Democratic strategists were perplexed. Roger Salazar, a California party consultant, believes the president may be trying to reach out to a broader base. But that doesn't explain the attack on his own base; Democrats support medical marijuana at high percentages. It doesn't even make sense in luring conservatives. With the country in economic tatters, no one has weed high on his radar. Except one group, says Salazar: "My sense is it's coming from law enforcement."
Earlier this month, in a timely coincidence, the California Medical Association's board voted to encourage the feds to legalize marijuana. Though spokeswoman Molly Weedn emphasizes that the decision by the doctors group hinges on a call for more research, a report studied by the CMA board before its decision makes it clear that — at the least — marijuana shows promise as a medicine.
2011 Village Voice Media
Details
Related Content
More About
The CMA's Council on Clinical and Scientific Affairs "has also concluded that components of medical cannabis may be effective for the treatment of pain, nausea, anorexia, and other conditions."
A new Gallup poll, meanwhile, shows that a record 50 percent of Americans believe that marijuana — and not just the medical kind — should be legalized. The poll follows a continuing trend over the past several years of increasing support for legalization.
Obama has chosen to swim against the tide. But there's reason to believe his fight is about politics, not public safety. If this were about safety, alcohol would be his primary target.
Politics causes both sides to fudge the truth. Yet prohibitionists and the government have been particularly egregious. The government is using taxpayer dollars to prop up its side, with the U.S. Justice Department's 64-page booklet, "Speaking Out About Drug Legalization," being a prime example.
The booklet, distributed in print and online, states that "smoked marijuana is not scientifically approved medicine." Forget that by labeling it a drug on par with heroin, the DEA is curtailing the proper study of marijuana, since it prevents even scientists from possessing it for research. The publicly funded propaganda also flies in the face of the opinion of doctors, who see pot's potential as medicine.
Federal law is, for now, on the side of the prohibitionists. And it's difficult for any politician to stand up for marijuana. He or she will be quickly painted as pro-pothead. Like women's suffrage, the medical marijuana movement has — in ten states, anyway — benefited by the direct democracy of citizen initiatives. These elections have taken the pulse of voters in a way that congressional elections cannot.
In six other states and Washington, D.C., medical marijuana was legalized by local lawmakers. Other states, possibly by petition in Florida, are bound to vote in favor of decriminalizing pot in the next few years in spite of federal laws.
Across the country, advocates are returning fire of their own in the court system. Which means Obama won't be able to do battle by the relatively cheap means of letters and threats. He'll likely end up burning through millions of dollars in litigation — money he doesn't have.
Goldstein thinks the president may have underestimated his foe. In Florida, there's a petition circulating to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot that would legalize medical marijuana. Many of those gathering signatures aren't ex-hippies but young professionals who grew up understanding the benefits of pot. "The government has no idea who it's fighting," Goldstein says.
The latest crackdown may be bad for the pot business, but Obama could be doing much more. He could go after patients. Over the summer, a federal judge ruled that the DEA could peek at the names on Michigan's patient registry. Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, said Judge Hugh Brenneman Jr., patients can't expect privacy.
The feds could also hit pot-tolerant cities. The law doesn't allow municipal workers to be jailed in such prosecutions, but cities or counties could be heavily fined just for setting up zoning requirements for dispensaries.
There's a huge downside to that, of course. Obama will only appear mean and small for having sickly grandmas arrested. And fining cities just enrages residents picking up the tab — the very people the president will need a year from now.
Last week, the feds raided several growing operations in California and Oregon, including one in Mendocino County that appeared to be playing by the state rules. But it seems safe to assume that few of the hundreds of other growers in Mendocino County uprooted their crops in response — just as the hundreds of dispensaries in California did not immediately close their doors after the feds' ominous warning on October 7.
The industry seems to be practicing a form of civil disobedience. And it has tens of thousands of seriously sick people behind it who will holler loudly if they're forced back to the black market.
Landlords, worried the feds will steal their property, will tell dispensaries to move out. Banks won't handle money for pot-themed businesses. Dispensaries will be taxed so heavily that they won't be able to cover the payroll or pay the electric bill.
Yet it remains to be seen whether federal prosecutors, who undoubtedly have even more serious criminals with whom to contend, are willing and able to carry out the threat. When Jack Gillund, Melinda Haag's spokesman, was asked whether her office had the resources to go after every dispensary or grower who doesn't comply with the 45-day deadline, he offered a simple reply: "No comment."
