Major Blow to 'War on Drugs': Obama Tells Fed Prosecutors, Don't Waste Your Time with Medical Marijuana Arrests

By Allen St. Pierre, NORML. Posted October 19, 2009.

In what can only be described as major departure in the so-called ‘war on drugs’, the Obama Administration is issuing a new three page memo this morning mapping out the federal government’s new guidelines for states that have laws protecting medical cannabis patients.

In February Attorney General Eric Holder indicated in a press conference that the Obama Administration -- which favors physician-recommended access to medical cannabis -- would abate from what had been an aggressive law enforcement (and propaganda) campaign against medical access to cannabis.

Today’s memo from the Department of Justice formalizes these changes and is a MAJOR victory for citizens who support cannabis law reform!

Report: New DOJ guidelines to back medical marijuana laws
By Bridget Johnson – 10/18/09 11:40 PM ET

The Hill

The Obama administration is set to make a sharp turn from the Bush administration when it comes to state laws regarding medical marijuana usage, the Associated Press reported late Sunday.

The guidelines to be issued to federal prosecutors Monday will suggest that it’s not a good use of time to go after users and distributors of medical marijuana in the 14 states that allow such usage, while encouraging that illegal pot operations involving violence, firearms and sale to minors still be pursued.

Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington currently have state laws allowing at least limited use of marijuana for medical purposes. The AP reported that federal prosecutors in these states, as well as top officials at the FBI and DEA, would being receiving the three-page Justice Department memo outlining the new policy.

Under the George W. Bush administration, medical marijuana dispensaries were still targeted for violating federal law despite state laws allowing pot for medical use. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a shift in this policy in March, stating that federal enforcement would concentrate on illegal marijuana operations that use medical pot allowances as a cover.

The move doesn’t come as a surprise, as Obama the candidate had expressed support for states that allowed medical marijuana.

“I would not have the Justice Department prosecuting and raiding medical marijuana users,” then-Sen. Barack Obama said on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

See more stories tagged with: marijuana, obama, medical marijuana, federal government, cannabis

Allen St. Pierre is the executive director of NORML.

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »