By Rob Kampia
“What I’m not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state [medical marijuana] laws.”
Barack Obama, Oregon Mail Tribune, March 22, 2008
Last week, without any public comment, President Obama broke the above campaign promise to medical marijuana patients when his Justice Department issued a new departmental policy for enforcement of federal marijuana laws in states with medical marijuana programs. Deputy Attorney General James Cole stated that while federal prosecutors should not go after sick and dying individuals, they may choose to prosecute businesses that provide marijuana to patients, even when the providers are abiding by state law.
To put it simply, this is absurd.
Despite the memo’s claim to the contrary, it contradicts what had been official DOJ policy and flies in the face of numerous past statements by the president and his attorney general. In May 2010, Attorney General Eric Holder testified in Congress that “if the entity is, in fact, operating consistent with state law, and is not – does not have any of those factors involved that are contained in that Deputy Attorney General memo, … [threatening to arrest the dispensary’s employees] would be inconsistent with what the policy is as we have set it out.”
Please tell the Obama administration that providing channels for patients to safely obtain their doctor-recommended medicine is a crucial component of workable medical marijuana laws. Then, please post this link to your Facebook or Twitter account. Without necessary medical marijuana providers, many patients may have to revert to buying marijuana from the criminal market.
Finally, if you were an Obama supporter in any capacity during his 2008 campaign, please call his 2012 campaign headquarters and demand that he keep his promise to medical marijuana patients.
Thank you kindly for supporting marijuana policy reform.
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
