We discussed earlier how the top Justice Department attorney in Washington State said that the federal government would not yield to the state referendums legalizing marijuana use and possession. This followed a statement the day after the election that the Administration would not change their policy on targeting marijuana, including medical marijuana. However, a new Gallup poll shows an impressive 64 percent of Americans object to the enforcement in state legalizing or decriminalizing pot. Only 34 percent supported the continuation of the Obama policy.
What is fascinating is that even those who oppose legalization of marijuana still opposed the Obama policy by 43 percent.
The Obama policy for the last four years has been the subject of continual criticism. As on national security and civil liberties, Obama has not wavered from continuing and even expanding on the earlier Bush policies. The massive bureaucracy of police, prosecutors, and policy makers in the drug campaign have become something of a perpetual enforcement machine — relying on the proceeds of drug raids and seizures to support hundreds of thousands of jobs. In the meantime, we are giving criminal records to tens of thousands of people every year and clogging our courts with pot cases. This is a case where citizens are far more rational than their leaders. Yet, for four years Obama have refused to budge on the issue and, after these historic state measures, the Justice Department has said that it will not yield even in these states. This includes a highly misleading statement made by the U.S. Attorney in Washington state. The Administration has previously declined to enforcement certain immigration laws and can clearly redirect federal resources toward enforcement of more serious drugs. The Administration could have backed off of these raids and prosecutions at any time in the last four years and, according to statements after the election, is not inclined to do so in the second term. The question is how much pressure can brought to bear on Congress, particularly from states who want to tax marijuana which could bring in billions in new revenue.
santa
listen to bettykath. bring all brownies or cookies to pete in florida
thanks
shano, we are absolutely on the same page here.
oh sorry, it is a lichen- not a fungus
Santa prefers the to drink the urine of his reindeers who have been eating a psychedelic tundra fungus. The reindeer kidney purifies the drug.
Speculation that this is the origin of Santa has wide backing in Scandinavia.
Note to Santa; Don’t eat any of the brownies or cookies left out for you in Colorado or Washington state. : )
http://www.cosmeticsdesign.com/Formulation-Science/Cannabis-Science-develops-hemp-based-skincare-formulations
Notice this fact: they are developing lotion & creams to combat skin cancer made out of hemp cannabinoids.
Obama is a fool if he blocks any progress here.
Bill Maher says police should stop going after people who smoke marijuana and target pharmaceutical companies and doctors who peddle “the prescription sh-t.”
“One of the big problems with the Drug War is that it goes after the wrong drugs,” Maher wrote on Wednesday in a blog post. “Because of prescription abuse, drug-related overdoses have doubled nationally in the last decade.”
He added: “We should lay off the pot and start curtailing the pharmaceutical companies and doctors peddling the prescription sh-t.”
The host of “HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher” noted The Los Angeles Times’ November series that reported there were 3,733 deaths from prescription drugs between 2006 and 2011 in Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and San Diego counties — more than heroin or cocaine.
“Compare that to the number of deaths from OD’ing on marijuana, which was just one guy in the Valley who giggled to death,” Maher quipped.
Since the states of Washington and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana last month, politicos have weighed in on the topic — most recently former President Jimmy Carter, who supports the legislation. But it’s at odds with federal regulations, and federal authorities have indicated they will still enforce national laws. At a speech last night, Attorney General Eric Holder said a federal response on states’ legalization efforts could come within the next month.
Maher’s take? Authorities should focus on prescription abuse.
“Wouldn’t we be a lot better served asking our drug czar to stop worrying about the other drugs and focus instead on cleaning up this problem?” he asked
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2012/12/bill-maher-target-prescriptions-not-marijuana-84983.html#ixzz2EyBLYWk9
“WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing early next year on federal marijuana policy, the head of the committee said Thursday. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy said he intends to hold a hearing in light of recently passed state laws legalizing personal marijuana use. Given the fiscal constraints of federal law enforcement, Leahy asked in a letter to Office of National Drug Control Policy Director Gil Kerlikowske how the administration plans to use federal resources in light of new laws in Colorado and Washington State, as well as what recommendations the agency is making to the Department of Justice. He also asked the ONDCP director what assurances the administration can give to state officials to ensure they will face no criminal penalties for carrying out their duties under those state laws.”
There’s a way for the Obama administration to decriminalize medical marijuana without even involving Congress. The Controlled Substances Act, the 1970 law that governs federal drug policy, is based on a system known as “scheduling,” in which drugs are sorted into categories based on their potential for abuse and usefulness in medicine. Marijuana, along with the likes of heroin and DMT, is a schedule I drug, meaning it is judged to have a high potential for abuse and little medical value. By contrast, cocaine, oxycontin and PCP are all schedule II drugs, and can be prescribed.
Rulings on scheduling, however, are not permanent. Upon petition from private citizens, the DEA can initiate a process that results in a drug being rescheduled. In effect, that means that the attorney general can direct the DEA to act on a petition for marijuana rescheduling. In effect, Eric Holder could direct the agency to remove marijuana from the list of scheduled drugs, decriminalizing it for medical use federally.
I signed a White House. gov petition to reschedule marijuana. That petition made the number needed for a response, but nothing as of now. And then there was a little tidbit about Eric Holder saying there would be some sort of statement from Obama on the new laws passed in Colorado and Washington.
Mike’s got it right. Follow the money.
a new Gallup poll shows an impressive 64 percent of Americans object to the enforcement in state legalizing or decriminalizing pot. Only 34 percent supported the continuation of the Obama policy.
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the other 2% were too busy pigging out on moonpies to answer.
http://tarsandsblockade.org/judge-halts-construction/
A judge halted construction of the Keystone pipeline across a biofuel farm. Industrial hemp is the ultimate, the very best plant source for biofuels.
All of these issues are connected. Old industries, from oil to pharma, are clinging to their ‘guns and religion’ while Obama blocks all progress in the 21st Century.
http://www.motherjones.com/tom-philpott/2012/11/are-we-heading-toward-peak-fertilizer
Hemp is the only solution when we start to have fertilizer shortages. It would be better to get the plant into production before this crisis hits, but it will have to come sooner or later so people do not starve.
bettykath. I really believe that in the future there will be massive law suits on GMO corn, soybeans, and canola oil.
Health Insurance corporations will have statistical analysis showing the damage done to human health by these foods. I would not be surprised to see some government officials, like the head of the FDA , will be charged with collusion with Monsanto et al to damage human health for profits.
It is a terrible, horrible conspiracy. Bill Gates is on record saying these foods will limit population growth! Too bad he has so much money to back this harmful technology.
They spout about free markets yet they create a monopoly that is harming populations all over the world and the environment as well. While they make a more nutritious food plant illegal. It is collusion. Americans would be so much healthier if we put hemp seed in all processed food instead of GMO corn, soy, etc.
There would be no talk about Medicare going bankrupt. Right now, many medical doctors are advising their patients to stop eating GMOs. Funny, all those people get well when they banish these substances from their diet. This will only become more and more obvious….
Hickenlooper signed an executive decree pushing the legalization of personal marijuana in Colorado to begin today instead of January.
Smart men see the pointlessness of these laws.
Many over the counter drugs- antihistamines, aspirin, tylenol, nasal sprays- are more dangerous than marijuana.
The Governor simply does not want to waste any more time and money on trying to enforce unenforceable and unreasonable laws
As long as a Monsanto person is in charge of all farms and food we’re stuck with GMO and forget it being labeled.
W was more progressive than Obama on this issue.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/10/1309711/bill-clinton-joins-world-leaders-in-declaring-drug-war-failure/
World leaders call for an end to the War on Drugs ™. If Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter cannot persuade Obama then we know he is doing this for all the wrong reasons (and he does not need further campaign cash, does he?):
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton:
Obviously if the expected result was that we would eliminate serious drug use in America and eliminate the narco-trafficking networks, it hasn’t worked. […]
We could have fighting, killing over cigarettes if we made it a felony to sell a cigarette or smoke one. So we legalized it. If all you do is try to find a police or military solution to the problem, a lot of people die and it doesn’t solve the problem. […]
I think there should be safe places where people who have addiction could come, and not think they’re gonna be arrested and will have basic needs met. I have experience with this including personal experience. I have a brother who was addicted to cocaine, so I know a lot about this.
Former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso:
When I was in office in Brazil, of course I was aware of the situation of the drugs, but I was convinced that true repression would be possible to stop the production of drugs. But I was wrong at the time.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos:
I think a new approach, or at least to open up or break the taboo is what the world should do. There are many possibilities, including the possibility of legalizing drugs. Politically, I know that this has cost a lot. I have already incurred this cost. They have attacked me for saying what I am saying to you. But I don’t think politicians or leaders of any country can only say what people want to hear.
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (from the film’s web page):
Penalties against possession of a drug should not be more damaging to an individual than the use of the drug itself.
Former Colombian President Cesar Gaviria:
I personally fully disagree with the U.S. saying that they are being more successful just because they have more people in jail or because they have more sentences against traffickers than they had 20 or 10 or five years ago. That is not a good way to say that a policy is successful. … If they had less violence and less consumption, well that would be a success.
Former Swiss President Ruth Dreifuss:
I am sure that regulation by the state with very clear limitation is the solution.
Jorge G. Castañeda, former Foreign Minister of Mexico:
I think the war has created the situation. The situation did not create the war. The problem is that the Mexican military is not trained for this. It’s not trained for police missions. This is a police task and you’re asking it to fight a war it cannot win and it knows it is not winning. And so the military go in and they shoot. That’s what soldiers do. All of this has been going on now for 4 or 5 years and it’s getting worse and worse and worse.
Dr. Peter Moskos, criminologist and former police officer:
In the neighborhood I policed [in Baltimore], men who are born there have about a 12 percent chance of getting murdered in their lifetime. It seems like these problems are far more important than some sort of futile goal of creating a drug-free society. People should care more about all these deaths and by and large the vast majority are related to prohibition.
I would rather eat hemp seeds than corn. Now we see our government shilling for GMO corn all over the world. Using our Ambassadors and punishing nations who do not comply.
Then came the French study, and other independent studies showing GMO corn has serious adverse health effects. But still, in the ‘secret’ current farm bill, more support for GMO corn.
It will be interesting to see the legal cases in the future when people have a huge class action legal action against Monsanto for causing organ damage and infertility. Already, Keiser Permenente is warning members about GMOs in food.
Will the health insurance corporations have to sue Monsanto to bring down the health costs in their insured populations? It would not surprise me at all to see this in the future.
I do not see this in any other way than the government is picking winners and losers in this economy. Compared to corn or wheat, hemp seed is superior: highly nutritious, high concentrations of Omega 3 oils, does not need pesticides or herbicides or any chemical input in order to grow. It improves poor soils.
Hemp seed should be cheaper than corn as a basic food in America. It is not because of the government and that is the only reason.
Here is a petition protesting the current farm bill which should be stopped:
http://action.ewg.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=1999&tag=201212SecretFarmFB