While we all have credible criticism of the man, but this is something that is at least SOMEWHAT positive. I'm glad he isn't rebutting on this campaign promise, and it is nice that his administration is putting their foot down and basically saying this is how it is going to be. Now if we can just get it legalized...
i thought this is what he did months ago, but whatever this is good news dear obama legalize hemp, idiot
this is a positive step.. but this line bothers me. so the door is still open for them to prosecute regardless of state law... but i guess we have to start somewhere.
He unofficially stopped raids by the DEA in California a while ago I believe... This is good news, it really just needs to be legalized though. When pot does become legal we just need to get them to legalize everything else next...
This seems to just reaffirm and put into words what he announced months ago. So yes, in a sense this is the Obama administration recycling a 'policy shift,' and while it is newsworthy that a document with guidelines was released, it is merely just saying 'this is the policy that we instituted.' I'm really interested to see how this administration acts if a state legalizes, something tells me Obama won't know what the fuck to do. He'll probably try to please 5 jokes in the senate that are 'drug warriors' and ignore the majority opinion so he can seem "tough on crime." pfft
I totally disagree that this a good thing. I maintain my position that going the MMJ legalization as the gateway to full legalization will be more harmful than helpful in the long run. It'll mean cannabis will be restricted from being grown at homes, big pharma will control the market, and the price will be artificially inflated (to the same extent or further than it already is in the black market) since it's recognized only as a substance with "medicinal value" where as the justification for the current prices in the black market is that its illegal so growers and distributors are taking a huge risk. Sure, its better than nothing, but then we should stop trying to pretend this country is "the best" and admit that it's simply "the lesser of the evils". And even that is an arguably inaccurate euphemism seeing as its been the most influential superpower of the past century and therefore has created, promoted, and/or allowed the existence of all the evils it's now supposedly "reforming".
In my opinion it gives us less ammunition to legalize it, he got rid of one of the things unacceptable to anyone, the prosecution of patients. That leaves us with less resources to sway those that are neutral or anti-pot. I mean, we still got a huge case, but some people are douchebags.
I think he's just reasserting that the feds still have the authority to prosecute if they want to. Which is very true, they still do. Whether or not they can prosecute and whether or not they do prosecute are two very different things. He's just saying that actually doing it is a waste of government time and money.
thanks for doing a favor by ceasing to override a law already in existence for these states, gee thanks Oboma, your are my hero!
Better than nothing. Hopefully we can see federal decriminalization soon for everyone. But full legalization would be even better.
What bs. Ever notice that nothing ever gets changed in this country unless most people are completely fed up with it? Being morally correct and politically correct are two different things. A few issues to start with: Slavery. The prohibition of alcohol. The right to vote for ALL. Segregation. The list goes on... It's not even like we're ignorant. Everyone acts like sheep and won't speak out. When the same %30 of the population is voting on all issues, nothing will ever get changed. Sure, people were eager as FUCK to get Bush out of office and Obama in. But our representatives won't change much if they're representing US and OUR VOTES. The time to legalize is now, and we can't wait for some big movement to come along, we need to start it now. With radical organizations around like Above the Influence and Drug Free America, our right to determine what substances we can put IN OUR OWN BODIES seems to slowly fade away.