Obama Administration Has Spent Nearly $300 Million Cracking Down On Medical Marijuana: Report

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Huffington Post

An analysis from pro-medical marijuana group Americans For Safe Access found that President Barack Obama's administration has spent nearly $300 million on combatting medical marijuana in states that have legalized the drug.

The report calculates the total amount of federal spending on medical marijuana intervention at $289 million over Obama's four-and-a-half years in the White House. According to the analysis, the Drug Enforcement Administration alone spent 4 percent of its budget in 2011 and 2012 cracking down on medical marijuana across 20 states. Taken as a whole, Obama's participation makes up the majority of what ASA says is a $483 million war of lawsuits, indictments and asset forfeiture attempts waged by the Department of Justice under the past three presidents.

The group claims that over 1 million Americans are using medical marijuana, and 34 percent of Americans live in a state where its medical use is legal. ASA's report comes on the heels of a separate study from California's chapter of NORML that found medical marijuana charges responsible for a total of over 480 years in prison sentences in the state, where cannabis has been legal for medical use since 1996. That number will likely grow when the Department of Justice hands down a prison sentence for medical marijuana provider Matthew Davies, who accepted a plea deal late last month.

The studies are just the latest figures that underscore Obama's aggressive war on pot. While Obama and members of his administration had left many marijuana reform advocates optimistic in the early stages of his first term, it quickly became clear that the new president was determined to ramp up the enforcement-focused approach to medical cannabis.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/obama-medical-marijuana_n_3437636.html

[msongs]

1. friends of tobacco do not want legalized pot, especially if it is home grown nt

[dflprincess]

3. I don't think it's the friends of tobacco as much as it is the Friends of Pharma.

And, once pot is legalized, there would be no reason not to legalize industrial hemp and there's all kinds of friends that would upset.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. And the cops and the forced treatment industry and the drug testing industry...

...and the judiciary bloated with drug cases.

There are a lot of people profiting from pot prohibition.

Including illegal growers and black marketeers.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

6. You make two very good points

and another point to be made is that the whole purpose of the war on pot is to spend tax dollars on various agencies, private contractors supplying all kinds of goods and services and even private prisons. It's good for business, endless war for endless profits.

[ZombieHorde]

2. Well, all the people have homes, food, safe neighborhoods,

health care, etc., so what else are we going to spend that money on?

[warrant46]

31. Its Change-- You can believe IN

[FrodosPet]

5. $283 Million over 4 years equals 1,283 Jobs at an annual cost of $50,000 each

Instead, people are denied medicine, and the prison industrial complex grows

[cheapdate]

7. I've defended the Obama administration over many different issues

but I can't imagine a defense for this. The ASA report was shocking. I didn't know it was that bad. I can't understand how it could be this bad.

Either these acts are deliberate on the part of Obama and Holder, or else it may be that the perspective is skewed and it only appears that way. The Bush administration carried out a deliberate, organized, and unprecedented, effort to stack the federal agencies and bureaucracy with movement-conservative ideologues. The federal attorney firing scandal under Bush attorney general John Ashcroft was only one manifestation of this deep, long term, and fundamental realignment of the federal bureaucracy.

It may be that the legions of conservative ideologues that Bush spent eight years filling the federal government with are acting on these prosecutions, and that given the size, multiple missions, and priorities of the US Department of Justice that these prosecutions are getting by without the attention they deserve.

I don't know, but I'm not pleased.

[former9thward]

12. These are Obama appointees.

Michael Ormsby, U.S. Attorney in Washington has been an attack dog on MM. He was appointed by Obama. U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag of San Francisco has been another attack dog on MM. She was appointed by Obama. If there are any U.S. Attorneys left appointed by Bush I don't know about them. Obama and Holder know exactly what has been going on and approve.

[cheapdate]

18. Ormsby and Haag are indeed Obama appointees.

I also checked on the number of US attorneys -- 93 -- so it's not really a matter of the number of attorneys being so great that it would be hard to know what all of them are up to. I concede that Obama and Holder know what's going on and approve. I don't understand why Obama has become a hard-ass on marijuana. Fuck.

[former9thward]

20. The war on marijuana is insane.

Our past three presidents, Clinton, Bush and Obama, have all admitted past drug use. They never got ensnared in our legal system because of it or else they probably never would have become presidents. All of them should have tried to end this 'war'.

[Half-Century Man]

22. Bush doesn't count.

If he had been sold oregano,he wouldn't have known. so 50/50 chance he is a spice smoker.

[rhett o rick]

23. Besides with his impaired mind, there would be no difference if he did drugs. nm

[Half-Century Man]

24. If you get impaired by marijuana

you lack practice...Just saying.

[rhett o rick]

25. Well do you ever get enough "practice". Just sayin.

[Half-Century Man]

28. I just experimented with marijuana

If I had put in a like amount of research into physics, I would have claimed Alpha Centauri last month.

[Politicalboi]

62. I say if we keep this war on drugs up

Make even the President be drug FREE their entire LIFE. Otherwise, lock them up. I'm sick of this, "well I did when I was young" shit. How many kids are in jail just because they did it when they were young, and now have a record. I bet Obama himself at one point in his life said "If I were President, I would make it legal". I wish he would live up to those words.

[cheapdate]

63. For what it's worth (not much)

I voted for Justice Party candidate Rocky Anderson for president in 2012. He got 0.036% of the vote -- or about three one-hundredths of one-percent.

[Unknown Beatle]

8. After all the news these past couple of weeks,

we all know who's in charge, and it isn't We The People. We vote these people in to represent us and all they do is represent their wallets and the 1%.

We The People want marijuana legalized, but They The Representatives, are taking the Big Corp. side on things.

Pol: You want marijuana legaized?

We: Yes we do.

Pol, holding his crotch: Smoke on this then!

They're our friends when they're campaigning, but once elected, they tell us to "Fuck Off" until it's times for elections again, then they're our friends again and once elected they tell us to "Fuck Off" again until it's time... It's a cycle that keeps repeating itself over and over again and the same people get elected over and over again and the results of their broken promises are the same over and over but we do nothing but complain over and over again...

[Freddie Stubbs]

36. This wasn't even an issue during the 2012 presidential campaign

[alittlelark]

9. Obama is a serf to BIG PHARMA (and booze lobby)

[warrant46]

32. LOL

[AnotherMcIntosh]

10. Did this exceed the amount saved by cutting back on food stamps?

[FreeState]

16. No - house wants to cut 20 Billion over 10 years

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/05/17/house-agriculture-committee-approves-massive-cuts-to-food-stamps/

[villager]

11. This has been one of Obama's most spectacular failures

...along with this administration's general disregard for the 4th Amendment

[SHRED]

13. Yeah...Obama's a Liberal...LOL

[Freddie Stubbs]

35. He campaigned as a centrist

[SHRED]

40. I know

My sarcastic comment was aimed at any RW lurkers.

[Bluenorthwest]

14. In 2008, Willamette Week asked candidate Obama this:

Would you stop the DEA's raids on Oregon medical marijuana growers?
Candidate Obama said this:
"I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and preventing terrorism."
Recently, Obama claims the threats are so great that super secret data collection on everyone just has to continue, but somehow the agents don't have anything better to do with all that data than raid dispensaries legal by will of the voters. The priorities are not the ones declared by candidate Obama.
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-9003-six_minutes_with_barack.html

[FreeState]

17. Thats not the only example unfortunately n/t

[Freddie Stubbs]

34. Apparently serving as President has caused him to evolve on some issues

[Bluenorthwest]

43. If going back on one's word is the definition of 'evolve' then yes.

nt

[Historic NY]

15. So how much did the previous administration spend?

[progressoid]

50. The Obama Admin has outspent the Bush Admin by $100 million in just 4.5 years

According to the report: http://americansforsafeaccess.org/downloads/WhatsTheCost.pdf

[BlueStreak]

19. Follow the money. It is always about the money.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

21. Waste of time and money

[DeSwiss]

26. K&R

Last edited Fri Jun 14, 2013, 02:09 AM - Edit history (1)

- Your tax dollars at work.

[MotherPetrie]

27. That is not only obscene, it is cruel, vindictive, and disgusting.

Would expect no less of Eric Holder. Go after medical marijuana while letting war criminals go free.

[dkf]

29. Hey at least they aren't using their TIA on us yet.

That we know of at least.

[Scuba]

30. And a couple billion more locking up a bunch of smokers.

But think of all the jobs in the private prison industry, eh?

[Freddie Stubbs]

33. How many are locked up in federal prison for being 'smokers' as opposed to those who are selling it?

[Scuba]

37. Why would it matter?

[Freddie Stubbs]

38. Quite a big difference between locking up sick people trying to deal with an illness as opposed to

someone who goes into a business fully aware of the consequences of violating the law.

[morningfog]

51. A distinction without a difference. Someone has to be the one

to provide the person with an illness their medicine.

Further, there are many locked up for simple possession.

[RainDog]

44. This gets into problematic views of what constitutes intent to distribute

Someone doesn't have to actually sell marijuana in order to be charged with doing the same.

The law moves to felony possession (with intent to distribute) based upon the amount of marijuana in someone's possession.

If someone, once a year, grew marijuana and saved that for personal use, that person could be charged with intent to distribute, depending upon the state in which someone lived. The law isn't just "sale." It's "sale/manufacture." So, growing marijuana, without intent to sell or any evidence for the same is the same as selling.

What happens to a person after an arrest for possession is determined by the state in which they were arrested. As of 2010, iirc, there are about 40 thousand people in prison related to marijuana alone - and, again, the state determines how charges are considered - what charges are filed, how long someone serves time, if any, for an offense, and so on. But, again, these numbers don't really get to an accurate count because other charges (i.e. in jail for possession alone) aren't necessarily for other drugs or intent to sale, either.

Laws also have cumulative effect. The three strikes law means that someone arrested for possession three times is at greater risk than a first-time arrest for jail time.

More than 750,000 people a year are arrested for possession. This means that once every 37 seconds someone in the U.S. is arrested for possession.

According to norml - "The total number of marijuana arrests for 2010 far exceeded the combined number of arrests for violent crimes, including murder, manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery and aggravated assault."

It's comforting to know that most Americans aren't killing, raping, robbing and assaulting their fellow citizens.

It's outrageous that so much time and effort is put into arresting someone for possession. It's a waste of money and it's against the wishes of the American public to treat fellow citizens as criminals because they are in possession of cannabis.

[Freddie Stubbs]

48. This is a discussion on FEDERAL law, not state law

[RainDog]

49. LOL

okay. then, by Federal law, no one is in jail for possession only.

The reality is that most of the money spent at the federal level for marijuana prohibition is given to state-level law enforcement to implement.

...which is why so many states don't want to repeal marijuana prohibition. It's a cash cow for them to keep marijuana illegal.

[Alkene]

39. The cruelty...

of working to deny people some small relief from suffering is beyond my comprehension.

This astonishing lack of compassion fills me with a grief I can feel in the pit of my stomach.

[tridim]

41. Yet the quality AND quantity of Medical Marijuana dispensaries has exploded since Obama took office.

Please take the opportunity to thank the Obama administration for this absolute fact.

If you can blame him for the "crackdown", I can certainly blame him for the MMJ boom.

[Bluenorthwest]

45. Can you support your assertions? Of course not.

Like their counterparts in many other municipalities that have regulated medical marijuana on their own, Arcata officials say the federal offensive has brought renewed chaos to the medical marijuana industry. The federal authorities, their critics say, have indiscriminately targeted good and bad dispensaries, sometimes putting the best ones out of business. The crackdown, the critics say, has made it difficult for qualified Californians to obtain marijuana for medical use and is just pushing buyers into the black market.

Acting on federal law, which considers all possession and distribution of marijuana to be illegal, California’s four United States attorneys, working with the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Internal Revenue Service, have shut down at least 500 dispensaries statewide in the last eight months by sending letters to operators, landlords and local officials, warning of criminal charges and the seizure of assets. The United States attorneys said the dispensaries were violating not only federal law but also state law, which requires operators to be primary caregivers to their customers and distribute marijuana only for medical purposes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/01/us/hundreds-of-california-medical-marijuana-shops-close.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

[RainDog]

46. then you'd also have to thank Reagan for hybrids

the reason marijuana has become such a "craft beer" industry is thanks to Reagan spraying paraquat and poisoning the ground water of farmers in Mexico.

I guess we can find mixed blessings in many things.

The reality is that, no matter who is in office, legalization advocates are going to find ways to ignore bad law.

Liberals were just hoping for a sane approach to marijuana policy since Obama is in office at a time when politicians no longer have to claim "I didn't inhale," or "I didn't enjoy it."

The nation has moved far beyond the federal drug warriors.

They just haven't caught up yet.

[Egalitarian Thug]

53. Why on earth would we thank the greatest obstacle to progress without

an 'R' after its name?

[tridim]

57. Because the fact I just posted proves he is NOT an obstacle to progress.

His words of support for medical cannabis (that have never been taken back BTW) have increased the quality of the industry today. It's an indisputable fact... There are thousands of great dispensaries open and thriving all over the country, the DEA hasn't "cracked down" on any of them. Every closure I've seen happened because the dispensary was breaking a state law.

So much progress is occurring in fact, that states are now legalizing Cannabis for recreational use, and for the first time since prohibition, national legalization is being debated and is SUPPORTED by a majority of the people.

[Egalitarian Thug]

58. That you, I believe, actually think that what you wrote is true is pretty scary.

You don't own guns, do you?

[tridim]

59. Why do you disagree with facts?

There are more dispensaries today than the day Obama took office, and cannabis is legal in CO and WA.

No, I hate guns. What does that have to do with the subject?

[Egalitarian Thug]

60. That you not only deny the facts regarding the actions of his administration regarding

the medical marijuana dispensaries, but that, in some kind of mental feat of dissociative acrobatics, actually credit the President for increasing the numbers despite his consistent obstruction of them at every step.

Follow that with your apparent desire to give him credit for the voters of CO and WA legalizing it when he did everything he could, short of sending in troops to halt the elections, to stop them and the picture that forms borders on hallucination.

[heaven05]

42. he

and holder are doing the bidding of some higher up(s) and they are the idiot puppets here. I bet it has to do with some type of profit(taxes) not being gained by those higher ups..... All they are saying is damn the ill people who might get relief from their suffering with this stuff.

[CanSocDem]

47. Let me ask you this....

By living in a massive free market economy, where the buying and selling of goods and services is so revered and fanatically defended, and where quality goes to die, are you prepared to give all of this up for a single plant?

Thousands of industries and brand-names are successful because of the prohibition of cannabis, not to mention hemp. Your government is doing its job.

You didn't think they were there to serve YOUR interests, did you?

.

[forestpath]

52. I feel so much safer being protected from all those sick people. Thanks, Obama!

[Ash_F]

54. Imagine all the good that money could have done. /nt

[indepat]

55. Big brother using its muscle to prevent the alleviation of pain and suffering fbo big pharma,

an odious policy too shameful for words.

[leftyladyfrommo]

56. I think are pushing the issue to the limit

If enough people complain then Congress may actually have to change the laws.

And we need new laws that allow usage for the ill and for individuals who just like to buy a little for their own use.

I just wish they would get it all legalized. It is such a waste of time and money fighting this on the Fed. level. But they are just enforcing the current laws.

[blkmusclmachine]

61. No financial cliff in sight. But Obama will get his Catfood Commission to chop up the safety net.

Austerity Now! Austerity Forever!

[SammyWinstonJack]

64. What an insanely stupid priority. Not too mention an obscene waste of tax payers' $$$$.