Barack Obama is considered by marijuana activists to be the worst President ever when it comes to marijuana enforcement. The math definitely backs up that claim. For a guy that once loved to consume marijuana, President Barack Obama certainly hates marijuana now. Why else would he crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries so hard? Why does Barack Obama spend so much money fighting state marijuana laws?
These are questions that Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) often wonders himself I’m sure. Which might be why Senator Leahy scheduled a Senate hearing dedicated to the subject of President Obama’s marijuana policies.The hearing is titled Conflicts between State and Federal Marijuana Laws. I can’t wait to see what the White House has to say for themselves, and I know I’m not alone.
I first saw the announcement of the Senate hearing on Fire Dog Lake, which stated:
“It will focus on Colorado’s and Washington state’s new laws that legalized recreational marijuana as well as the numerous state medical marijuana laws enacted across the country. Currently, both medical and recreational marijuana are illegal under federal law. The Obama administration refused to move cannabis from Schedule I under the Controlled Substances Act, which legally defines marijuana as having no ‘accepted medical use.'”
From RollCall.Com:
“The Vermont Democrat’s inviting Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Deputy Attorney General James Cole to testify at the Sept. 10 hearing. Presumably expecting a large audience, Leahy has scheduled the hearing in the oversized hearing room in the Hart Senate Office Building that is used for major events such as Supreme Court confirmation hearings.”
“It is important, especially at a time of budget constraints, to determine whether it is the best use of federal resources to prosecute the personal or medicinal use of marijuana in states that have made such consumption legal,” Leahy said in a statement. “I believe that these state laws should be respected. At a minimum, there should be guidance about enforcement from the federal government.”
From Politico.Com, a quote from one of my marijuana heroes Tom Angell from the Marijuana Majority:
“Tom Angell, the chairman of Marijuana Majority, an organization dedicated to pushing “common sense” marijuana regulation solutions said he is pleased that Leahy is bringing up the issue again with the Obama Administration but that Leahy’s focus on individual use is not quite the direction to go.”
“While President Obama generated headlines in December by saying his administration has ‘bigger fish to fry’ than prosecuting individual users, it’s never been a federal priority to bust people just for using a little marijuana,” Angell told POLITICO in an email. “The real issue is whether the president wants states to continue implementing voter-approved regulations to control and tax marijuana sales, or if he wants to stand in the way and force these individual users to buy marijuana on the black market from violent drug cartels and gangs. During the 2008 campaign Barack Obama pledged to respect state marijuana laws, and we need lawmakers like Chairman Leahy to give him the encouragement he still sadly needs to fully follow through on that promise.”
I would imagine that the hearing will go something like the video below:
