Obama Says He'll Stop DEA Medical Pot Raids

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 10:36:17 AM EST
Tags: medical marijuana, marijuana reform (all tags)

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Finally, we get an answer from President Obama on the recent DEA medical marijuana raids in California. And, it's the right answer.

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.

It's good to know President Obama will keep his campaign promise. Now, the question I have is, will AG Eric Holder file federal criminal cases against those busted after Obama's inauguration? The DEA's first post-inaugural raids were reported here.

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Obama Says He'll Stop DEA Medical Pot Raids | 44 comments (44 topical)

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What is up... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by kdog on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 10:40:16 AM EST

with the WH saying it "expects" those raids to end? What is up with the fuzzy language? I'd expect them to say these raids will end effective immediately.

You campaigned on it O...just do it and don't give us none of this "expects" crap. If the DEA doesn't obey, disband the mofo.

"Expects" is (none / 0) (#2)
by scribe on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 10:53:40 AM EST

government employee dog-whistle talk for "the Boss is unhappy and you'd do well to comply with his desires going forward. If you want to keep your job. And that means the chain of command had better get active in enforcing his desires."

It also implies that no one will be fired over this. Which, IMHO, is too bad. There is no doubt in my mind that any DEA supervisor in the affected areas would have known about Obama's promise, and it's clear this was an example of them being insubordinate to see what reaction they get.

Butt out on sidewalk would be a very effective message.


Um... (none / 0) (#3)
by jbindc on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:20:17 AM EST

even though they are Bush holdovers, don't they work for him now? All he has to do is say STOP NOW.

This is weaselly, but not surprising.


: lol (1.00 / 0) (#23)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:59:48 PM EST

Nice to see you are hard at work.

An interesting article... (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:31:52 AM EST

...on all things related to medical marijuana in Colorado can be found here.

Included is this tid-bit...

"We are investigating some dispensaries throughout this region," Sweetin says, without giving specifics. "The DEA investigates large, well-organized, well-funded organizations. Some of these dispensaries rise to that level." Sweetin is concerned that elements of the medical marijuana scene are tied up with organized crime, in part because Amendment 20 doesn't include rules about where dispensaries can buy their pot.

Some here will especially enjoy the slide show that accompanies the article...

Informative.... (none / 0) (#7)
by kdog on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:45:46 AM EST

I can't wait till my state gets on the ball and I can walk into a legal dispensary to make a purchase...what a feeling that must be!

Still charging exorbitant black market prices I see...but that's cool, nothing both the sick and the recreational user isn't used to. Getting the man and the threat of arrest off their backs, even if only in part, is priceless.


if people could just grow their own... (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Dadler on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:54:24 AM EST

...I gotta believe more than a few little urban farms would spring up, and the rural ones, shoot, they'd be off the charts. Hemp me, Rhonda, hemp hemp me Rhonda...


It's the new Gold Rush... (none / 0) (#8)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:53:13 AM EST

...my friend. There's money to be made in those tasty little nuggets!

Speaking of the threat of being arrested, this is encouraging.

The war is far from over, but at least there are some battles being won.


You just gave me a great idea... (none / 0) (#13)
by kdog on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 12:31:49 PM EST

for an economic stimulus plan...criminalize the goods produced by any industry that is struggling...the prices will go through the roof and profitability will soar!

And with millions more new criminals, the jailers and cops and lawyers will have plenty of work.

Not like we give a damn about personal liberty and freedom anyway right? Might be worth a shot:)


: When cars are outlawed... (none / 0) (#14)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 12:47:40 PM EST

...only outlaws will have cars?
I think that would be one area were I would stand a good chance of being a fine, upstanding law-abiding citizen.
Not that I'm not already, of course.

Wow (none / 0) (#24)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 02:02:24 PM EST

I feel healed just looking at the pics.. nice.


: They are mighty pretty! (none / 0) (#34)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 06:47:28 PM EST

I can almost smell them now. And, ain't one of the bunch from the nafarious Mexican drug cartels either.
Good ol' Made in Colorado stuff.

He's potus, can't he just say "stop?" (5.00 / 0) (#6)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:39:03 AM EST

: exactly (none / 0) (#11)
by Turkana on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 12:18:47 PM EST

"expects" them to end, once he has his own dea? how about just ending them?

Closing DEA (5.00 / 2) (#10)
by TChris on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:57:31 AM EST

would be the ideal solution. Let the FBI handle drug crime. Creating a separate law enforcement agency for drug enforcement, when so many other agencies investigate drug crime anyway, was just a bad idea.

True, but it made folks a LOT of Money (none / 0) (#16)
by tokin librul on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:02:59 PM EST

paid for a lot of pigs on the street...

got'em some pretty cool cars, too...

you just gotta understand the real constituency of these things...


Smart idea (none / 0) (#18)
by Socraticsilence on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:10:01 PM EST

Horrendous politics- If we learned anything last year its that you don't set a limit to how low the GOP will go, and the first AA president shutting down the DEA will give them the wedge they need to paint Obama as a crackhead or something similarily racist. I'd push Obama to just embrace federalism- stop enforcing federal drug laws in areas where said laws are in effect voted down- embrace community deprioritization legislation as an excuse to shift DEA resources to border interdiction and rehabilitation (I would say shutting down meth which I've seen ravage people, but its nearly as ubiquitous and accessible as pot).


: Let the GOP paint.... (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by kdog on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:15:45 PM EST

the "I can't do the right thing because I'm black" defense ain't cutting the mustard.

I used to translate for our local police (none / 0) (#25)
by jeffinalabama on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 02:18:31 PM EST

sheriff's department, and even the state police in my area, gratis, because there were many Spanish-speaking people getting questioned or arrested for a variety of reasons. I don't do so any more.

I was called in to translate for the state police, but then two DEA agents showed up. Their conduct was horrible. I have met quite a few DEA agents, and from this admittedly small sample, I have met not a one that I thought was a good law enforcement officer. Cowboys? yes. Thugs? yes. Law enforcement? not from my small sample.

Fold the DEA into ATF, get rid of the cowboys, and follow TChris's idea-- get rid of this agency. Plenty of law enforcement is out there working on drug cases.

Heck, there are enough interagency task forces, I would think, to do the job.


Wisconsin Medical Marijuana legislation (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by Ben Masel on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 12:27:35 PM EST

Meet with sponsor tomorrow to draft language, he wants to use Michigan's as a template.

I'm expecting we'll see a floor vote in the Assembly by May, with very good prospects of passage. Gov. doyle's indicated he won't help in the legislature, but will sign any bill they pass.

When This Announcement Was Made (5.00 / 1) (#22)
by kaleidescope on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:41:16 PM EST

You could practically hear all of Humboldt County (where I live) give a sigh of relief.

Very Cool! (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by Jackson Hunter on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 05:21:59 PM EST

I can be very hard on Pres. Obama, but I will give credit where credit is due, and it seems like he is doing the right thing here. It does seem that he is serious about ending this policy, and I give him a big (green) thumb's up! ;)

Jackson

: Serious... (none / 0) (#42)
by kdog on Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 08:43:17 AM EST

would be Obama saying "mark my words America, this will not happen again as long as I am president." That's serious.
What he's doing is the old Potamac two-step..."expecting" this sh*t to end. Then when it happens again next week, he'll say he "expected" this to stop by now, and when it happens again in 2 weeks he'll say he's forming a blue-ribbon panel to figure out why his "expectations" aren't being met and next thing you know 4-8 years have gone by, chaining people and destroying perfectly good crops the whole while.

Come on (none / 0) (#4)
by SOS on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 11:24:52 AM EST

spring

Maybe it's as hard... (none / 0) (#17)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:05:02 PM EST

...as not using profanity in your post?

I'd like to continue to be able to get TL at work, so please don't do that.

Breaking News (none / 0) (#20)
by Saul on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:20:28 PM EST

SC justice Ginsburg hospitalized for pancreatic cancer

pres. obama needn't (none / 0) (#21)
by cpinva on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 01:39:22 PM EST

wait for anyone. all that needs be done is the word is passed down, to whoever is currently in charge of the DEA. if they choose not to follow "the word", they quickly find themselves in the unemployment line.

that's why the pres. gets paid the big bucks.

It ain't over 'til its' over. (none / 0) (#26)
by SeeEmDee on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 02:18:54 PM EST

Obama's gonna have to have some heavy clout to force the DEA to heel. They'll have their 'concerned parents group' cat's-paws start shrieking hysterically about "The chidren! The children! SAVE THE CHILDREN!!!" if he gets the idea to start cutting DEA's budget to curb their predations.

But what really needs to happen is that the issue of drug prohibition and it's myriad effects upon society (race relations, national finance, civil liberties, etc.) needs to be debated in a serious fashion; no more 'titter factor' and cute digs at stoners in the media when people's lives are being destroyed, some quite literally.

That has to happen before any real progress can be made, because so long as the drug prohibitionists can hide in their ivory towers and offices without having to justify the insanity publicly by debating a drug law reformer armed with the facts (like the racist origins of the DrugWar) the madness will continue.

I wouldn't hold your breath (none / 0) (#27)
by Patrick on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 04:15:03 PM EST

The California Supreme Court ruled in (People v. Wright, 2006 Cal. LEXIS 14989 (Cal., Dec. 20, 2006) that these clubs were outside the law. So the resources would not be circumventing state law.

Not Out Of Work Yet? (none / 0) (#28)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 04:20:39 PM EST

Well go bust em..

Anyway in all seriousness I thought you posted some time ago that the state was not going after medical MJ, has that changed?


LOL! (5.00 / 2) (#30)
by Jackson Hunter on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 05:24:19 PM EST

I can't help it Squeaky, look at the time stamp on your post. Sorry for the OT, but it was to easy to ignore. :)

Jackson


Don't Get It (none / 0) (#31)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 05:32:24 PM EST

Sorry I must be missing something obvious but I do not see why the time stamp on my comment is of note.


4:20. (5.00 / 1) (#32)
by Jackson Hunter on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 05:36:40 PM EST

It is a common code for weed, sorry for not being clear.

Oh (none / 0) (#33)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 05:48:48 PM EST

Never knew that, interesting


I think the time stamp is time-zone dependent. (none / 0) (#35)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 06:57:31 PM EST

Says 1:20 to us out here in CA.


My time stamps... (none / 0) (#36)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 07:11:53 PM EST

...are EST and I'm in MST, so it said 4:20 for me.

Maybe it's browser dependent?


: tweakable Preference within Talkleft (none / 0) (#38)
by Ben Masel on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 07:57:18 PM EST

First "User preferences," then "Interface."

They aren't going after (none / 0) (#37)
by Patrick on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 07:57:13 PM EST

legitimate medical MJ, but they are saying enough with regards to the rampant abuse. Google Mendocino County and medical MJ and see they trouble they've been having.


Democrats and State's Rights (none / 0) (#39)
by diogenes on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 09:10:24 PM EST

It's nice to know that the Democrats are firm supports of States' rights as opposed to this federalism stuff.

Poor Michael Phelps (none / 0) (#40)
by weltec2 on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 10:20:50 PM EST

our swimming hero just trying to get a bong with others... busted. Of all the silly nonsense. One of our Sumo champions here in Japan had the same difficulties with the authorities.

: Horrible (none / 0) (#41)
by squeaky on Thu Feb 05, 2009 at 10:51:20 PM EST

When the authorities are our to cash in.
Billie Holiday was hounded by the federal narcotics police because she was famous. They cashed in on her fame.
I
n 1947, at the height of her career, Billie was "a sometimes addict" being hounded cross-country by federal narcotics police. She was making about $50,000 a year, and keeping next to none of it. At the time, she was living with another "hop head," the trumpeter Joe Guy. She and Guy eluded an attempt to arrest them in Philadelphia, but a couple of weeks later, in New York, a small amount of his heroin was found by law enforcers outside the window of their room at the Grampion Hotel.
Holiday wasn't present and wasn't charged, but was held anyway, as a material witness. Under questioning, she took responsibility for the drugs that had been found in their hastily vacated Philadelphia hotel room, thus sparing Guy. Disdaining a lawyer--on advice of the same manager who'd sold her out to the Bureau of Narcotics--she was in a courtroom within hours to enter a guilty plea, asking only that the judge send her to a hospital for treatment.
n fact, Holiday was never the hope-to-die heroin addict she was made out to be. Cannabis and alcohol were truly her drugs of choice.
She could no longer sing in places that sold alcohol. THat change her career to only concert work, No more bars and nightclubs.
Eventually did her in, imo.

now, if we could just get DARE out of the schools (none / 0) (#43)
by coigue on Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 01:57:20 PM EST

Jeez that program is useless.

That's for sure (none / 0) (#44)
by diogenes on Fri Feb 06, 2009 at 08:00:22 PM EST

DARE is useless. Better to spend police time catching real crooks, whoever they are.


: DARE is money spent on useless platitudes (none / 0) (#45)
by coigue on Mon Feb 09, 2009 at 01:01:54 PM EST

that kids mock as soon as they reach 12 or 13.