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   Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gnter Grass still thinks reunification was a bad idea.
 Forty years of writing from Taylor Branch, James Fallows, Katherine Boo, Marjorie Williams, Joshua Micah Marshall, and more.
 With help from Washington, the for-profit college industry is loading up millions of low-income students with debt they'll never pay off.
 The best recent memoir from republican Washington is a hoax. That should tell you something.
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October 19, 2009
FOLLOWING THROUGH ON A SANE DRUG POLICY.... Literally just 48 hours after President Obama's inauguration, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided a medical marijuana dispensary in northern California. The move was at odds with Obama's policy, at least as it was articulated during the campaign, prompting questions about whether the White House would follow through on its stated goals. We've seen considerable progress since. In February, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that the Justice Department will no longer raid medical marijuana clubs legally established in states. The announcement fulfilled a campaign promise Obama made during the campaign. Today, we see the next step towards a sane federal drug policy.
There's often a sense that those states that have approved medicinal use of marijuana have been free from DEA crackdowns. That hasn't been the case at all -- throughout the Bush era, federal authorities ignored the states'-rights argument and went after state-authorized marijuana distributors, on the argument that federal law trumped state law. Under Obama, federal law still trumps state law, but authorities will simply shift its priorities -- in states where use and distribution of marijuana is legal, the administration will put their law enforcement energies elsewhere. Update: Glenn Greenwald called the Obama administration's new policy guidelines "one of those rare instances of unadulterated good news from Washington." —Steve Benen 11:15 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (14)Comments
I hope they use the savings to affect change on the demand side of the drug equation. With private, local, state and federal cooperation, we really should invest much more to make drug use as unpopular as possible among kids (and adults), especially among the impoverished. If we can change the culture of American youth through public service announcements, school programs, and parent education, then we can make a significant dent in the culture of violence as well. Posted by: Chris on October 19, 2009 at 11:25 AM | PERMALINKNPR reported this morning that the LA District Attorney (county) is going to go after medical marijuana stores in his area. Here's AP news: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gD-D_Ac1QVI6pUuyz5rX_HpghtEQD9BE43MG0 Posted by: anomaly on October 19, 2009 at 11:36 AM | PERMALINKAnd now for all the states-righters and tenthers hailing Obama as the second coming of John C. Calhoun for this courageous throttling of unconstitutional federal power: [Crickets] Yep, their opposition to Obama is absolutely grounded in strong constitutional arguments. Not about race at all. Posted by: Yellow Dog on October 19, 2009 at 11:39 AM | PERMALINKJJC @11:25: Below is a good primer on the legal history of marijuana in the US. Posted by: Michael W on October 19, 2009 at 11:42 AM | PERMALINKWhy would the federal gov't waste resources on only enforcing federal laws against people that violate the state laws? Should they just pass those things on to the state whose laws the people have violated? Just seems like a huge waste of time and money, much like the entire War on Drugs Unfortunately, since we know Obama's philosophy regarding executive action, this means he doesn't think he can get legislation through. Posted by: inkadu on October 19, 2009 at 12:38 PM | PERMALINKNow that the feds are implicitly allowing medicinal use, it would be good to get the DEA to recategorize marijuana as a schedule II drug, instead of a schedule I drug. That way, there could actually be meaningful research done on its use, rather than the anecdotal approach, which in my opinion undermines a scientific approach to medicine. Posted by: Ben on October 19, 2009 at 12:39 PM | PERMALINKNow we need to put some money in the NIH budget to start doing real peer-review clinical studies on the effectiveness of medical marijuana. It is legal in this country to prescribe COCAINE to treat certain diseases. Why? Because science shows its effectivness. We prescribe all kinds of opium derivatives to deal with pain. Again, because they work. There is wide anedoctal research along with a small (but growing) amount of clinical research showing marijuana's effectivness in treating a wide variety of ailments. It is well past time large scale clinical trials were begun. Posted by: thorin-1 on October 19, 2009 at 12:46 PM | PERMALINKCheck out how DRUDGE is playing it: "High Times", in ALL CAPS, and he puts a picture of Obama *with schoolchildren* front and center. Shameless. Posted by: echo loop on October 19, 2009 at 1:15 PM | PERMALINKDon't forget to consult your physician about bringing a towel. Posted by: sleepy_commentator on October 19, 2009 at 2:43 PM | PERMALINKThe rules governing everything from medicine (cannabis) to marriage (prop 8) to military eligibility (DADT) has become hostage to the whims of the ebb and flow of party ascendancy. Is that any way to run an asylum? Posted by: Chopin on October 19, 2009 at 3:12 PM | PERMALINK"Remind me again why pot is illegal?" It degrades a person's ability to remember... stuff. That was just too easy. :-) Posted by: Hemmingplay on October 19, 2009 at 3:36 PM | PERMALINKWhat about the real savior of the planet. Where will the non-drug hemp crop fit in with all this hoop-law of change? Remember the US Constitution is printed on hemp paper. Posted by: artemus on October 19, 2009 at 3:54 PM | PERMALINKA sudden outbreak of common sense. But Chopin is right: it's really silly to depend on administration policy for issues like this. The next administration would be perfectly free to reverse this. Posted by: Sean Peters on October 19, 2009 at 5:02 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
November 2009
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