As we discussed earlier, the Justice Department issued a statement after the passage of state laws legalizing marijuana that they would not affected federal enforcement. Obama officials also stated after the election (after being silent during the campaign) that marijuana policy would not change. Now, President Obama has given an interview that the federal government will not make enforcement a “priority” against recreational users. This is being billed as a major scope on “Obama’s pot problem.” However, there may be less than meets the eye here. He does not address the organizations and distributors of legal marijuana, which his Administration has cracked down on for the last four years. It also raises an interesting contradiction with other fields where Obama had insisted that matters are left to the Justice Department on questions of enforcement.
Obama told ABC “We’ve got bigger fish to fry . . . It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it’s legal.” His use of “recreational users” is telling. The state police generally goes after recreational users. The controversy for the last four years has been the Administration’s crackdown on distributors and growers who supply legal marijuana for medical use etc.
The statement also contradicts the statements of officials in the Administration. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Seattle (the highest Justice official in the state) issued a public warning after the election that “[r]egardless of any changes in state law, including the change that will go into effect on Dec. 6 in Washington state, growing, selling or possessing any amount of marijuana remains illegal under federal law. … Neither states nor the executive branch can nullify a statute passed by Congress.”
As I noted earlier that the Justice Department statement is a curious statement since the Obama Administration recently did precisely that in the immigration area — it declared that it would no longer enforce the express law with regard to certain illegal aliens. It also refused to defend such laws as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Moreover, the Justice Department routinely makes decisions on the allocation of resources and priorities. Likewise, soon after taking office, Obama notoriously went to the CIA and assured CIA employees that they would not be prosecuted for torture, even though he admitted that water boarding used is torture. The President’s statement would reflect that he is going that route, but only for recreational users.
He remains uncertain, however, on how he can refuse to enforce this federal law despite his promise not to prosecute torture at the CIA or refusal to enforce immigration rules: “This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law,” Obama said. “I head up the executive branch; we’re supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we’re going to need to have is a conversation about, How do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it’s legal?”
He can clearly make marijuana enforcement a non-priority and I agree with that move. Yet, such statements on “users” avoids the primary question. Will he continue his controversial policy of cracking down on distributors and growers in these states?
Source: ABC
Gene, we keep hearing that if guns were not available other means would be used, the built in presumption being that the same level of lethality would result. Here’s what happened in China today with a knife:
Man stabs 22 children at China primary school
“A man stabbed 22 primary school students in a knife attack in China on Friday, officials said, the latest in a series of assaults.
The attacker “has been detained”, said a spokesman for the Guangshan county government in the central province of Henan, where the stabbing happened.
“Twenty-two elementary school students were stabbed, so was an adult villager” but none of the victims died, the official, who declined to give his name, told AFP.”
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/14/man-stabs-22-children-at-china-primary-school/
This is an issue I am confronted with on almost a daily basis. Untreated mental health issues are one of the prime reasons for violent behavior in our society. The mental health system is broken. We now have a corporate mental health center system, and if a paranoid schizophrenic can even get admitted to a psychiatric hospital for homicidal/suicidal thoughts, they are unlikely to stay for more than three to five days. They get pills, not therapy, and are sent home, where they quit taking the pills.
I have seen every imaginable weapon used in murders. One of the two messiest ones were when a psychotic young man beat his father to death with a cast iron patio chair. The other was when two guys got into an argument in a pool hall and one of them took the pool cue by the small end and hit the other one in the head with the big end, after taking a full swing like a golf club.
This is a truly serious mental health issue, and instead of arguing about the weapons used let’s address the root cause: the dysfunctional mental health system in this country.
People do not just “snap” one day and decide to go on a killing spree. The Columbine killers planned their massacre for more than a year, just as an example. It is damn near impossible to get an appointment with a psychiatrist unless you have insurance. Same with psychologists. And mental health is the red-headed stepchild of the insurance industry. For the longest time, they would only pay at 50% what they reimbursed other health care, and that was only after a 20% deductible. Then managed care determined that any mental health problem could be fixed in six visits, and limited the patient to six visits a year. Now, the insurance panels are limiting the number of providers in a given area. “There are too many psychologists, so we will not approve you on our coverage panel.”
I had a discussion with a clinical psychologist this afternoon. She is an Army vet and knows more about PTSD than any adult has a right to know. She observed that blaming guns for what happened today is like blaming the pencil when you fail the math test.
Gene, you’re right in many respects. My anger about lack of effective gun control — and I would have more than less — comes on top of and secondary to you point about identification and treatment via adequate mental heal detection and services early on. I was directly involved in the followup of aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings. I know where lack of adequate systems and services leads.
“Here’s strict constitutionalism for you: you can own and bear any gun that existed in 1787. ” David Corn @ Mother Jones.
ok, I posted a real downer. Now time for an upper.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/12/12/cop-tucks-100-bill-into-broke-drivers-ticket/
Exactly what Gene said.
” The shooting in Norway was an anomaly. The shootings here have become regular.” David Corn
One thing you are neglecting here in talking about the school shooting is a rudimentary examination of what kind of killer this guy appears to be and what he had for armaments. First, he fits the classic model of a spree killer. Someone who is fine until, well, they aren’t. A stressor sets them in motion and you can’t control all the stressors in the world much less people’s individual reactions to them. Apparently getting fired with this guy’s tipping point. Secondly, nothing I’ve read indicates that he had anything other than legally available firearms or that they were obtained illegally (this is subject to change upon new evidence however). He had a Sig Saur, a Glock (probably both 9mm) and .223 hunting rifle. Not outrageous military or para-military weaponry. Many people use the Sig and Glock for self-defense and a .223 is a very common hunting rifle. There’s not even evidence yet as if he used extended magazines or not and as OS has demonstrated on several occasions, that’s less a real issue than a media issue because extended magazines tend to jam and expert shooters can out perform an extended magazine with practice.
No amount of regulation would have stopped this guy short of repealing the 2nd Amendment. Period. This doesn’t make a good case to argue for gun control. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s horrible that it happened to kids. I know you want to do something. However, simply make sure you’re doing the right thing.
It makes a great case for publicly available quality mental health care though. That is the only thing that could have provided a warning and a chance to stop this horrific episode. Early detection of pathology and early intervention are the only thing that would have avoided this.
I know you’ll want to apply emotion over reason.
Once again, that is going to give you the wrong answer to fixing what went wrong here. It wasn’t the guns. It was a broken and (I think) evil person. If he hadn’t had access to guns, he still could have done this or worse simply by setting the building on fire.
Fix the cause. To fix the cause, you must first identify the cause. The cause in this instance appears to be a spree killer. He’d have certainly used some other method if he hadn’t had access to guns.
Now all you emotional thinkers feel free to tell me what a b@stard I am.
In the end, the logic is irrefutable.
continuing OT for the moment, on the massacre:
No one should be able to understand this tragedy and what needs to be done on the gun control front better than Obama, with two young dayghters.
If he had an understanding and a commitment to the issue, he would be out in front AS WE SPEAK with strong definite challenges to take Federal action NOW
That he isn’t may speak to his lack of commitment to0 gun control and/or his tentative, perhaps cowardly nature.
“If laws controlled guns the way the NRA controls politicians, the US would be the safest country in the world.” Andy Borowitz
Wow.
Huckabee: Schools ‘A Place Of Carnage’ Because We ‘Systematically Removed God’
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/huckabee-schools-place-of-carnage-because-we-systematically
“Ladd Everitt, a spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, pushed back against the idea that the event is a vigil. Instead, according to Everitt, it’s about pressuring Barack Obama to take action on the issue.
“If you can’t speak out about the need for tough gun laws after a classroom of kindergartners are massacred, then you ain’t got it in ya,” Everitt says.” Daily Kos
bill m, Absolutely I am glad i voted for Obama. I just wish he would take a stand on some gun laws.
Many of the approaches to teaching kids about drugs and their effects are the in the vein of trying to dissuade adult abusers or addicts by cataloging the potential negative health effects.
Doesn’t work with adults and not so much with kids either. And fact is, the vast majority of negative consequences of use-abuse-addicition are unrelated to health, at least the dire health risks that are warned of.
Obama is worse than most other right-wingers. You know, the ones that like to threaten to privatize everything, but then “admit” there might be problems with some aspects of such a move —thereby scaring the bejesus out of a large number of people.
Attn: GOPers interested in 2016. Call for the legalization of freedom, and back that up with proposed legislation. Force the O wimp – Hillary, and all the rest to take a stand.
Hope you NPRers are still glad you voted for him.
Shano – I have a great bullshit detection rule – If an elected official is speaking, they are lying.
2 ot topics to share hot off the press
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13352-multiple-fatalities-reported-in-shooting-at-connecticut-elementary-school
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13347-oakland-police-ruling-judge-approves-deal-granting-himself-power-over-department
The prescription drug abuse kills more & more people every year. Marijuana is non toxic.
One would think the priorities are misplaced as to really dangerous drugs.
My sister used to teach the DARE program in Denver. She said that the lies in that program about marijuana made the kids skeptical about everything else she was offering.
She describes kids as having the very best bu11sht meters. When you lie to kids they don’t believe anything else you say.
That is the kind of propaganda the government has been using to try and brainwash kids- and everyone else- it has not worked, will never work.
We started questioning the federal government’s position that marijuana has no a proven medical use when we learned that the US government hold a patents on patent on certain medical products derived from cannabinoids.
Living in California, We immediately asked Feinstein about this and she got back with the government line; Pelosi has shown concern over the Justice Department’s actions; and Boxer has not responded.
it is time for the federal government to start to worrying about other crimes, such as the LIBOR swindle.