“What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue, simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism; we’ve got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with,” said presidential candidate Barack Obama in a March 2008 interview.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that’s inconsistent with federal and state law,” said Attorney General Eric Holder in a March 2009 statement.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(Mercury News) LOS ANGELES—Federal and local agents are raiding at least two marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles but authorities won’t say what they’re seeking. Officials say more than 20 people from various agencies served a state search warrant at around 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Organica Collective in Marina del Rey.

Los Angeles police, the FBI and DEA were still searching the distribution center three hours later.

DEA spokesman Jose Martinez says agents also served the warrant at the Overland Gardens Collective in West Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says a residence also was named in the warrant.

Well, at least President Obama is fulfilling his other campaign promises, like getting us out of a protracted Middle Eastern war.  Oh, right, Afghanistan.

But at least he’s bringing us health care reform.  No, wait, better not use that one.

At least he’s holding the past administration accountable for… no, can’t go there.

Reducing the influence of lobbyists in Washington and refusing to have any lobbyists in his administration… uh, no.

Protecting the Constitution from the serious abuses of the previous administration, like warrantless wiretapping… no again.

Bringing Wall Street excesses to an end… ‘fraid not.

Ending the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy for the military… uh-uh.

Wait, I know!  Cash for Clunkers!  There we go!

At NORML, we are a non-partisan organization, and with these new DEA raids, it makes it so much easier for me to move from my personal support of the Democratic Party to political independence.  I’ve had it.  Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.  At least with a President McCain, I would have known straight up that he hates medical marijuana and would allow DEA raids to continue instead of being sold a bill of goods about not “circumventing state laws” and then circumventing them anyway.

Assemblymember Tom Ammiano today reacted to a Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) raid on a San Francisco marijuana dispensary—only a week after the Obama administration signaled it would cease the federal government’s practice of harassing cannabis clubs in states that have legalized the plant for medical use. Ammiano, who in February announced plans to present legislation to legalize and tax marijuana in California, said that the move may have been a warning to him and the Obama administration by what he called the “paramilitary” and “institutionalized” mentality of the DEA.

DEA agents raided Emmalyn’s California Cannabis Clinic on Wednesday, emptying the dispensary of marijuana, cannabis plants, grow lights, and other equipment along with patients. The agency would not cite a specific reason for the raid, saying the warrant is under court seal, but suggested that the dispensary violated state and federal law. Emmalyn’s, which had been operating with a temporary permit issued by the Department of Public Health, had been providing free marijuana to the poor on Wednesdays.

When Examiner.com asked if he thought the raid was a warning because of his legalization bill, Ammiano said he thought it was—but not just to him. He thinks the DEA was also challenging the Obama administration because of Attorney General Eric Holder’s pledge last week to leave cannabis clubs alone.

“They’re going to be very obstinate and very stubborn and do a lot of power tripping around this issue, so even though Eric Holder, the AG, said no more raids of marijuana dispensaries, they’re just going to take that on and see how serious everybody is,” Ammiano said. “It’s infuriating, and it’s also very dehumanizing for the patients who were there, and they just like to rub our nose in it because it’s San Francisco. I find it childish, but I also find it very dangerous.”

via Sacramento Statehouse Examiner: Assemblymember Tom Ammiano reacts to DEA raid of SF cannabis medical dispensary.

Initial reports stated that the feds may have considered sales tax problems as the state law being violated that led to the DEA raids.  According to my sources, the California Board of Equalization and the San Francisco City and County have no pending investigation on Emmalyn’s nor any report of taxation issues.

Tune in to tonight’s Southern California Report with Tere Joyce as we speak with Degé Coutee from the Patients Advocacy Network, who has more details on the San Francisco Raid.

Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy Shift via NYT

We all welcomed the statements by Eric Holder halting raids on Medical Marijuana Dispensaries. But when a policy shift isn’t codified in a law you get different people interpreting the directive in different ways. It’s unclear that anything has actually changed at all.

A spokesman for the drug enforcement agency, Garrison Courtney, pointed out that the attorney general’s statement indicated that the federal authorities would continue to go after marijuana dispensaries that broke state and federal laws by selling to minors, selling excessive amounts or selling marijuana from unsanctioned growers.

So we can most likely expect more raids in the future; this is no moratorium. We can expect local and state law enforcement attempt to entrap dispensary owners with falsified recommendations, fake ID’s, and putting pressure to disclose their supply chain. But at least this is a start, and it appears that the Feds have bigger fish to fry.

Mark Agrast, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, a liberal-leaning research group in Washington, said Mr. Holder’s statement indicated a more pragmatic and less ideological approach to drug enforcement.

“This is an example of recognizing the limited resources they have, so they have to make decisions about the soundest use of available resources,” Mr. Agrast said.

The attorney general’s comments also indicated that the Justice Department would allocate greater resources for investigations of white-collar crime, including financial crime, and other enforcement areas that received less attention during the Bush administration.

John Walters once said, “The fact is today, people don’t go to jail for the possession of marijuana. Finding somebody in jail or prison for possession of marijuana is like finding a unicorn. It doesn’t exist.”

When the US taxpayers no longer fund your demonizing of the sick, disabled, dying, and sense-threatened people who use medical marijuana, what do you do?  If you’re former drug czar John “Marijuana Unicorns” Walters, you get yourself a cushy job at the Hudson Institute, a think tank founded by Herman Kahn.  Kahn’s work was part of the dogma of cold war ideology, having coined the term “mutually assured destruction” regarding nuclear capabilities of the US and then USSR.  (He also coined the term “megadeath”, meaning “one million deaths”, which since has been appropriated and misspelled by the band Megadeth.)  Kahn is reportedly one of the inspirations for the character of Dr. Strangelove in the 1964 film of the same name.

In recent months, more Americans have learned what those living on the border have known for several years: the Mexican government is in a deadly fight with extremely violent gangs.

The administration should be fighting for full funding of the Merida Program of assistance from the United States. Our vital equipment and training will protect innocent lives in both our countries. But the White House has been unengaged as Congress is on a path to cut $100 million in support beyond the $100 million reduction of the last Congress. At a time when Mexico knows as well as we do that Congress is recklessly stimulating and earmarking billions, slashing funding for our national security is grossly irresponsible.

On the key issue of illegal drugs–the widely recognized source of criminal power in Mexico–the Obama administration is lurching dangerously in reverse. In his first statement on drug policy, Attorney General Eric Holder suggested he may no longer enforce federal law against trafficking marijuana if the traffickers call their marijuana medical. Both U.S. and Mexican officials at all levels know that medical marijuana is an utter fraud used to undermine drug enforcement in the United States. Mexican officials also know (as does the Justice Department) that much of the marijuana sold in the “dispensaries” of California funds the mafias of Mexico.

Marijuana sales are the single largest source of drug profits for these criminals–on top of funds from kidnapping, protection rackets, alien smuggling, and car theft. Not enforcing our marijuana laws makes these terrorists stronger. Pretending to take legalization seriously makes them stronger still. What do we think the brave officers risking their lives in Mexico feel when our attorney general sounds like he is going to do less to help? Is it too much to expect him to make clear that enforcing our marijuana laws reduces addiction here and saves lives in Mexico?

I hope that this will change. The recently released Forbes list of wealthiest people in the world includes one of Mexico’s most dangerous criminal leaders. President Obama should make it his goal to help President Calderon apprehend this man and those like him as soon as possible.

John P. Walters is executive vice president of Hudson Institute and former director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under President George W. Bush.

via PREVIEW: Up In Smoke.

Walters offers no proof that California dispensary medicine is funding Mexican mafias, but evidence and proof were never his strong suit, anyway.  I find it interesting that a stimulus package intended to reverse the economic damage from eight years of laissez-faire policies of the previous administration – Walters’ administration – is considered “recklessly stimulating”, but throwing another $100M-$200M at the failed Meridia policies is “vital equipment and training”.  I’d say something about pots and kettles, but considering this blog’s subject and the president’s race, that’s too many puns for one day.

But suppose that Walters is right and some Mexican-grown and Mexican-trafficked marijuana makes it onto dispensary shelves.  What’s keeping American farmers from supplying those dispensaries, John, and cutting the Mexicans out of the marketplace?  “Pretending to take legalization seriously” scares the hell out of Mexico’s drug criminals!  Do you suppose Al Capone circulated many petitions in support of the 21st Amendment?

We reported on US Attorney General Eric Holder’s announcement regarding the Obama Administration’s policy on medical marijuana providers in states with medical marijuana programs.  The Attorney General said, ”What the president said during (the) campaign . . . is now American policy,” referring to then candidate-Obama’s statement last April.  When asked about medical marijuana on a trip through Oregon, Obama said, “What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.”

Did we celebrate too soon?  Is anyone concerned that nobody has specifically said, “The US Justice Department will not raid providers of medical marijuana in the states where that is legal” or even used the words “medical marijuana” with respect to these statements?  Are you frightened that these statements leave a bit too much wiggle room for clever politicians?  Read this story from the LA Times and then answer:

The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles sent a confidential memo to prosecutors last week ordering them to stop filing charges against medical marijuana dispensaries, then abruptly lifted the ban on Friday, according to sources familiar with the developments.

A Justice Department official said Friday that the attorney general did not direct O’Brien or any other U.S. attorney to alter policies regarding the prosecution of such cases.

In addition to being told to stop filing new cases, prosecutors were instructed to refrain from issuing subpoenas or applying for search warrants in pending cases, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

Another e-mail came out Friday instructing prosecutors to resume work on medical marijuana cases.

Here’s my prediction: we will see more medical marijuana dispensary raids and the Obama Administration will claim they have no issue with legitimate medical marijuana providers, but these providers were operating outside California law and these providers were diverting medical marijuana to the black market and these providers were selling to minors and whole raft of excuses where they emphasize that these providers are a reasonable exception to “using Justice Department resources” because they were outside of Prop 215 / SB 420 / Jerry Brown’s Guidelines and therefore, the DEA is not “circumvent[ing] state laws on this issue”.

I hope I’m wrong, because if Barack Obama can’t forsee the enormous backlash even one more raid will provoke, he’s not as savvy a politician as I once thought.

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-02-27

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-02-27.mp3)

Today on this Alaskan-baked Stash:

• Hemp Headlines:
  Vatican’s stance on UN drugs policy ‘risks lives’
  Promoter cancels Phelps speaking events in Canada
  Maine bill seeks changes in pot law
• Stupid Stoner Story: Man’s accidental 911 call leads to arrest, drug charges
• CelebStoner.com report: Jim Breuer quits weed, Drew Barrymore as CelebStoner of the Month, Oscars review.
• It’s a Rap Friday: ‘I Wanna Be High’ by DJ Slim
• Allen St. Pierre on Eric Holder’s announcement of an end to DEA raids on medical marijuana

Or has he?  Do you think there will still be a raid in the future, under the excuse of “stopping criminal traffickers”?

Have we finally entered a new era where marijuana will flourish?

Is this the beginning of the end?

Feel free to discuss in the comments.  :smokin:

Download the NORML Daily Audio Stash for 2009-02-26

Download audio file (NORML_Daily_AudioStash_2009-02-26.mp3)

Today on the Stash:

• Hemp Headlines
  Attorney General Eric Holder: ending medical marijuana raids “now American policy”
  Former Drug Czar McCaffrey: “If you’re 40 years old, and you’re living in Oregon, and you have 12 giant pot plants in the back of your log cabin, knock yourself out.”
  Study criticizes Bush drug office for its focus on youths and marijuana, not adult drug users
  UGA Student Newspaper Opinion: Better image key in marijuana debate
• Hooray for Hollyweed: Tere Joyce introduces us to Rich McCabe & Joanne Cates, an elderly couple in San Bernadino County busted for cultivation. 
• Rockin’ Thursday: Seminole County – “Memories”
• Danny Danko, Senior Cultivation Editor from High Times Magazine, on upcoming spring planting.

[More fantastic reporting from MrSpof, especially below the fold.  -- "R"R]

WASHINGTON – Federal agents have rounded up 755 suspects in a wide-ranging crackdown on a Mexican drug cartel operating inside the United States, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday.

The Justice Department said that as part of the 21-month-long investigation, DEA and other federal agents had seized $59 million in U.S. currency; 12,535 kilograms of cocaine; more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana; more than 12 pounds of methamphetamine; approximately 8 kilograms of heroin; approximately 1.3 million pills or 500 pounds of Ecstasy; approximately 120 kilograms of MDMA powder; and more than $6.5 million in other assets, including 149 vehicles, 3 aircraft, 3 maritime vessels and 169 weapons.

via MSNBC – U.S. arrests 755 in Mexican drug cartel raids

My presumption is that the DEA expects this will make us feel that they are being successful in their War on US Citizens. Maybe this lends credence to former Drug Czar John Water’s claim that:

“If the drug effort were failing there would be no violence,” a senior U.S. official said Wednesday. There is violence “because these guys are flailing. We’re taking these guys out. The worst thing you could do is stop now.”

via The Agitator – God Help Us If We Start “Winning” the Drug War, Too

Or maybe the drug warriors have learned nothing from Greek mythology about what happens when you cut the head off the Hydra:

• OPERATION META 1997
  1,765 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS RECIPROCITY & LIMELIGHT 1997
  13,700 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS IMPUNITY & MILLENNIUM 1999
  4,800 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATIONS CONQUISTADOR & COLUMBUS 2000
  1459.5 Metric Tons of Marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  73.4 Kilograms of Hash oil seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION GREEN AIR 2000
  34,000 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION IMPUNITY II 2000 l
  9,526 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION MARQUIS 2001
  23,096 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• OPERATION GREEN CLOVER 2001
  320 pounds and 4100 plants of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operations Pipe Dreams And Headhunter 2003
  indictment of 50 individuals and national distributors on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia
• Operation Trifecta 2003
  24,409 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Candy Box 2004
  1,370 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Money Clip 2004
  39,265 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Three Hour Tour 2005
  216 lbs. of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Mallorca 2005
  21,650 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Choque, Operation Denali, and Operation Falling Star 2005
  37,055 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Sweet Tooth 2005
  1,777 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Northern Impact 2005
  2,258 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Cali Exchange 2005
  518 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Imperial Emperor 2007
  27,229 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Jacket Racket 2007
  150 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Puma 2007
  33 metric tons of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Imperial Emperor Phase II 2007
  434 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Project Reckoning 2008
  51,258 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Sudden Fall 2008
  50 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  48 hydroponic marijuana plants seized, destroyed, or eradicated
  30 vials of hash oil seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Project Reckoning, Phase II 2008
  57,243 pounds of marijuana seized, destroyed, or eradicated
• Operation Albatross 2008
  262 tons of hashish seized, destroyed, or eradicated

So DEA, did you get it all yet? Including today’s cartel raids, that’s a lot of seized marijuana and a ton of arrests to go with it. Surely some dent must have been made in the flow of marijuana into our country …

I know, let’s ask the class. “Excuse me, you bright faced group of 100 high school students chosen at random. Could anyone help me get a bag of marijuana?”

86 hands go up.

Well, I’m glad our current policy of marijuana prohibition thinks of the children, aren’t you? You cannot legislate human behavior and morality. You cannot arrest your way to a victory in the War against US Citizens.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speaking at a press conference with DEA administrator Michelle Leonhart, Attorney General Eric Holder declared that ending medical marijuana raids  ”is now American policy.”

A reporter asked, “shortly after the inauguration there were raids on California medical marijuana dispensaries…do you expect these to continue?”, noting that the President had promised to end the raids in the campaign.

Holder responded, “What the President said during the campaign…is consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement.  He was my boss in the campaign….He is my boss now.  What he said in the campaign is now American policy.”

Download audio file (eric-holder-declares-ending-dea-raids-is-american-policy.mp3)

The question appears about 25 minutes into the press conference, which was devoted to an operation against the Mexican Sinaloa drug cartel.

February 25th, 2009.  Mark it as the day on your calendar when the beginning of the end of adult marijuana prohibition happened.  With federal pressure off of California and other medical marijuana states, the acceptance of cannabis will grow… like a weed!

I think I am crying…  Good night, y’all!