As the calendar rolls over to the day where marijuana officially becomes legal in Colorado and Washington, officials are meeting behind closed doors to discuss whether or not legal action will be taken against those states. The Obama Administration may go after states that have laws enacting marijuana legalization, as it still remains a Schedule I controlled substance by federal law.
Of course, going after supporters of legal marijuana would be a dumb thing for President Obama to do, since the majority of those liberals that elected him support the legalization of pot. that would sort of be like if Romney had been elected by religious conservatives and the Christian population of the US, and then made it illegal to pray in public.
The Justice Department and senior White House officials are in talks that could determine what, if anything, federal officials are planning to do. There is already an unofficial policy of not prosecuting marijuana users, but going after high level distributors, which has led to a federal crackdown on marijuana dispensaries. However, the federal government could decide to begin prosecuting individual users if it so chose, even if what they are doing is perfectly legal under state law, and even if they purchased the marijuana legally from state licensed stores.
Some federal officials spoke to the press anonymously, because they were not permitted to discuss the negotiations, but the word right now is that there has been no decision reached, and no decision is coming anytime soon. However, one of the things that officials cite as a concern is that if residents in Washington and Colorado get used to violating federal law with marijuana, what other federal laws will they flout?
This is of course, a particularly stupid argument, since those who were violating state law before it was legalized would continue whether it was illegal at the state or federal level, and those who didn't use it before it was legalized would continue to follow the law. But, federal officials that oppose marijuana in all forms are desperate for an excuse to fight marijuana legalization.
Photo: Torben Hanson on Flickr.com
Gabriel Legend covers current events for Gather News, and writes horror fiction. If you like an article from Gabriel please share it using the social media links below.Follow Gabriel Legend on Twitter (@GabeLegend).
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Comments: 12
Hmmm...sorry, but your analogy doesn't work here, since there's no federal ban on praying.
A better analogy, though still awkward, would be if an elected Romney were to legalize gay marriage.
A president can't legalize gay marriage jackass. I am not sure how Canada operates, because nobody cares, but in America congress passes law.
That being said, for the life of me I can't understand why anybody would oppose gay marriage. Why not make them pay the marriage license fee and the court costs of a divorce? Give it to them!
Well said. That's a great way to put it.
Legalize everything and sell it out of government run outlets, collect taxes, save money, generate revenue.
The right already thinks the government is trying to be America's pimp yet the democrats call that demagoguery. So you are saying it isn't? Oh, wait. You are Canadian...
This administration will never relinquish one element of control, or concede it should have none over free people.
the majority of those liberals that elected him support the legalization of pot
No, they don't. They support an administration that throws hundreds of thousands of human beings in prison for its use. Support would be a refusal to enable this with your vote. Support would be a vote for a Party committed to legalization. There is no liberal support for legalization, compared to liberal support for the drug war. There is no comparison. If you call this support, please, stop helping. You're killing people.
Just hop in the trench with the neocons where you belong and mulch another couple of generations with this hypocritical, useless, deadly bullshit. You advocated for this insanity. Own it.