No Quarter

Posted by Mark Todd Engler in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Health Care, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nanny State on Apr 20th, 2009 | no responses

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This 4/20 ought to have been a real heartbreaker for opponents of cannabis prohibition who’ve bought into the ocean of hype surrounding Obama’s assurances of change.

Or perhaps there was just a communication breakdown, because despite promising a whole lotta love for states’ rights regarding medical marijuana during the campaign, real reform is over the hills and far away.

Obama’s DOJ said over the weekend that after considering a California federal judge’s request for an explanation from the feds regarding their alleged new policy on the persecution of state-approved medical marijuana dispensaries and users, government attorneys have determined it’s basically not much different than the old policy. Furthermore, the Bush administration’s “investigation, prosecution, and conviction of (California medical marijuana distributer Charles Lynch) are entirely consistent with the policies of DOJ and with public statements made by the Attorney General with respect to marijuana prosecutions,” according to the DOJ brief (pdf).

But even if the government’s actions don’t appear now to be exactly jiving with the political smoke blown by Obama and his attorney general, said Justice Department attorneys, it hardly matters. You see, the “enforcement policies of the Department of Justice, including those expressed by the United States Attorney’s Office, or by Attorney General Holder on this topic, do not confer any rights or defenses on any person.”

In other words, the song remains the same: Going to California, or any other state that’s legalized medical marijuana, provides no legal protection whatsoever against an individual’s rights getting trampled under foot by the federal government so long as the criminally incompetent drug war rambles on and the dogs of doom are howling “More.”