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Feds fire up anti-pot campaign

October 7, 2011

A looming federal crackdown on legal pot dispensaries in California is emerging in the wake of shifting sentiments in the Obama Administration regarding the use and sale of medical marijuana.

This latest move by the U.S. government appears to be limited to California pot shops, but 16 other states’ approved operations may soon be targeted as the Justice Department’s apparent new mandate spreads to local law enforcement jurisdictions. Federal prosecutors have named 16 shops, mostly in the San Diego area, that must close down or face arrests, and suggest that more are to follow.

San Luis Obispo County has no medical marijuana dispensaries at this time. Under former Sheriff Pat Hedges, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department participated in raids on dispensaries, often working in concert with federal agents.

During his first two years in office, President Obama’s policy leaned toward a states’ right position, publicly noting that his administration would not aggressively enforce federal sanctions against pot use and distribution. But recently, that stance changed, with U.S. officials announcing a new interest in combating the medical use of the drug.


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Neocon Rick Perry says that Mexico’s drug violence may require using US troops in Mexico. [This is using yet another crisis to justify the internationalization of response. The failed ‘War on Drugs’ would end quickly if drugs were decriminalized and if governments stopped covertly helping the cartels.] DailyMail 2011 Oct 2


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2044279/Rick-Perry-says-U-S-send-military-kill-Mexican-drug-cartels-brutality-rises.html


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Absolutely true. But even the cartels don’t have the power that big pharma has.


This seems like one more reason to join the 99%ers. This is what happens when big corps are running our govt.. Now the big pharma corps are sending the Feds to Ca..


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::::applause:::: and a long whistle!


(am I turning left?)


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Gotta agree with her on that one,,,,,,,,


Left, Right, Left, Right, wish I could stop marching. Ron Paul 2012.


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It seems the Feds have not been watching , or at least not learning from, Ken Burns’ new PBS documentary “Prohibition”.


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Feds order California medical marijuana dispensaries to shut down despite being legal under state law. [A power struggle is coming to a head in 16 states that have legalized medical pot. The feds claim that federal law supersedes state law. The states say that the Tenth Amendment authorized them to nullify any federal law that is unconstitutional. The outcome of this contest will shape the future of America.]

DailyMail 2011 Oct 6


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2046224/Feds-order-California-pot-dispensaries-shut–despite-legal-state-laws.html?ito=feeds-newsxml


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I wrote earlier ” Of course , the prisons will also have more business . ” My bad , It would be our local jails now . This would mean we could visit our pot smoking friends , yeah we all have them , over on Kansas St. I wonder if we could have hemp visits , you know , like conjugal visits . We could all meet in the trailer , put on some Bob Marley , medical MJ cookies and a big bong filled with bourbon and bourbon ice cubes ………………. now what was I talking about .


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As I posted else where , this policy should not be implemented if only for the fact that it would be a job killer LOL .


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I believe the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was put in place for just this reason. With it, the founders acknowledged the propensity of governments to overstep their boundaries, and with it, the founders gave the people the means to protect themselves from an overreaching government.


This is gonna get good with the potheads and the gun nuts on the same side.


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LOL that’s funny.


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As we are all hearing now (whether we want to or not, because the information is ubiquitous), Michael Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, was able to buy huge amounts of drugs and have them shipped to his girlfriend’s private address.


The drug thought to be behind Jackson’s death, propofol, is not even a regulated medication. You can get propofol easier than you can get penicillin.


All over the country, who knows how many times a day, fake prescriptions, or prescriptions from pill mills, are being filled.


Where are the raids on these pill mills? Where are the raids on the pharmacies and pharmacists who serve these pill mills, or who fill prescriptions they know are forged? Why are the “prescription pharamcy” phone banks in Florida (and elsewhere) that sell controlled drugs to anyone who calls, without a doctors’ visit, still allowed to operate?


Marijuana dispenseries are such an eensy-beensy part of the controlled-substance outlets in our nation, and Obama is focusing on them?


When Obama gets serious about the vastly larger problem, the non-marijuana controlled-substance distribution industry, then I’ll believe his latest fetish about marijuana dispernseries is something more than a cheap pre-election gimmick intended to fool the most gullible of the 2012 voters.


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Yep. The feds don’t want any competition because they are the biggest fish in the drug sales pool. Makes sense.


Welcome to the Gangster State.


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Actually, that is true. They recently licensed pharmacological corporations to produce marijuana and synthesize it, so it can be mass-produced and sold.


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And once the THC and it’s good byproducts are synthesize and mass produced the drug companies will be the only ones that can LEGALLY sell it … and make lots of PROFIT . Of course , the prisons will also have more business .


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I believe you are absolutely correct. There is a scientist who, decades ago, synthesized marijuana for a research project. The strength is incredibly strong. The scientist kept very strict controls on who had access to the product which was basically: the scientist. Nevertheless, his work was duplicated, it is now a popular drug, and overdose occurs, apparently, very easily. It is a very rapidly growing problem.


Some patients who use medicinal mj prefer to distill it into a tincture or fluid because they can better control the dose and because they don’t want to smoke it (for people who have asthma or lung disease, smoking would be a problem). Others believe they get a better effect on their symptoms by smoking it.


If anything would ever make me a libertarian, it would be this asshattery about marijuana. It is symptomatic of what is wrong with our country, encompassing corporate greed, government making policy based on political fear of backlash, discrimination against groups of people, complete waste of our country’s resources, screwed-up prioritization of using our resources, and selective applications of the law which inevitably benefits the rich corporatist 1%ers and hurts the struggling 99%ers..


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Sativex


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Just one more thing Obama lied about. This man should be impeached immediately, in particular for his decision to kill a U.S. citizen without due process. Welcome to fascist America.


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Mkaney, I am a lifelong Democrat and voted for Obama in 2008, and I totally agree with your opinion.


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I don’t. I agree with the mkaney’s first sentence but that doesn’t warrant impeachment. Geez if we couldn’t get Bush impeached for the tens of thousands of innocent lives that were killed because of his incompetence then the word impeachment shouldn’t even come up with Obama.


But this is so stupid. These people are paying taxes, it’s our state law, we wanted it and it’s so much safer than what people could be doing ie prescription drugs and booze. With all the other real crimes in this state we don’t have the money nor the time to go after these people.


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For heaven sakes, just because Bush didn’t get impeached for his slaughter of our American soldiers doesn’t mean Obama shouldn’t be impeached for it…or for other things he’s done.


Obama is discriminating against one class of Americans–those who need prescribed marijuana to deal with medical issues.


He allows the thousands and thousands of “Conrad Murrays” in our nation to kill people every day by their irresponsibly prescribing (and sometimes selling directly) to addicts and people for whom the drugs are not indicated or contraindicated.


And, once again, he is wasting the limited tax funds we have for one of his vanity/election scams.


Also, Obama has done something even Bush didn’t do–he invaded and occupied a country, Libya, without even talking to Congress about it, certainly by not getting their authorization as required.


THAT is an impeachable offense.


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“For heaven sakes, just because Bush didn’t get impeached for his slaughter of our American soldiers doesn’t mean Obama shouldn’t be impeached for it…or for other things he’s done.”


Yes, I agree but not over this pot thing. I agree that his stance on this is wrong. I agree about everything else except Libya.


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I am surprised at the public sentiment most liberal have about Libya. If you do some research on Ghaddafi, he seems to be a liberal wet dream. He has provided free healthcare, free housing, built the worlds largest aqueduct system bring water to the desert. I have found that most reports of his cruelty are either not true, or describe a situation in which the U.S. government would have come down just as hard, if not harder.


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Please, don’t try to make this a liberal-v-conservative issue. Ghaddafi is a product of the CIA, going back decades. His affiliates aided politicochristian Christ pimp, Pat Robertson, in gaining access to Africa’s diamond mines, as well as working them and ferrying equipment back and forth to the mines–using Robertson’s “Operation Blessing” supposedly “medical-relief” planes.


Not surprisingly, the Operation Blessing aircraft–funded by a Robertson-controlled nonprofit charity with the specific purpose of going into poor countries where there is a lack of medical care for the citizens (funny, the U.S. would qualify for that now)—provided its “services” in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala during the U.S.’s involvement in the Contra war. The OB planes were also seen in Zimbabwe, Sudan, and other African countries at times when there was violent upheaval going on and, of course, active CIA involvement.


Indeed, his access to diamond mines was provided through the CIA by using Roberto Mugabe, death-squad leader and fascist dictator of Zimbabwe, in exchange for Robertson’s involvement in the coup overthrowing the Ian Smith regime, and subsequent installation of Mugabe as dictator. Robertson publicly endorsed Mugabe–really, one of the worst of the African death-squad leaders–and was at Mugabe’s side during many interactions between Mugabe and foreign leaders.


Khadaffi, in the 1980s, trained terrorists and death squad leaders. He was one of the first, certainly one of the most heinous and ruthless, trainers of his kind in modern history. He had a close affiliation with at least two known CIA operatives assigned to Africa prior to his his death-squad training gig, so you tell me where he got the training to do the training.


Both parties have their own sins and scandals. There is no benefit in trashing the other side, especially when people like me can riff on politics for hours.


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A very interesting slant on Ghaddafi, the LONGEST serving ruler in the world. He may have involved himself with the CIA, but he is most certainly not a product of the CIA. His training of terrorists included the IRA. He made an open invitation to anyone who wanted to fight imperialists that he would fund them and train them.


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see terpil wilson


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“If you do some research on Ghaddafi, he seems to be a liberal wet dream. He has provided free healthcare, free housing, built the worlds largest aqueduct system bring water to the desert.”


If you do some research on Hitler, he seems to be the conservative wet dream. He had provided the final solution to health care, just as stated at the GOP debate, if someone gets sick, let them die. The Nazis kicked people out of their homes and had believed in a superior race.


I course I meant that as sarcasm in response to your rediculous post..


Unlike those on the right we don’t all march in lockstep. Mary and I find common ground on some issues but on others we disagree ie Libya.


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Obama didn’t invade nor are we occupying Libya. Yes we did use our drones and intelligence but unlike Bush with Iraq not one American life was given to help the people of Libya. Unlike Iraq the the Libyans started this uprising and Obama worked with the international community to help the Libyans.


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And speaking of drones:


http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2011/10/report-virus-infects-computers-piloting-us-drones/1


I’d certainly consider panicking.


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Bush committed enough crimes that he should have been impeached too. I am not playing favorites. Both of them are clearly pawns of some higher power that does not include the American people.


Ron Paul 2012!


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Yeah they are all bought and paid for by someone… I seem to remember Obama’s “no lobbyists” promise… yeah that didn’t hold up , I believe his is the most lobbyist rich cabinet ever, more even than bush (didn’t that that was even possible 4 years ago)


http://piggington.com/ot_obama_breaks_another_pledge_a_cabinet_full_of_lobbyists


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He broke that promise BEFORE he even took office when he named as Deputy Defense Secretary the VP of Raytheon and presidential-level lobbyist for Raytheon, William Lynn, who resigned right before the nomination. Lynn lobbied to two presidential administrations before the Obama administration.


By the time Obama had been in office less than 20 months, he had broken 42 major 2008 campaign promises.


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And the list of lies go on and on. He doesn’t even believe himself when he speaks!


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TQ…did my eyes deceive me or did you just admit that Obama lied…again?


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I don’t know if I said that or not but of course he lies, he’s a politician. Rarely throughout my life have I seen a politician that didn’t lie. I’ve always admitted that, right or left, they lie. This isn’t a new thing. I think the only honest prez in my lifetime was Carter and look where that got him. Washington is a closed off good ole boy network and Honesty isn’t’ allowed in that network.


As much as I’m disappointed with Obama I’m not jumping on this anti Obama bandwagon. I still like him. I do believe that over all he’s not that bad. He has gotten more terrorists in the last few years than any prez and he did it with little bloodshed. while counting the number of top Al Qaeda leaders and important operatives that Obama has taken out I lost count at 35. He the only prez that has been effective in combating terrorism and that can’t be questioned. And of course I do agree with many of his policies. I liked his original un-watered down health care bill. So IMO is he politician getting money from pharma, yes, do I hate that, yes. People are saying that he’s not sticking to his campaign promises. All politicians make promises that they don’t keep. They get in office with good intentions but then they learn that they have to change some of those promises.


I hate that Obama is being bought off by the big pharma you know how much I hate big wealthy corps but he’s not the only one. Can’t vote for a third party. IMO there is no one in a third party that I’ve seen that is smart enough to be our prez..


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I would rather have a good President than settle for a “not that bad” one. I’m sure you agree. Lying to the people who voted you into office is not conductive to re-election. People have very long memories.


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Of course I’d rather have someone that’s completely honest and good but I just don’t see that happening, not in my lifetime. As I said, the only honest prez that we’ve had is Carter and he fell victim to the hatred on the right. He was stuck with that hostage crises that completely consumed his 4 years in office so we never really knew if he could have been an effective prez. But he was honest if nothing else. We must vote for the lesser of the evils or else not vote at all. I guess the honest people can’t stomach the political machine. BTW liars do get re-elected, look at the only one that didn’t lie,,,Carter. In politics liars win.


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Up until 2 years ago, I identified with the Democrats. I always voted 95-99% for that party. I voted for Obama but in 2010, I became aware of the fact that the Dem’s were no longer a group that I was proud to be a part of and it had far less to do with Obama than the liberals themselves. In 2010 I voted almost 95% Republican. At this point I’m almost certain that I’ll be voting for RON PAUL in 2012.


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I can’t understand this love of Ron Paul but the right and for that matter even the left. I like his stance on war but other than that he seems like an odd old man. His response about about letting the sick man die was cold blooded. I watched him again during these debates and he’s just fumbling man with some crazy ideas. I can’t think of one repub that I could even think about voting for. I didn’t but I could have somewhat supported McCain years back but even he became a sell out,,,though I still would have voted for Hillary over him.


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I was raised in a bipartisan home. Mom was staunch Rep and Dad…not. LOL! Made for interesting dinner convo on many an occasion. For myself, I am leaning more liberal these days than right. TQ is starting to sound more and more reasonable to me! (Those of you who post regularly can appreciate this). I did not vote Obama nor would I ever as long as I draw breath. I can respect a man who stands by his convictions even if I don’t agree with them; I cannot respect a man who changes direction whenever the wind blows and/or an election is near. I am unsure who I will vote for in 2012 but I am CERTAIN it won’t be you-know-who.


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