5 Ways Hypocritical Obama and Corporate Media Are Fighting Marijuana Reform

Fourteen states have legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes; 13 more have medical marijuana ballot or legislative measures on the horizon. And medical pot has paved the way for all-out legalization; for the first time ever, polls consistently show that a majority of Americans -- albeit a slim one -- believe marijuana should be legalized for adults over 18.

Drug reform observers and activists are excitedly awaiting the results of the Tax Cannabis ballot initiative in California this November. While it is not the first time electorates will vote on marijuana legalization (Nevada and Colorado rejected similar measures in 2006; the city of Breckenridge, Colo. legalized it late last year), experts believe California is the first statewide initiative that stands a fighting chance, as AlterNet has reported.

Yet in spite of the positive trend, there are some ominous harbingers indicating that common-sense drug reform relating to marijuana still has a ways to go. Here are five signs that pot legalization faces government and corporate backlash (which may affect public opinion as well), in no particular order:

1. Federal Government and a Major Corporation Ban Marijuana Literature

This past Super Bowl Sunday, a man in Crozet, Va. who has for years made money selling copies of High Times magazine, a cult periodical dedicated to marijuana culture and industry, discovered his sales listings on eBay had been yanked with no advance warning. The kicker? Fred Carwile, the seller, says two separate eBay customer reps told him his listings were pulled at the request of the federal government.

High Times is sold in all sorts of mainstream brick-and-mortar stores throughout the country, including Barnes & Noble, noted an infuriated Carwile, who told his local paper, "The federal government cannot ban books. They’re pressuring a business to ban books."

EBay says it's always been company policy to prohibit listings that "encourage, promote, facilitate, or instruct others to engage in illegal activities." The auction and marketplace site last made this sort of headline when it prohibited the sale of another genre of items: Nazi memorabilia.

2. DEA Raids on Medical Marijuana Facilities Continue

Soon after President Obama took office, Attorney General Eric Holder vowed to end Drug Enforcement Agency raids on legal medical marijuana facilities. The prior administration had a longstanding policy of raiding medical marijuana dispensaries in states where such facilities are legal, so the positive tone from the Attorney General's office was great news to medical marijuana users and the industry that supports them.

But the raids on legal medical marijuana facilities have not ended. The DEA has raided at least a couple such locations in Colorado, where medical marijuana has been legal since 2000.

The DEA continues to employ the same justification for the raids as it did during the Bush era -- that federal law supersedes state law. But as some have pointed out, this may very well contradict the Tenth Amendment, which states: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, or prohibited by it to the States, are to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

3. Drug Warrior Holdover Instated as Chief of DEA

Unfortunately, the problems with the DEA don't end with the raids. And why would they? The person heading the agency, Michele Leonhardt, is a holdover from the Bush era, when she was the Special Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Division. In that position, she effectively enforced the drug warring administration's policy of shutting down medical marijuana entrepreneurs' legal operations and made a habit of arresting medical marijuana patients.