Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jun 2013
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/submissions/#1
Website: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Debra J. Saunders

A DYING DRUG WAR AND ITS LAST VICTIMS

The power to prosecute is an awesome power that confers the ability 
to ruin people's lives, which is why an attorney general should use 
that power judiciously.

There should be, to borrow from language in currency at the Obama 
Department of Justice these days, "balance." When authorities uphold 
federal drug laws, they should target the worst offenders first, not 
prosecute and jail their biggest critics.

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, a campaign spokesman 
told me Obama "believes that states and local government are best 
positioned to strike the balance between making sure that these 
policies are not abused for recreational drug use and making sure 
that doctors and their patients can safely access pain relief." When 
Oregon's Willamette Week asked Obama if he would stop federal raids 
on medical marijuana facilities, he answered, "I would, because I 
think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching 
criminals and preventing terrorism."

Those remarks suggested that as president, Obama would leave 
marijuana enforcement to local officials in the 18 states that have 
legalized medical marijuana.

Yet under Attorney General Eric Holder, the Obama Department of 
Justice has declared war on medical marijuana dispensaries. Last week 
in Sacramento, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced that his 
office had cut a plea agreement with Matthew Davies, 35, a bistro 
owner and small-business man with an MBA , who "set out to build a 
lucrative marijuana empire in the Central Valley, even though he knew 
that this conduct was illegal under federal law." Davies will serve 
five years in prison and pay a big fine for growing and dispensing 
medical marijuana. Already, he has forfeited $100,000.

The smart and humane course would be to place Davies, who already has 
been wiped out financially, on probation or home detention. By 
putting him behind bars for five years, the Feds end his ability to 
hire workers for his bistro and other concerns, erase the taxes he 
would have paid, and take a father from his wife and two daughters.

And for what? Will illicit marijuana use go down? I don't think so.

After a high-profile press campaign waged by attorney Steven Ragland 
and public relations ace Chris Lehane to win a pardon or lenient 
sentence, Davies caved because federal mandatory minimum sentences 
lack all proportion. Wagner asserts that Davies faced a 40-year 
sentence if found guilty of three of the 10 counts filed against him. 
That's an insane sentence for a first time nonviolent drug offender.

"It's not just incarceration" that bleeds taxpayers, noted Kris 
Hermes of Americans for Safe Access. "It's also the investigation. 
It's also the prosecution."

After Colorado and Washington voters chose to legalize recreational 
use of marijuana, the president told ABC's Barbara Walters he had 
"bigger fish to fry" than going after recreational users.

But for all the president's talk about a need for "balance" when 
dealing with intelligence leaks and First Amendment rights, he will 
not demand balance in his own Department of Justice.

Hermes sees the "dying gasp" of drug warriors refusing to accept the 
verdict of voters - so they're kicking folks like Matt Davies and 
using your tax dollars to feed their nasty habit.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom