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In reply to the discussion: Obama has become more hostile to medical marijuana patients than any president in U.S. history [View all]ProSense
(116,464 posts)5. This is
Obama appears to be to the right of Ron Paul, Gary Johnson, Ronald Reagan and even George W. Bush on this issue. Its hard to imagine how this helps Obama politically, and its easy to imagine how forcing patients to purchase their medicine from an illicit provider instead of a regulated business hurts people who are suffering from cancer, AIDS and multiple sclerosis.
...such bullshit!
I mean, when Obama responded (http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=642280):
President Obama, who was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, weakly defended his administration's practice of aggressively raiding permitted dispensaries by claiming that "there haven't been any prosecutions" of medical marijuana patients. President Obama conspicuously avoided the question of why he was using Justice Department funds to carry out a campaign against medical marijuana that not only contradicts a campaign pledge, but has also far surpassed that of his predecessor President George W. Bush. Obama's Justice Department has conducted more than 200 SWAT-style raids on dispensaries and growers in at least 9 medical marijuana states since he took office in January 2009.
...it was a fact.
<...>
The raid came during the waning days of the Bush administration, as signals from Obama of a soon-to-come change in federal marijuana policy made the future of enforcement uncertain. During Bush's presidency, DEA agents conducted more than 200 raids in California alone. But even with a new administration in place, the federal government's approach to medical marijuana has remained inconsistent. Since 2008, federal raids have occurred in Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, and other cities that license medical dispensaries. As with the previous administration, the selective enforcement of federal laws is something of a mystery.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/medical-marijuana-dispensaries-in-legal-limbo/Content?oid=2044006
The raid came during the waning days of the Bush administration, as signals from Obama of a soon-to-come change in federal marijuana policy made the future of enforcement uncertain. During Bush's presidency, DEA agents conducted more than 200 raids in California alone. But even with a new administration in place, the federal government's approach to medical marijuana has remained inconsistent. Since 2008, federal raids have occurred in Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield, and other cities that license medical dispensaries. As with the previous administration, the selective enforcement of federal laws is something of a mystery.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/ebx/medical-marijuana-dispensaries-in-legal-limbo/Content?oid=2044006
<...>
During the Bush years, the DEA raided more than a hundred California dispensaries, sometimes merely seizing their medicine and cash, sometimes prosecuting their operators and sending them to federal prison. But the DEA has also gone after a medical marijuana organization in Washington state that supplied starter plants for its members, used a federal grand jury in Oregon to obtain patient records, and even threatened New Mexico officials planning to implement that state's medical marijuana distribution program.
In Thursday's raid, DEA agents hit the Holistic Solutions dispensary in South Lake Tahoe, seizing cash and medical marijuana. They made no arrests.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2009/jan/23/medical_marijuana_dea_hits_calif
During the Bush years, the DEA raided more than a hundred California dispensaries, sometimes merely seizing their medicine and cash, sometimes prosecuting their operators and sending them to federal prison. But the DEA has also gone after a medical marijuana organization in Washington state that supplied starter plants for its members, used a federal grand jury in Oregon to obtain patient records, and even threatened New Mexico officials planning to implement that state's medical marijuana distribution program.
In Thursday's raid, DEA agents hit the Holistic Solutions dispensary in South Lake Tahoe, seizing cash and medical marijuana. They made no arrests.
http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2009/jan/23/medical_marijuana_dea_hits_calif
The prison population for drug offenses climbed 28 percent under Bush:
Source: http://drugwarfacts.org/cms/?q=node/62
It increased slightly in 2009 and 2010, but has been dropping slightly since.
February 2012:
Drug Offenses: 95,528 (48.7 %)
March 2012:
Drug Offenses: 94,899 (48.5 %)
http://www.bop.gov/news/quick.jsp#1
That's the the lowest number of drug offenders since 2008.
The percentage is down from about 56.3 percent in 2000, and is at a pre-1990 low.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002430710
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Obama has become more hostile to medical marijuana patients than any president in U.S. history [View all]
pscot
May 2012
OP
So how do you explain the fact that there is legislation that allows Holder to
truedelphi
May 2012
#77
i agree with you and it is baffling. California residents have fought a long hard battle
xiamiam
May 2012
#191
It is politics pure and simple...he will be crucified if he supports marijuana use in any form...
rfranklin
May 2012
#78
You are saying it is prudent to trade 3 Democratic votes to get one conservative to vote for him?
Dragonfli
May 2012
#88
Sometimes the DEA just comes in, and steals all your meds, cash, computers and then leaves.
Webster Green
May 2012
#25
I wonder if they're targeting particular dispensaries just to allow favored people to gain
Uncle Joe
May 2012
#95
If that were the case, wouldn't they be going after all the MMJ dispensaries
Uncle Joe
May 2012
#104
Show me a map of all the dispensaries in Riverside or San Bernadino or the Central Valley....
Comrade Grumpy
May 2012
#56
Well, I have to eat some crow. There are indeed dispensaries in Riverside.
Comrade Grumpy
May 2012
#116
Not California, but Colorado could be interesting, and maybe New Hampshire
Comrade Grumpy
May 2012
#52
Yes on Amendment 64, and then prepare to sue the U.S. Government for failing to follow the 10th
fuddyduddy
May 2012
#82
2009 was the year marijuana arrests accounted for the majority of drug arrests
RainDog
May 2012
#128
Prosense, are you actually claiming the Obama administration is NOT increasing Medical....
Logical
May 2012
#11
Dispensaries are being shut down , and patients are being denied their meds.
Webster Green
May 2012
#30
Obama deserves credit for supporting reducing the crack-powder cocaine sentencing disparity...
Comrade Grumpy
May 2012
#47
Obama is more anti-medical-marijuana than any other president has been anti-illegal-drugs
saras
May 2012
#17
Prosense, are you saying the OBAMA admin is NOT increasing attacks on Medical Marijuana?? YES/NO?
Logical
May 2012
#22
I'm in Sonoma County. Who am I going to believe, ProSense or my lying eyes?
Comrade Grumpy
May 2012
#101
President O and the DOJ aren't going after Medical Marijuana users........
TheDebbieDee
May 2012
#41
Why would the local officials ask for some of them to be shut down without filing charges?
Uncle Joe
May 2012
#168
Do a Google search about George Washington and Thomas Jefferson and cannabis.
Webster Green
May 2012
#59
Yes, considering Obama is the most hostile President to marijuana usage born in this country.
AnotherMcIntosh
May 2012
#64
As a grower of marijuana, no doubt he would be aghast at Prohibition.
kenny blankenship
May 2012
#96
What proof is there that he grew up and that he used it for medicinal purposes?
treestar
May 2012
#143
We should have a system that doesn't hold science and medicine hostage to prejudice
RainDog
May 2012
#175
actually, hemp was one of the major crops in the U.S. for more of our history than not
RainDog
May 2012
#146
Your attempt to make the term "pot users" some sort of pejorative is just plain sad
Tsiyu
May 2012
#167