Obama’s political left, who thought they had a champion for their causes, is not only disgusted with the President’s recent authorization for the U.S. military to attack Libya, but continues to be dismayed regarding Obama’s War on Drugs policies.
Marijuana legalization advocates say the president should be taking a harder stance on the issue. And, if you believe his promises on the campaign trail, why wouldn’t he?
Barack Obama voiced support for medical marijuana access, harm reduction programs, and the reform of mandatory minimum drug sentences. He also spoke out in favor of marijuana decriminalization during his time in the Illinois Senate.
As Daily Caller reports, officers from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) raided two medical marijuana dispensaries in West Hollywood, California on March 15, 2011. Similar DEA raids also swept through Montana and forced at least one business to close its doors. Image may be NSFW.
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Last year, DEA agents ignored a Mendocino County, California ordinance to regulate medical marijuana cultivation by raiding the very first grower to register with the sheriff. Joy Greenfield, age 70, had paid more than $1,000 for a permit to cultivate 99 plants in a collective garden that had been inspected and approved by the local sheriff.
These raids occurred despite that the Obama administration said it wouldn’t pursue cases against marijuana dispensaries that are legal under state law — which is the case in California, Montana, and 14 other states.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued a 2009 memo guiding authorities not to arrest or prosecute users of suppliers who are not breaking local laws. On the campaign trail, President Obama repeatedly promised not to waste federal resources interfering in states with laws protecting medical marijuana patients from arrest on the campaign trail. On March 28, 2008, for example, he told Southern Oregon’s Mail Tribune editorial board, “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.”
At DailyKos, one left-wing activist says, “Obama is going to once again re-double the military/law-enforcement angle that maintains the status quo, that supports illegal drug prices, that support the profits for drug trafficking …”
In short, Obama appears quite far from the truth of his promises on the issues surrounding drug policy.
Eighty percent of Americans support medical marijuana access, 75 percent believe that the War on Drugs has failed and cannot be won, and 75 percent also say that adults should be fined (but not jailed) for using marijuana recreationally.
President Obama continues his change agenda with a complete lack of change and — instead — a whole lot more of the same.
