Barack Obama is telling the feds to stop, like, totally freaking out, man, and take it easy on medical marijuana.
Two Justice Department officials told the Associated Press that the Obama Administration will be sending out a three-page memo on Monday instructing federal prosecutors, the FBI, and the DEA not to harsh the buzz of stoners who aren't breaking state laws. Fourteen states have active medical marijuana programs including the entire West Coast and much of New England.
Obama's memo doesn't mean the feds are completely cool with medical marijuana. The AP's sources describe the memo as a set of "prosecutorial priorities" that doesn't rule out going after pot growers and distributors who aren't breaking state law. Dope smokers who can't score a pot prescription or don't live in one of the hippie enclaves where medical marijuana is legal will still need to rely on shady delivery services and streetcorner hustlers.
This new policy may be limited, but it certainly makes things much more mellow for pot clubs than they were under the Bush Administration when DEA agents regularly raided medical marijuana operations. The different Presidential positions on pot aren't surprising considering the fact that weed was Obama's youthful drug of choice while Bush always preferred booze and blow.
New medical marijuana policy issued |