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Feds Not Changing Marijuana Policy
Posted by CN Staff on October 21, 2012 at 05:29:19 PT
By Reuters
Source: Reuters
Los Angeles -- A top Justice Department official has said in a television interview that the federal government is ready to combat any "dangers" of state-sanctioned recreational pot, amid criticism of the Obama administration for its relative silence on legalization drives in three states.Voters in Colorado, Washington state and Oregon are set to vote Nov. 6 on whether to legalize and tax marijuana sales, raising the possibility of a showdown with the federal government, which views pot as an illegal narcotic.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole, in comments to "60 Minutes" posted on Saturday to the website of CBS affiliate KCNC-TV in Denver, said his office's stance on pot would be "the same as it's always been" if voters approved legalization. "We're going to take a look at whether or not there are dangers to the community from the sale of marijuana and we're going to go after those dangers," Cole told "60 Minutes" in an outtake from a report on Colorado's medical marijuana industry due to air Sunday, according to the CBS affiliate. Cole's statement is an indication the federal government, which has raided medical pot dispensaries in several of the 17 states that allow cannabis as medicine, could also take aim at state-sanctioned recreational marijuana.It also represents a break with the Obama administration's relative silence about the pot referendums, which has led to uncertainty about whether federal officials would stop states from taxing and regulating sales of pot in special stores to those 21 and older, as proposed under each of the three state initiatives before voters.Representatives for the Justice Department did not return calls or emails seeking comment on Cole's remarks.A top legalization backer, however, dismissed them as "innocuous," unlike the stance Attorney General Eric Holder took in 2010 just weeks before a failed California referendum to legalize pot.'Wait and See'In 2010, Holder issued a toughly worded letter that said his office "strongly" opposed the California proposal and would "vigorously enforce" drug laws against participants in the recreational pot trade, even if state law permitted it. Holder's statement is credited with helping to persuade some California voters to reject the proposal.Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter"Compared to what they did two years ago in California, to have their federal posture be essentially a wait-and-see approach is encouraging," said Ethan Nadelmann, head of the Drug Policy Alliance, which through affiliates has funded marijuana legalization campaigns. Polls show the American public is increasingly leaning toward legalizing pot, but no state has taken that step. Nadelmann said pot legalization is popular with young people and independents, two groups of voters crucial to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign, and that his administration is "being smart in basically not weighing in at this time." Marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. Pot activists say prohibition fails to prevent its use and enriches criminal cartels, but opponents of legalization say it would endanger health and public safety. Former heads of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in September sent a letter to Holder urging him to publicly oppose the legalization referendums. On Monday, a former federal official expressed dismay at the Obama administration's silence. "It's shocking, because all you have to do is say things that this administration's already said," John Walters, who served as "drug czar" to former President George W. Bush, told reporters on a conference call. Cole's remarks to "60 Minutes" were in response to a question about the possibility of recreational pot being allowed in Colorado, according to the station, which posted a video with the outtake on its website. "I think it is pretty clear from this video that the Obama administration won't take any legalization measure lying down," Kevin Sabet, a former adviser to Gil Kerlikowske, the Obama administration's drug policy director, said in an email.Source: Reuters (Wire)Published: October 21, 2012Copyright: 2012 Thomson ReutersCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #10 posted by kaptinemo on October 23, 2012 at 15:54:13 PT:
MikeEEEEE, a lot more is riding on this than most 
realize.There has been a slow, steady theft of power away from the citizens and the States they live in, stolen by the increasingly intractable, unaccountable and dangerously out-of-control Federal government...which is why so many in the States are telling their State legislators they want increased emphasis on passing Tenth Amendment-protecting laws.A win for cannabis law reform is a direct threat to the foundation of the crypto-fascist edifice that has been built up over the decades since the Nixonian Phase of the DrugWar. And those who built that edifice know that very well. They will say and do anything, outright lie, steal and kill (as they have been doing for decades) in order to prevent that balance of power from shifting back to the people.But like I said, their arrogance in the face of widespread contempt for cannabis prohibition amongst younger voters does not bode well for them. A win in any one State will be seismically tectonic, causing that power shift to begin. As more people demand their personal sovereignty back via these referenda, (personal sovereignty stolen under false pretenses of 'safety' and 'security' and 'child protection'), the Feds face a dilemma that all tyrants through history have...and those tyrants almost always miscalculated the depth of the anger their actions have caused, and thought naked force alone will 'bring order' (translation: cowed subservience). Needless to say, many of those tyrant's heads wound up on pikes when that anger was unleashed, their names reviled through History, forever.Our situation is not as dire. But we must recognize that this has never been about cannabis, it's about POWER. As Washington warned us so long ago, government is like fire; a useful servant or a fearful master. For too long, the Feds have enjoyed the latter role. Passing an initiative, even in only one State, will begin the long-withheld social pendulum's swing from far-right crypto- (and sometimes outright) fascism and back to something a lot more sensible. And when that happens, the people will want even more ability to charter their own lives without Federal 'assistance'. And that has the bureaucrats and the LE apparatus sweating bullets. For with that increase in individual freedom and lessening of Fed power, there will come calls for an eventual accounting for all the atrocities the Feds and their State lackeys have caused through the entire time of drug prohibition, and the Nuremberg Defense of 'just following orders' has already been dispensed with, as the Nazis who tried to use it would attest to, if they hadn't had a previous engagement with a hangman.And, I would submit, that, and not just the loss of the ill-gotten gains from cannabis prohibition, is what really motivates their efforts to derail the initiatives. Loss of power means loss of the protection that power granted by its' shielding them against the very legitimate grievances they created. And the smarter of the prohibs have always known this...and feared these days.
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Comment #9 posted by The GCW on October 23, 2012 at 05:21:31 PT
Millions want to pay taxes.
Colorado Tax Enforcer Tells ’60 Minutes’: Weed Beat the Recession in Denverhttp://www.alternet.org/drugs/colorado-tax-enforcer-tells-60-minutes-weed-beat-recession-denverThat runs contrary to President Barack Obama’s logic: he said in 2010 that legalizing marijuana is not “a good strategy to grow our economy.” Denver appears to be proving the president wrong.
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Comment #8 posted by MikeEEEEE on October 22, 2012 at 19:29:58 PT
Kap
Hello again,I believe as you do, the generations are shifting the paradigm. Furthermore, people are just plain tired, in an economy suffering, in great depression part II, or as the propaganda tools call it--the great recession. More I doubt, want their tax money spent on something not that important an issue. Economically, the 1% who wanted this control created this monster by shifting the money to themselves. The herd/sheepie are being squeezed, hence, a way out, hmmm? The masses would not mind saving money, even an income to the states, if cannabis is taxed. Great idea, tax our way out of the hole you dug us. Kap, as you said "minefield they sowed."
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Comment #7 posted by kaptinemo on October 22, 2012 at 18:03:08 PT:
Playing with matches around the Constitution
At the risk of burning it to ashes...and unleashing Hell.If the referenda in the various States passes (let's not count unhatched chickens) and the Feds try anything stupid, they may find the States affected by their attempt to circumvent the expressed political will of the people will call for a Constitutional Convention...and then, all bets are off, for such a Convention could lead to the radical re-organizing of our entire political system. Or worse. And, given how the popularity of the present form of government seems to be decreasing, should the Feds try anything, that Convention could be very shortly forthcoming.Not only that. A generational shift has occurred, with the generations that ignorantly saddled us with the prohibitions against alcohol and other drugs dying off, while younger citizens who know the truth about cannabis are coming into their own...and they have no patience for prohibitions.The smiley face that hid the fascism is cracking apart at an even greater pace, to show what was always underneath. Federal intransigence in the face of the popular support for cannabis re-legalization will come down to naked, brutal force on the part of the Feds to enforce laws no longer seen as valid in the eyes of so many Americans. And that will be the Feds undoing, by finally removing any democratic pretenses. Gone will be any doubt about the true nature of the whys and wherefores of prohibition in the minds of those who (falsely) think the issue of illegal drugs do not affect them.The Feds thought strangling the cannabis culture would be a cakewalk, after Prop19 failed. They should have remembered a popular quote of Nietzsche: "That which does not kill me makes me stronger." Call it evolutionary pressure. We've gotten smarter, tougher and more capable, thanks to their failed attempts to destroy the culture. So, here it is, make or break. The fact is there's only one direction left: buckle down, get serious, no more fluffy, New Agey thinking, it's brass knuckles, take-no-prisoners time. Time to fight back the only way we can, with total, outright relegalization. ...and for them to try to stop us, they'll have to go through a minefield they sowed, themselves.We've always outnumbered them. Now we have the tools we need...and the Feds have given us one Hell of an incentive. And when it's all over, they'll bitterly regret their actions, for after having had a taste of freedom, the people will want more...and they will not be denied
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on October 22, 2012 at 04:03:36 PT
It's still growing.
Our Men in Honduras: Losing Control of the War on Drugs"On a global level, as the U.S. expands its drug interdiction efforts to Africa and elsewhere, critics are expressing alarm about the impact of those policies on countries already rocked by instability and weak democratic institutions. Given the deadly toll the drug war has exacted in places like Honduras, Bolivia, Mexico, and Colombia, the United States should be exceedingly careful about the consequences of militarizing counter-narcotics efforts."http://truth-out.org/news/item/12236-our-men-in-honduras-losing-control-of-the-war-on-drugsNew World Order, anyone?Apparently, militarization and trashing as much freedom and liberty of as many people as possible is a big part of it.Remember that no less than Dwight D. Eisenhower warned us about those guys...the militarization industry? The MIC?Is humanity being manipulated into becoming someone's cash cow... silly gold egg laying goose?Humanity has a way of eventually rebelling against such evil, now and then, and sometimes, somewhat correcting egregious wrongs of powerful people.And yes, the new order that has been upon us heavily for some time now wants the "Riff raff" unarmed. They want to confiscate the personal weapons of everyone but the people within the ruling and enforcing circle. What do you think that is about? But then again... all we "Conspiracy theorists" aren't just trying to figure out what the heck is going on;...we're "Paranoid". They know what's best for us.
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on October 22, 2012 at 03:42:58 PT
Current government dog story.
Boo! SCOTUS dog-sniff cases will be heard on Halloweenhttp://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2012/10/boo-scotus-dog-sniff-cases-will-be.html
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Comment #4 posted by Hope on October 21, 2012 at 20:37:18 PT
Loos? 
Should be "loss". 
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on October 21, 2012 at 20:29:55 PT
Why they won't accept an end to prohibition.
They have been hired by the prohibition to represent the prohibition. Rather ugly white representatives of an ugly white industrial power in a very fascist society. Very fascist. Most people are only production units in this industrialist society. Calvina Faye is a powerful figure in it. She has all the money in the world behind her. Or at least all that belongs to Mel and Betty and the Bushes. All the people mentioned in this article and a few hundred more. Barry McCaffery. Ashcroft. Bennett. DuPont. Sabet. The were spawned by the likes of Anslinger and his father-in-law. Mega wealth and the newspaper business to boot. Their names are ugly spots on the pages of history.They infiltrated our government and bought the American people with a greenback dollar.They told us it was good to kill and murder people to keep people from using marijuana.They said people should be imprisoned for using, smuggling or selling, or producing cannabis in hidden gardens. They said it was important enough to take police off cases of rape, theft, assault, kidnapping, and murder to hunt for people involved in the "Marijuana" trade. They called it "The destroyer of youth". They said it was important enough to pay prohibitionists and enforcers thousands and thousands of dollars every year from our taxes and wages.They said it was important enough to burst into people's homes using terroristic tactics and that it was ok to kill people, because it was a "War" of some kind . They said it was important enough to put people in prisons for years and years because of it. They said it was important enough to kick kids out of school over, and drive some to suicide from the humiliation of the tactics of prohibition's "Warriors".They told us we must have uniformed police officers make "Presentations" regularly to public school students. They said prohibition of cannabis was important enough to make people, nearly everyone, urinate in cups and be observed doing so by other people and pay the observers and technicians and corporations to test that urine. They said we had to buy outrageously expensive dogs with our money and set them on our school children... so they could be smelled... and intimidated and brought into submission to the government. And we're supposed to ge glad about it. Some actually are. They said it was important to tell our kids about this important "War".... all the time. They said this wasn't racist, either. It just looked that way.They lied ... and lied... and lied... and lied. They've lied so much and caused so much grief, and sorrow, and loos that they do not dare admit they were wrong. They do not dare. They have lied, maybe even to themselves. But never in a million years will they be able to admit they were wrong or that they just lied for the money... the job or maybe even some sort of prestige among certain people. They don't dare at this point.Maybe law suits need to be brought against all of them personally because they are presenting falsehoods to people in order to warrant their wicked behavior. Calvina got her a bigger lawyer when that happened to her, though. Stopped the effort in it's tracks. I can just see her lawyers telling the lawyers of the one that brought the suit.... "Are you going to do it for free? Your client doesn't have the money behind him that my client has. This could go on for years. I promise."Why are they meting out these outrageous punishments and these Nazi like tactics by government agents in the name of a war on cannabis use? Why? Why are they doing this to people? The home invasions? The murders? The confiscations and seizures? The humiliation? The terror? The prison? Even the fines are wrong!The prohibitionist mentioned in this article won't tell the truth ever. Ever. They won't give up because they are the best at what they do, and they have been bought and paid for, and have the kind of money behind them that can last forever. Prohibition is what the industrial moguls want and they fully intend to get what they want because they have enough money to make it happen and to keep it happening.I think that may be why we are where we are. The prohibitionists, the original ones... the industrial moguls, just threw out a few prizes, some fear and encouraged some hatred, and sharp phrases dreamed up by people who do well at dreaming up such stuff, and Lo and Behold, all the government, law enforcement, busybodies and all the self righteous and gullible just got in line. And they started passing that money around big time... and they are still doing it today and they want to keep doing it forever.That's why this has taken so long and it will likely take quite a bit longer.But justice, equality, freedom and liberty are pretty important to some of us and a lot of people have gotten really tired of seeing this long standing injustice fall so harshly on so many for so danged long.
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Comment #2 posted by Swazi-X on October 21, 2012 at 14:21:20 PT:
Left Turn to Mistake-Town Ahead
Can the Federal Government (Of the people, by the people, for the people...?!) be any more disconnected with reality?Popular opinion is firmly against this sort of misguided waste of our tax dollars, and any honest appraisal of the science shows the lack of reason for prohibition of this plant. If that weren't enough, legalizing this plant would shift power from law enforcement, prosecutors, and government in general back into the hands of the citizens, where it rightfully belongs. The countless opportunities to benefit from cannabis are being ignored in favor of keeping prosecutors and the D.E.A. fully funded. The cure for cancer is being ignored in order to keep bullets in the guns of our overlords.It couldn't get more clear that we're being steamrolled with our own tax dollars into submission by our own government. They imagine they can stretch this rubber band as far as they want and we'll just sheepishly accept it.How wrong can they be?
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Comment #1 posted by runruff on October 21, 2012 at 06:45:20 PT
Uncle Sam takes a pot shot!
The very definition of insanity!First of all, these chowder heads are not simply opposing the will of three states but the clear majority of the American people. How can this not matter?Do I witness zealots in action here? What then, what drives these people to act and sound so irresponsibly, well ...ignorant?I remind them that even though I have been imprisoned and robbed and publicly humiliated, I have not changed my stance on this subject and I have never stopped smoking my favorite herb. I have become a stronger advocate for legalization because I realize the real issue here is freedom. A group of paid bureaucrats v. my right to choose my own course in life. One life, this is it, my life, I will do with as I please even if it means I must suffer in the doing! If I did otherwise my soul would suffer more.To be clear, prohibition does not work nor should it!
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