Posted on 02/27/2009 6:18:36 PM PST by Big_Monkey
Supporters of programs to provide legal marijuana to patients with painful medical conditions are celebrating Attorney General Eric Holder’s statement this week that the Drug Enforcement Administration would end its raids on state-approved marijuana dispensaries.
Federal raids on medical marijuana distributors continued at least into the second week of Barack Obama’s presidency, when federal agents shut down at least two dispensaries in California on Feb. 3.
Holder was asked about those raids Wednesday in Santa Ana, Calif., at a news conference that was called to announce the arrests of 755 people in a nationwide crackdown on the U.S. operations of Mexican drug cartels. He said such operations would no longer be conducted.
“What the president said during the campaign ... will be consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement,” he said. “What (Obama) said during the campaign ... is now American policy.”
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
The Controlled Substance Act was passed in 1970, and signed into law by one of our all time worst presidents—Richard Milhous Loser.
I never went in there, myself, but used to park on that side street that the pot dispensary was on. Once a local policeman gave me a hard time, telling me something like "we know you're hanging around in there", which tells me they had a hard-on for the joint (no pun intended).
Once I calmly explained to the heavy breathing, badge heavy local yokel why I was parked there frequently (at the time I was associated with a small business around the corner, and half-way up the next street) he backed off a bit. Luckily enough for me, there are still quite a few of the local police who know me (it's a small town) and they put the word out for me to some of the newer ones, "hey, he's one of the good guys".
That town has a bit of turnover in the P.D., and has for at least a couple of generations. It's like a training ground of sorts. Many police start there, then transfer to where the action is at, and some come from big cities to de-compress. I can't blame the latter much for that. It's a nice sleepy little town.
It wasn't just the Sherriff who helped bring in the feds. the local P.D. Chief was in on it too. Not that he's ever admit that, command & control power-tripper that he is...
That P.D. currently is slowly backsliding into it's old badge heavy ways. I'm not the only one who misses the last Chief. More than a few of the senior officers do too, for much the same reasons I do, but even more so, and for one of them, even to the point of thinking of taking early retirement. (I hope I was able to talk that one out of doing that)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.