Obama justice department to take legal action vs CO & WA over pot?

[jcgoldie]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/us/marijuana-initiatives-in-2-states-set-federal-officials-scrambling.html?_r=0

Marijuana is a minor issue in the grande scheme of things in my opinion... but I'll be disappointed if the Obama administration pursues this aggressively and especially if they bring federal suits against low level users to set a precedent.

[geek tragedy]

1. Ugh, really crappy move on every level.

Pot possession shouldn't be a federal offense.

[AnotherMcIntosh]

2. Since Holder is not going after banksters, he has to do something with his time.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. It's a great chance for Obama and Holder to look like pitiful atavistic clowns in support

of laws that are enforced along harshly racist lines.

[Scuba]

4. The article lists multiple options for actions by the feds, none of which include "get real".

BHO will indeed piss off a lot of his supporters if DOJ interferes with the States on this.

Among the options missing from the article are Congress legalizing weed and the President directing DOJ's resources elsewhere.

[dmosh42]

5. This is the only issue Holder can handle!

[RomneyLies]

6. From a policy standpoint, this presents an opportunity to concentrate on cocaine and meth

and drop all efforts at going after pot on any basis other than large organized criminal efforts.

This would be a logical move that would do far more good than going after medical pot or pot that is legal at the state level.

Which means it probably won't be done

[obama2terms]

7. He has to say this

A president can't simply say I think pot should be legal does anyone know how much crap he would get for that? Although I hope they don't go after this, the people in those 2 states voted yes and they should get what they voted for.

[marlakay]

8. I had no idea about Joe until today

I read he is the reason Obama won't change...

We need to find a way to bypass the guy...

[musiclawyer]

9. Catastrophic move if the Feds do anything

other than say they will enforce Fed law on Fed Property.

Anything more and POTUS pisses away all his good will with the majority of his base.

There goes any chance of getting a Dem house in' 14 even with filibuster reform.

There goes all gains made securing the youth vote for the next generation.

The fickle young voters will equate a crackdown as there being no difference between the DEMS and GOP. That IS a catastrophe. We fought hard for 12 years trying to prove that there is a difference, at least for those here on home soil.


Don't be a fucking idiot POTUS. YOU could easily have been ensnared in a drug raid when you were a kid. And there would have gone your chances at being POTUS

If every working professional in the USA/ contributing members of society sends a letter to Joe Biden and POTUS and says "here, I have smoked weed at some point , come arrest me if you consider me a criminal" this nonsense would be over.

[union_maid]

10. It doesn't seem to be about what we might think it's about.

This article addresses some of the international complications that arise from trying to make these changes to our domestic laws.

http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/mexico/2012/11/legal-marijuanas-impact-on-mexico.html

There are good links in there, too. Particularly interesting and surprisingly easy to follow is the one to the NY Bar Association report on the issue.

I think that pushback is good and important, if this issue is a big deal to you. I would never decide that Obama or his administration was the enemy because they weren't doing what I want on one particular issue, but campaigning for your issues is what makes for change, not just electing a certain set of people. That said, if it's all that important to you, it's probably smart to educate yourselves as thoroughly as possible as to what, exactly the issues are. That would likely make it easier to be effective.