cannabisnews.com: Marijuana Dispensaries Cheer U.S. Shift on Raids





Marijuana Dispensaries Cheer U.S. Shift on Raids
Posted by CN Staff on March 09, 2009 at 08:02:15 PT
By Stu Woo and Justin Scheck
Source: Wall Street Journal 
San Francisco, CA -- U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder's announcement that the federal government will no longer raid medical-marijuana dispensaries was cheered by California dealers as well as state legislators who seek to legalize and tax sales of the drug.Under the Bush administration, the Drug Enforcement Agency raided dispensaries across the country. Such seizures were especially common in California, which in 1996 became the first state to legalize marijuana sales to people with doctor's prescriptions -- in opposition to federal laws banning any use of the drug.
The attorney general signaled recently that states will be able to set their own medical-marijuana laws, which President Barack Obama said during his campaign that he supported. What Mr. Obama said then "is now American policy," Mr. Holder said."We may be seeing the end of an era," said Rob MacCoun, a law professor who studies drug policy at the University of California, Berkeley. "It's not likely to be a priority for the Obama administration."That news relieved Kevin Reed, who owns the Green Cross, a medical-marijuana-delivery service in San Francisco. He said he wasn't too concerned about raids because they usually target large dispensaries that "get out of control" with high traffic and cash flow. But federal seizures were constantly "in the back of your head," Mr. Reed said.Mr. MacCoun said the Obama administration's stance may help to legitimize a "quasi-legal" marijuana culture in California. The state has as many as 200,000 medical-marijuana users, the most out of the 13 states that allow such use of the drug.The state law doesn't specify for what ailments the drug can be prescribed. Californians who seek out certain doctors can easily obtain a prescription for marijuana use; some high-school students do this as soon as they turn 18.Mr. Holder's announcement also was praised by backers of a proposal to legalize sales of marijuana for recreational use in California. Democrat Tom Ammiano, an assemblyman from San Francisco, introduced the bill, which proposes regulating the drug like alcohol, allowing its sales to people ages 21 and older. "This is a significant step," Mr. Ammiano said. "There's a lot of support for the bill, and the context of the conversation is going to change."Mr. Ammiano's office has estimated that marijuana is a $14 billion crop in California. Taxing the drug $50 an ounce, it said, would generate more than $1 billion annually for a cash-strapped state that closed a $42 billion budget deficit just last month.The proposal faces opposition from police groups and other state legislators. "Legalizing marijuana would be a horrible thing to do to our communities," said Jeff Miller, a Republican assemblyman from Corona. "It would be the springboard for other problems, and that's just not the right thing to do for our children."The federal government may also challenge the bill if it passes. "No one should assume that just because the Obama administration is tolerant of medical marijuana, that they'll be as tolerant of recreational marijuana," said Mr. MacCoun, the Berkeley professor.Thad Kousser, a political-science professor at the University of California, San Diego, said he thinks the proposal won't get that far, calling it a "press release" meant to spark debate. The professor's prediction: "The bill's going to go up in smoke."Source: Wall Street Journal (US)Author: Stu Woo and Justin ScheckPublished: March 9, 2009Copyright: 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.Contact: wsj.ltrs wsj.comWebsite: http://www.wsj.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/enQnVdSMCannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/medical.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on March 27, 2009 at 10:05:24 PT
Related Article From The Wall Street Journal Blog
March 27, 2009URL: http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/03/27/more-states-look-to-legalize-medical-marijuana/
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on March 10, 2009 at 09:08:33 PT
Messages to the children from the government.
There are so many things we can handcuff you for and take you into confinement for... at our will.We don't care if your schools are falling apart and are very unpleasant places to be. We will "guard" you in these often windowless spaces, like prisoners.We don't care if you or your parents can afford soaring medical medical care. Only wealthier people can afford that. You will do exactly as the government tells you. Nothing more. Nothing less.Or else.
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on March 10, 2009 at 07:27:55 PT
For our children?
What about giving our children a world of peace and a chance for prosperity without the government riding them to the ground?Peace for their future... instead of a future riddled with wars and threats of all kinds, seems like a good thing to do for our children... the future adults.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on March 10, 2009 at 07:10:25 PT
Has a hollow ring to it....
"It would be the springboard for other problems, and that's just not the right thing to do for our children."What about what we do for and to our adults? What about when those children become adults? What we're doing for our children? Teaching them to line up for drug testing by the powers that be? Teaching them to live in an unnatural world were jail could EASILY be a part of their future or their friends' futures, or their families'? Teaching them to inform on their parents and friends and others for smoking... to the government?What it's doing for our children is giving them really good odds for being "Criminals" of the state.Is this what all our laws and government are about? Children?How about teaching our children to make responsible choices... not threaten them constantly. "Jail. Jail. Jail."I see children going to classes in run-down buildings, and even portable buildings. Wouldn't that be a nice thing to have for our children and their future? Really nice schools instead of more prisons? Schools for their future, instead of prisons for their "Criminal" future? Wouldn't it be something to figure out how to build and staff more and better schools? Schools they would be glad to attend and spend the day in. Beautiful and well equipped schools used to be something that meant a lot to communities and their children. Schools they wouldn't drop out of before they graduated?Building prisons instead of schools. That's a wonderful thing to do for the children. Right? Is ours a government "Of the children and for the children"? What about the rest of the "People"? Laws as messages of threat from the government to the children? There's something wrong with that.
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Comment #2 posted by itsonlyaplant on March 09, 2009 at 17:23:24 PT
As opposed to...
The proposal faces opposition from police groups and other state legislators. "Legalizing marijuana would be a horrible thing to do to our communities," said Jeff Miller, a Republican assemblyman from Corona. "It would be the springboard for other problems, and that's just not the right thing to do for our children."...As opposed to the LEGAL scrips they get from mommy and daddy's medicine cabinet? As opposed to the LEGAL alcohol they get from mommy and daddy's booze stash? As opposed to the pollution Rep. Miller probably votes against regulating every time a bill appears? As opposed to sending little Johhny or little June off to kill and get killed in some B.S. war the government sought fit to start FOR OIL? When you look at all of the things that aren't right to do for "our children" legalizing cannabis seems to be juuusssst about the LEAST detrimental thing we could do for "our children" to keep them safe from drug pushers who offer them harder things from time to time, and they might end up taking since cannabis is illegal and since it doesn't harm you in ANY way maybe the government and mommy and daddy lied about the other things they said don't do (the real gateway). Oh well, rant over. Be well.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on March 09, 2009 at 13:20:51 PT
Dispensaries
This is something that has me baffled. I do not understand why people in California say that Obama or Holder said they would call off raids on dispensaries. They are against federal law unless something has changed that I don't know about. I know what Obama said. He would stop prosecution of medical marijuana patients in states that have a mmj law on the books. I believe what people say but if they jump to a conclusion maybe because they are afraid of getting arrested still doesn't mean Obama or Holder said anything about dispensaries. If either of them did I hope someone will post it so I can see it and others can see it. 
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