Back when he was running for president in 2008, Barack Obama insisted that medical marijuana was an issue best left to state and local governments. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he vowed, promising an end to the Bush administration's high-profile raids on providers of medical pot, which is legal in 16 states and the District of Columbia.
But over the past year, the Obama administration has quietly unleashed a multiagency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush.
A multiagency crackdown on medical cannabis that goes far beyond anything undertaken by George W. Bush.
Knee-jerk Democratic Party hacks will immediately claim this is old news, nothing to see here, move along.
It's old news, it never happened, the Republicans made him do it, and it's really just wonderful that Barack Obama is busting medical marijuana dispensaries which conform to state laws.
But Obama himself doesn't even bother with excuses.
He just tells another big fat lie.
"What I specifically said was that we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using medical marijuana," Obama said.
"Prioritize!"
Did we idiot voters somehow miss that significant little word in Obama's announcement?
Not exactly.
We were stupid enough to elect a TV clown like Obama, but that doesn't mean we can't even read a simple sentence!
"I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue."
So if you read those words
with the eyes of a knee-jerk Democratic Party hack, what you see is a promise to shut down even more medical marijuana dispensaries than George W. Bush.
But for the rest of us, it's just another big fat lie from Barack Obama.
A few details from court records...
153 medical marijuana cases have been brought in the 4 ¼ years of the Obama administration, nearly as many as under the 8 years of the Bush administration (163).
Over 335 defendants have been charged with federal crimes related to medical marijuana in states with medical marijuana laws.
158 defendants have received prison sentences totaling over 480 years for medical marijuana offenses. Some 50 are currently in federal prison, while more are waiting to be sentenced or surrender.
One seriously ill defendant, Richard Flor, has died while in federal prison, and two others, Peter McWilliams and Steve McWilliams (no relation) died while being denied access to medical marijuana on bail. Other seriously ill patients who have who have been sentenced to lengthy terms include Dale Schafer, a hemophiliac currently serving 5 years along with his wife Mollie Fry, a cancer patient ; Vernon Rylee, who served nearly 5 years in a wheelchair, and Jerry Duval.
Makes you
proud to be a Democrat, doesn't it?
Not exactly.