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-- Obama Attorney General signals an end to cannabis club raids

Obama Attorney General signals an end to cannabis club raids

quote:

U.S. to yield marijuana jurisdiction to states (02-26) 20:00 PST San Francisco -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is sending strong signals that President Obama - who as a candidate said states should be allowed to make their own rules on medical marijuana - will end raids on pot dispensaries in California. Asked at a Washington news conference Wednesday about Drug Enforcement Administration raids in California since Obama took office last month, Holder said the administration has changed its policy. "What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy." Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group, said the statement is encouraging. "I think it definitely signals that Obama is moving in a new direction, that it means what he said on the campaign trail that marijuana should be treated as a health issue rather than a criminal justice issue," he said. Piper said Obama has also indicated he will drop the federal government's long-standing opposition to health officials' needle-exchange programs for drug users. During one campaign appearance, Obama recalled that his mother had died of cancer and said he saw no difference between doctor-prescribed morphine and marijuana as pain relievers. He told an interviewer in March that it was "entirely appropriate" for a state to legalize the medical use of marijuana "with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors." After the federal Drug Enforcement Agency raided a marijuana dispensary at South Lake Tahoe on Jan. 22, two days after Obama's inauguration, and four others in the Los Angeles area on Feb. 2, White House spokesman Nick Schapiro responded to advocacy groups' protests by noting that Obama had not yet appointed his drug policy team. "The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws" and expects his appointees to follow that policy, Schapiro said. The federal government has fought state medicinal pot laws since Californians voted in 1996 to repeal criminal penalties for medical use of marijuana. President Bill Clinton's administration won a Supreme Court case, originating in Oakland, that allowed federal authorities to shut down nonprofit organizations that supplied medical marijuana to their members. Clinton's Justice Department was thwarted by federal courts in an attempt to punish California doctors who recommended marijuana to their patients. President George W. Bush's administration went further, raiding medical marijuana growers and clinics, prosecuting suppliers under federal drug laws after winning another Supreme Court case and pressuring commercial property owners to evict marijuana dispensaries by threatening legal action. The Bush administration also blocked a University of Massachusetts researcher's attempt to grow marijuana for studies of its medical properties. Piper, of the Drug Policy Alliance, said he hopes Obama will reverse that position. "If you removed the obstacles to research," he said, "in 10 to 15 years, marijuana will be available in pharmacies." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/artic.../MN2016651R.DTL

wow look at that, already proving to be more of a libertarian than the last 4 republican presidents!

Thank the good Lord!

LETS NOT FORGET...

quote:

California: Assemblyman Introduces Measure To Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Proposal Will Raise Over $1.3 Billion Per Year, State's Tax Collection Agency Says San Francisco: State Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) introduced legislation this week to legalize and regulate the commercial production and sale of cannabis for adults age 21 or over. The proposal � Assembly Bill 390: The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act � is the first bill ever to be introduced in the California legislature that seeks to tax and control the sale of cannabis. Ammiano introduced AB 390 at a press conference Monday. Joining the assemblyman in support of the measure were Betty Yee, Chairwoman of the California Board of Equalization (Taxation), Oakland City Council member Rebecca Kaplan, Orange County Superior Court Judge James P. Gray (retired), and Dale Gieringer, Coordinator of California NORML, which provided legislative text and financial analysis for the bill. "With the state in the midst of an historic economic crisis, the move toward regulating and taxing marijuana is simply common sense," Ammiano said. "This legislation would generate much needed revenue for the state, restrict access to only those over 21, end the environmental damage to our public lands from illicit crops, and improve public safety by redirecting law enforcement efforts to more serious crimes. California has the opportunity to be the first state in the nation to enact a smart, responsible public policy for the control and regulation of marijuana." Local news anchors from CBS, ABC, NBC, and PBS television covered the press conference. National stories regarding Ammiano's bill have appeared in USA Today, as well as on Air America and CNN. As introduced, AB 390 would raise over $1.3 billion in annual revenue by taxing the retail production and sale of marijuana, according to financial estimates provided by the California Board of Equalization. An economic analysis by California NORML estimates that a legal, statewide retail market for cannabis could generate additional revenues totaling some $12 to $18 billion dollars per year. The noncommercial cultivation of marijuana for personal use � defined as ten plants or fewer � would not be subject to taxation under the proposal. In addition, AB 390 would not alter existing legislation on the use of medicinal cannabis, nor would it impose new taxes or sanctions on the medical cultivation of cannabis. A recent Zogby poll of 1,053 likely voters, commissioned by California NORML and Oaksterdam University, reported that nearly six out of ten respondents on the west coast favor taxing and legally regulating cannabis like alcohol. "This bill is a winning proposition for California taxpayers," Gieringer said. "It's time that California stops wasting resources trying to enforce marijuana prohibition, and instead realizes the tax benefits derived from a legal, regulated cannabis market." For more information, please contact Dale Gieringer, California NORML Coordinator, at (415) 563-5858, or Paul Armentano, NORML Deputy Director, at: [email protected]. Additional information on AB 390, as well as contact information for the California Assembly, is available at: http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/ale...ertid=12758896.

This makes perfect fiscal sense. Imagine the budget ramifications on a federal level...

stop the raids and start taxing the cannabis!

SWEEEEEET!!!

wow crazy.

i know if the US loosens its strangle on how illegal weed is, other countries will also legalize it or just make it a non punishable offense.

quote:

Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group, said the statement is encouraging.

"DPA exectuive director Terry Bongs and secretary Michael Joint also welcomed the news."

Fucking great news

quote:

Originally posted by Nerologic wow crazy. i know if the US loosens its strangle on how illegal weed is, other countries will also legalize it or just make it a non punishable offense.

It already is decriminalized in several states, California included. To legalize and tax it would be the next logical step.

when the feds aren't putting farmers and small business owners into prisons, a few good things happen... the marketplace becomes safer, cheaper, more efficient, more well-researched, less stigmatized and better understood. the state's most valuable cash crop becomes a source of public and private wealth rather than one of social burden. it is a shining example of obama's promise to ax government programs that don't work.

I was wrong about Obama. Seems like a cool guy after all.

Do I smell federal legalization?

quote:

Originally posted by mar46017 Do I smell federal legalization?

Not likely. Limited decriminalization and lack of enforcement of existing policies are more plausible.

quote:

Originally posted by Hypersky Not likely. Limited decriminalization and lack of enforcement of existing policies are more plausible.

You're probably right. Too many Federal Acts passed.

Nice timeline.

http://www.a1b2c3.com/drugs/mj005.htm

I didn't know Mexican immigrants were the ones to make it popular in the region.

I like this one...

1960s

Marijuana use popular in counterculture

A changing political and cultural climate was reflected in more lenient attitudes towards marijuana. Use of the drug became widespread in the white upper middle class.

Reports commissioned by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson found that marijuana use did not induce violence nor lead to use of heavier drugs. Policy towards marijuana began to involve considerations of treatment as well as criminal penalties.

quote:

Originally posted by mar46017 Do I smell federal legalization?

Never going to happen... It is much too valuable a tool for initiating a search of a vehicle or a person.

I smell some good Chiva.

quote:

Originally posted by Electrophile Never going to happen... It is much too valuable a tool for initiating a search of a vehicle or a person.

For a search of a person the officer must have reasonable suspicion as to the person carrying a weapon. Then they can stop and frisk for a weapon. (Terry Stop)

But ya, if they have a probable cause as to something in the car, then the whole car is fair game to search. (Automobile Exception)

Other exceptions:
Search incident to legal arrest: Can check the area around the wingspan of wear the person was.

Plain view - If the substance is in plain view and the officer at a lawful vantage point and it is apparent from the look that it is illegal.

Inventory search - If they legally tow or seize a vehicle and the jurisdiction has preset procedures to inventory everything in the car, or when they inventory whatever you have on you when you go to jail.

this is one of the greatest things ive ever read in my life.

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