As an Obama supporter I am deeply troubled by recent developments on the national drug policy front - cannabis in particular. Statements by the President in a new Rolling Stone interview and his administration are becoming more and more surreal amidst reality and action on the ground.
As the DOJ takes new action to seize Marin County, California property owned by landlords housing medical cannabis dispensaries, whether compliant or not under state law, Obama explains:
I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it's against federal law....The only tension that's come up – and this gets hyped up a lot – is a murky area where you have large-scale, commercial operations that may supply medical marijuana users, but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users.
In fact, over the past six months the Obama administration has engaged in a far more intensified crackdown on medical cannabis than the Bush administration ever did. In San Francisco,
five of some 25 City permitted dispensaries have been forced to close under the threat of property seizure with another 10 or more on the chopping block. The line US Attorney Melinda Haag has drawn, however, is not compliance with state law but
children. Her line will virtually wipe the map of dispensaries. Contrast this activity on the ground with Obama's next statement:
We've had a discussion about how to focus on treatment, taking a public-health approach to drugs and lessening the overwhelming emphasis on criminal laws as a tool to deal with this issue. I think that's an appropriate debate that we should have.
Unfortunately, the President wants to have it both ways on this issue and he can't. He says he won't go after the patients but their access to medicine he will, and, in reality, even if the distribution point is state law abiding.
The surreal Obama cannabis policy has even infected cannabis' industrial side - hemp. The White House response to a petition seeking to allow non-drug industrial hemp faming again in the US said simply, with glazed over eyes:
America’s farmers deserve our Nation’s help and support to ensure rural America’s prosperity and vitality. Federal law prohibits human consumption, distribution, and possession of Schedule I controlled substances. Hemp and marijuana are part of the same species of cannabis plant. While most of the THC in cannabis plants is concentrated in the marijuana, all parts of the plant, including hemp, can contain THC, a Schedule I controlled substance. The Administration will continue looking for innovative ways to support farmers across the country while balancing the need to protect public health and safety.
Huh? You mean our famers that could use a good cash and excellent, sustainable rotation crop can't farm it in the name of public safety because it has some negligible amount of THC? Mr. President, you and your administration can say all you want about ending the War on Drugs but your actions speak otherwise.
