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GOVERNMENT
Federal and state policy (e.g. ONDCP, NIDA, FDA), statements/ responses from elected officials
Mitt Romney says medical marijuana, gay marriage are “state issues, right, aren’t they, really?”
Mitt Romney was interviewing with a reporter from Colorado who asked a series of questions, including his opinions on civil unions or marriage equality for gay people, in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants, and Colorado’s state recognition of medical marijuana. Frustrated by the questions not leading to his preferred talking points, Gov. Romney, exasperated, asks “Aren’t there issues of significance you’d like to talk about? The economy?…”
Will Obama’s medical marijuana crackdown lose him swing state electoral votes?
The timing is also curious given the upcoming November election. Colorado’s nine electoral college votes are up for grabs, and Obama’s path to reelection gets very steep without the state in his corner. The legalization amendment on the ballot in November could drive otherwise complacent voters to the polls, but they may not end up backing Obama. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson is not ashamed to tout his support of pot legalization, threatening to syphon protest votes that otherwise would have gone to Obama.
Oregon Attorney General Race has some heat
Oregon Attorney General Race boils down to marijuana policy.
New Hampshire Rejects Decriminalization Bill
New Hampshire Rejects Decriminalization Bill for marijuana.
TIME quotes federal officials confirming the Box Canyon theory of medical marijuana
Some in federal law enforcement–and at the Office of National Drug Control Policy–hope that the advent of new pharmaceutical replacements for grown medical marijuana, like the Canadian drug Sativex, will make the entire issue moot in the coming decade.
New Hampshire cops: Only good medical marijuana bill has no marijuana in it
The bill has passed with a veto-proof majority in the House, but lacks three votes it needs to override the governor’s veto in the Senate. And the governor’s veto is a reflection of his support for law enforcement, which has always opposed any reform to marijuana laws in New Hampshire:
“The problem with it overall is it’s a bad bill, and the only way to make it better is to take marijuana out of it,” said Enfield police Chief Richard Crate, a vice president of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.
Thank you, Jimmy Kimmel, for confronting President Obama on the marijuana crackdown
“Marijuana is something that real people care about.” — Jimmy Kimmel
Obama’s Slippery Double-Speak on Medical Marijuana, Part II
“What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana. I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law,” Obama said.
President Obama’s Slippery Double Speak on Medical Marijuana
I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law. I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books.” What I can say is, “Use your prosecutorial discretion and properly prioritize your resources to go after things that are really doing folks damage.”
White House releases 2012 National Drug Control Strategy
President Obama and Drug Czar Kerlikowske refer to their prohibition strategies as a “balanced approach” that includes “prevention, early intervention, treatment, recovery support, criminal justice reform, law enforcement, and international cooperation.” They even provide an infographic touting their “Record of Reform” that includes this handy graph of the “balance” in the Drug War budget.