Pubdate: Mon, 09 Feb 2009 Source: State Press, The (AZ Edu) Copyright: 2009 ASU Web Devil Contact: http://www.asuwebdevil.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3961 Author: Brett Livingood Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) TIME FOR OBAMA TO TACKLE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA On Jan. 20, two days after Barack Obama's inauguration, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a medical marijuana dispensary in California. Last Tuesday it happened again. DEA agents simultaneously raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles. It seems "hippie bashing" is one of those American pastimes we cannot resist. There's nothing quite like taking a baton to another human being and having him or her respond, "Hey man, chill; we aren't hurting anyone." Even better if said hippies, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, suffer from "epilepsy, cancer, [multiple sclerosis], diabetes," or amputations -- or so "South Park's" Eric Cartman would have us believe. For those of us who aren't motivated by the prospect of harming docile creatures, however, hippie bashing seems like a relic of a bygone er, something that should have died with Jimi Hendrix -- or at least Ronald Reagan. Granted, there was no direct hippie bashing conducted during the raids (the DEA only crippled the dispensaries by confiscating everything from the stores' cannabis supplies to cash in their cash registers), but the DEA's actions reek of evils we thought would end after Jan. 20. After all, with President Obama's promises of change, many thought he would enable states with medical marijuana provisions to enforce their laws. Perhaps the DEA didn't get the memo. Or, perhaps Obama has not yet taken any action relating to the issue of medical marijuana, thereby allowing the DEA to continue enforcing policies of the Bush administration. Under the Bush administration, the federal government worked to deregulate the economy while regulating morality. We know the Obama administration will regulate the economy, but the DEA's raids highlight the following question: Will the Obama administration continue regulating morality for morality's sake? Myriad reasons may decide whether the new president chooses to continue or discontinue federal enforcement of drug policies that conflict with state policies, but political issues stand at the fore. Intense political backlash will accompany whatever decision Obama makes. Supporters of medical marijuana, moderates who voted for Obama and everyone in between, will likely expect action favorable to the use of medical marijuana. Dissenters and right-wingers -- despite their talk of state's rights -- will take favorable action toward medical marijuana as another slap in the face. With the heat on Obama's economic stimulus package and his cabinet choices, dissenters will do that much more to sabotage Obama's presidency. This all indicates a much larger problem. We will have to see whether or not Obama can wade his way through the political muck to affect the change he promised. In the meantime, people suffering from crippling diseases wish to use cannabis to make their lives a little more bearable. President Obama, they're waiting. - --- MAP posted-by: Doug