Obama Admin Policy Change On Medical Marijuana

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"There has been a change in policy with regards to medicinal marijuana from the Obama administration. This comes in response to the policy under George Bush to ignore state laws, again demonstrating that many Republicans are only concerned about states’ rights when it suits their policies." From The Assicoated Press

The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

Nevertheless, local and state law enforcement agiencies in the states that currently have medical marijuana statutes on the books, all seem to be stepping up attacks on clinics and dispensaries that assist patients that have been perscribed marijuana by a board certified physician.

There seems to be little debate that there is a political, as well as a financial motivation in these on going "FBI Style" raids on despensaries. Many agencies compete for statewide funds for thier contributions to the war on drugs. Somebody just needs to refax the memo to advise then that once a person has a prescription, marijuana is no longer an illegal drug, but a perscription medication.

California and Nevada in perticular have seen an increase in cases being dropped in the Superior Courts of reasons mostly related to "over ergorness" on the part of investigators, but there are a few case in California that are currently under review regarding the accuracy of imformation in an afidavit for a search warrant.