Obama drug czar: We will go after marijuana distributors in Wash. and Colo.

[Boris]

How does the Obama Administration define "distributors and large scale growers"? The Dutch government also limits the amount of cannabis coffee shops can actually possess on their premises and will fine and arrest owners who exceed that limit. Ergo, there isn't any large-liquor store equivalents or chains for cannabis in the Netherlands; merely a bunch of small (mostly independent?) coffee shops. It wouldn't be a terrible thing if a similar status quo were established in Colorado and Washington, although admittedly it's still kinda silly given our alcohol and tobacco policies.

[Lief 🗽]

Yes, that's a good point as well.

The "distributors and large scale growers" phrase has been used for the past few years to describe the medical marijuana busts in California, etc. Obama said during the campaign that he wouldn't go after individual users, and he's stood by this (so the "Obama is a hypocrite since he would have been arrested under this" card doesn't apply here). As far as I know the medical marijuana busts in California that Obama has done have mostly been against larger organizations that are making significant profits (the California law specifies that dispensaries have to be non-profit organizations). The fact that people in California can still easily buy weed, from the many, many smaller, non-profit dispensaries that haven't been busted, supports this. It's unfortunately hard to find a lot of information that isn't heavily biased one way or another on this to see exactly how the administration defines "distributors and large scale growers."

[Sbane]

Yes, that's a good point as well.

The "distributors and large scale growers" phrase has been used for the past few years to describe the medical marijuana busts in California, etc. Obama said during the campaign that he wouldn't go after individual users, and he's stood by this (so the "Obama is a hypocrite since he would have been arrested under this" card doesn't apply here). As far as I know the medical marijuana busts in California that Obama has done have mostly been against larger organizations that are making significant profits (the California law specifies that dispensaries have to be non-profit organizations). The fact that people in California can still easily buy weed, from the many, many smaller, non-profit dispensaries that haven't been busted, supports this. It's unfortunately hard to find a lot of information that isn't heavily biased one way or another on this to see exactly how the administration defines "distributors and large scale growers."

If small dispensaries are allowed in Washington and Colorado, I won't have a problem with it. Let's see what happens.

[Person Man]

It seems to be a reasonably policy to more or less have a Victorian Compromise (only go after those who are obviously selling dope on a conspicuous scale) on the issue until a few more states join suit.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I wonder how long it'll take one of those corporatist hacks to introduce legislation declaring CO and WA's referendums null and void...

[fezzyfestoon]

The authoritarian thing to do would be for the executive branch to decide to no longer enforce laws passed by congress. The president shouldn't unilaterally decide to ignore laws that were passed by past congresses and signed into law by past presidents. Obviously I think our national drug policy is stupid, but it's not up to the president to write the laws.

And I support the military strategy that results in the fewest deaths to American soldiers and civilians, and has been incredibly successful in destroying al-Qaeda, to answer Jbrase's post.

Anyway, going after large distributors is very different from going after individual users, which, as this slanted article reports, is what the administration's policy actually is. But continue to be deranged about that evil fascist Obama, personally ordering innocent teenaged Americans to be blown up and sending his vicious gangs to round up anyone who's ever smoked a joint.

If all federal laws were enforced as violently and aggressively with gargantuan budgeting, then I could see where you're coming from, Lief. Unfortunately, here in reality Obama is being willfully authoritarian and the drug war is insanity. There's also the fact that Obama's administration has made drastically more marijuana arrests [future citation to avoid inevitable denial] than Bush and if it weren't for the vast scale of usage, they'd be going after users in Colorado and Washington as much as they do everywhere else.

[CatoMinor]

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No need for citation, Lief sees the facts as he wants them to be. The "progressive" Dems can do no wrong, and everyone with an R next to their name is a fascist (unless if they have an L next to their name, they are Anarcho-Fascist  then).