The Obama Administration Considers the Medicinal Marijuana Issue
In California, medical marijuana has been legal since 1996. Importantly, the purchase of pot is governed by mandatory medical prescription requirements. Including California, twelve other states have also passed legal marijuana laws. In another thirteen states the issue is currently under debate, including Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and New Hampshire. Medical marijuana is still considered illegal under federal law.
It was in 2005 under the Bush administration that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Gonzales vs. Raich that on the issue of medical marijuana, federal law supersedes state law. At the time, Bush's drug czar John Walters smugly commented: this "marks the end of medical marijuana as a political issue."
President Barack Obama made the issue one of his campaign promises, to review the current policy. Midway through his first 100 days, he had Attorney General, Eric Holder announce that the Justice Department will cease busting marijuana dispensaries in California and the twelve other states that have medical marijuana laws.
It is time for the U.S. to revisit federal government laws on the medicinal use of marijuana.
Obama has instructed law enforcement authorities to back off from states where medical marijuana is legal. The next step needs to be a change in a ban on scientific research of marijuana and next, quash the current law that basically says marijuana is the same as heroin.
In the U.S. marijuana has been classified as a "schedule I" narcotic which denotes that it has no useful medical purpose. It is virtually considered in the same category as heroin. So one can deduce from this rationale that crack cocaine, considered a “schedule II” drug, is less harmful than marijuana! It is the epitome of total ignorance of past lawmakers on the subject.
Indeed, it is exactly those social mores that has allowed the DEA to round up growers, distributors, caregivers and even patients with their Rambo-like raids. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates legalization of medicinal marijuana, there have been nearly 100 major busts carried out by the DEA. As if there were not enough other things for these law enforcement officers to be doing.
In George W. Bush's mind the way to win the war on marijuana was to authorize a broad scope of busts and arrests and prosecutions. This he said would stop people from using marijuana. Apparently though it is fine to abuse legally prescribed drugs.
It was that kind of thinking that brought in Prohibition almost 100 years ago and the black market thrived in the era of the rum-runners. It turned out to be not such a great plan after all.
Bush's point man on the topic, John Walters argued that the law must be based on scientific research, "not popular opinion." Even though a study commissioned by President Bill Clinton's administration determined that marijuana does have medicinal value. Bush's administration did not find that good enough.
Just prior to Obama's inauguration the DEA turned down an application from Professor Lyle Craker to obtain a license for conducting DEA-approved research to study yet again the medicinal value of marijuana in the hopes that this might lead to federal approval.
President Obama in a very short amount of time has reversed a lot of things done in the Bush administration. Now, in this 21st century it is time for Obama to move the nation towards acceptance of medical marijuana too.