Reversing the position of prior administrations, Attorney General Eric Holder has said that President Obama will tell federal authorities to "back off" of making pot raids in California, leaving the regulation of marijuana up to the states and unfettered by the federal government.
From the San Francisco Chronicle:
Asked at a Washington news conference Wednesday about Drug Enforcement Administration raids in California since Obama took office last month, Holder said the administration has changed its policy.
"What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement," he said. "What he said during the campaign is now American policy."
Bill Piper, national affairs director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group, said the statement is encouraging.
Here comes the giggle herb.
Obama's policy change is a step towards fixing the unintended consequences of the failed policies of the war on drugs, including what's happening along our border with Mexico. For so long as prohibition is the policy, you can expect well financed gangs to perpetrate violence to protect their fiscal well being. It's not the drugs that cause the violence - to paraprhase a well known slogan, "it's the money, stupid." History repeats, and this is a repeat of the Roaring '20s. Heard lately of any driveby shootings because of bathtub gin?
Posted by: Bill Adkins | February 28, 2009 at 11:48 PM