you! -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Decriminalize = It's bad, but Im going to look the other way
Legalize = Do what you want that ? is on you!
Not exactly. I think small personal amounts shouldnt land someone in jail. The real pushers though usually are not only selling just weed. If you running around with bricks of the ? most likely you are doing something worst than that. -
major pain wrote: »Not exactly. I think small personal amounts shouldnt land someone in jail. The real pushers though usually are not only selling just weed. If you running around with bricks of the ? most likely you are doing something worst than that.
Everything else gets sold in this country without everyone killing each other over it. The only reason the illegal drug trade is so violent is because it is illegal. If PS3's were made illegal tomorrow and guarantee ? heads would be gettin knocked off behind them shitz. That ? needs to be legalized and let people decide what to do with their bodies. The only people it will hurt the worst is (a) The Prison Industrial Complex (b) The Police State (c) Organized Crime, Cartels, and Street gangs.
Now if the govt wants to set up programs to attack it as a public health issue then go right ahead. Go at the demand not the supplier. -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »Everything else gets sold in this country without everyone killing each other over it. The only reason the illegal drug trade is so violent is because it is illegal. If PS3's were made illegal tomorrow and guarantee ? heads would be gettin knocked off behind them shitz. That ? needs to be legalized and let people decide what to do with their bodies. The only people it will hurt the worst is (a) The Prison Industrial Complex (b) The Police State (c) Organized Crime, Cartels, and Street gangs.
Now if the govt wants to set up programs to attack it as a public health issue then go right ahead. Go at the demand not the supplier.
I hear you, I just dont agree. Just my .02. -
CAnt have the govt regulating the THC and taxing the ? outta of us. Decriminalize, not sure about legalize
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It gets worse baby!!!!!!!!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/10/15/eric-holder-to-prosecute-_n_764153.html
Eric Holder To Prosecute Distribution, Possession EVEN IF Prop. 19 Passes........
SAN FRANCISCO — Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if voters next month make the state the first in the nation to legalize the drug.
The Justice Department strongly opposes California's Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday.
"We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote.
The attorney general also said that legalizing recreational marijuana in California would be a "significant impediment" to the government's joint efforts with state and local law enforcement to target drug traffickers, who often distribute marijuana alongside ? and other drugs.
He said the ballot measure's passage would "significantly undermine" efforts to keep California communities safe.
The ex-DEA chiefs sent a letter to Holder in August calling on the Obama administration to sue California if Proposition 19 passes. They said legalizing ? presented the same threat to federal authority as Arizona's recent immigration law that spurred a federal lawsuit.
If California voters approve the ballot measure, the state would become the first to legalize and regulate recreational ? use. Adults could possess up to one ounce of the drug and grow small gardens on private property. Local governments would decide whether to allow and tax sales of the drug.
The state has clashed with federal authorities over marijuana since 1996, when voters approved a first-of-its-kind ballot measure that allowed people to grow and use ? for medical purposes. Thirteen other states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana.
Under federal law, marijuana is still strictly illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government has the right to enforce its ban regardless of state law.
Story continues below
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During the Bush administration, retail ? dispensaries across the state faced regular raids from federal anti-drug agents. Their owners were sometimes sentenced to decades in prison for drug trafficking.
Yet the medical marijuana industry still grew, and has expanded even more since Holder said last year that federal law enforcement would defer to state laws on using it for medicinal purposes.
Some legal scholars and policy analysts have questioned how much the Justice Department could really do on the ground to halt a state-sanctioned recreational ? trade.
Nearly all arrests for marijuana crimes are made at the state level. Of more than 847,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2008, for example, just over 6,300 suspects were booked by federal law enforcement, or fewer than 1 percent.
Los Angeles County's top law enforcers said Friday the federal government would still have help from them regardless of the vote's outcome on Proposition 19.
County Sheriff Lee Baca and District Attorney Steve Cooley said at a news conference that the law would be unenforceable because it is trumped by federal laws that prohibit marijuana cultivation and possession.
"We will continue as we are today regardless of whether it passes or doesn't pass," Baca said. His deputies don't and won't go after users in their homes, but public use of the drug will be targeted, he said.
A spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown declined to comment on how the Democratic gubernatorial candidate would respond as governor to a federal crackdown if Proposition 19 passes.
"We have to win and it has to pass before we get to answering that question," spokesman Sterling Clifford said. Brown is opposed to Proposition 19.
Meg Whitman's campaign did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. During a recent debate, the Republican candidate for governor reiterated her strong stance against legalizing ? .
"I think this is not the right thing for our young people. It's not the right thing for our community of citizens of California, but don't ask me. Ask law enforcement."
----Hope and change my ass!
Welcome to Obama's America, George W. Bush Part Deux. -
some_darc_obama wrote: »CAnt have the govt regulating the THC and taxing the ? outta of us. Decriminalize, not sure about legalize
Your going to get taxed regardless. If you pay for it from a drug dealer the price is inflated to abnormal proportions due to the risk he has to go thru to supply you. If its legal, yeah the govt will always figure out a way to tax something especially a "sin tax" but ? it. It is what it is. Atleast you would be able to grow your own and not have to worry about SWAT coming in and tearing up your home and throwing you in prison like they did this old cat that live down here a few weeks ago. -
bornnraisedoffCMR wrote: »? medical marijuana just legalize the ? .
? , legalize all drugs I own my body and should be able to do with it as I please.
Drug War has done nothin but put black folks in jail, create a police state, and got a bunch of pigs nice overtime checks and the opportunity to play SWAT team.
Exactly why marijuana should be legalized right now. Weed being legal, more than anything, would revitalize the economy and bring in much needed jobs to a world that badly needs them. Mexico's past presidents have said this, so have past Jamaican presidents......so is Obama, whose country is 13 trillion in debt, not willing to open his mind on this?
? , this nation is ? in the long run. We're broke and we have no ways to pump up the revenue. Except by stealing resources from Arabs around the world of course.
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