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Drug czar: Feds won't support legalized pot [Obama breaks promise - still raids medical marijuana]
Fresno Bee ^ | July 22, 2009 | Marc Benjamin

Posted on 07/27/2009 7:38:41 PM PDT by grundle

The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno.

The nation's drug czar, who viewed a foothill marijuana farm on U.S. Forest Service land with state and local officials earlier Wednesday, said the federal government will not support legalizing marijuana.

"Legalization is not in the president's vocabulary, and it's not in mine," he said.

"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS -- Save Our Sierra -- a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County.

Marijuana plants valued at more than $1.26 billion have been confiscated and 82 people arrested over the past 10 days in Fresno County. The operation started last week and is continuing.

By comparison, Tulare County's leading commodity -- milk -- was valued at about $1.8 billion in 2008.

Officials say the marijuana-eradication operation will cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, but the exact amount won't be known until agencies can add up staffing, vehicle and other costs.

In Operation SOS, more than 314,000 plants were uprooted in 70 gardens -- numbers expected to rise as the enforcement action continues. Agents also seized $41,000 in cash, 26 firearms and three vehicles.

(Excerpt) Read more at fresnobee.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; US: California
KEYWORDS: bhoczars; bhowod; dea; drugczar; kerlikowske; medicalmarijuana
Obama made a campaign promise to stop the DEA marijuana raids in the states where medical marijuana is legal. But now he has appointed a new drug czar who will continue the raids, and who claims that marijuana has no medical benefits.
1 posted on 07/27/2009 7:38:41 PM PDT by grundle
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To: grundle
obama breaking yet another promise? I'm shocked, shocked I say! :-/

About the only promise he seems to be keeping is his full-court-press at turning America into a bankrupt, socialist/fascist nightmare.

2 posted on 07/27/2009 7:42:45 PM PDT by CodeMasterPhilzar (I'll keep my money, my guns, and my freedom. You can keep the "change.")
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To: grundle
"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit,"

Demonstrably false statements.

/johnny

3 posted on 07/27/2009 7:42:55 PM PDT by JRandomFreeper (God Bless us all, each, and every one.)
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To: PJ-Comix

ping! get us the Dummy take on this one.


4 posted on 07/27/2009 7:45:02 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: JRandomFreeper

Is there any other kind from this administration?


5 posted on 07/27/2009 7:46:09 PM PDT by dtrpscout (A bad dog is better than most good people.)
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To: grundle

Oh, the stinking hippy obots are going to be like...bummed out, man. (inhaling-fhhhhhhhh)


6 posted on 07/27/2009 7:46:26 PM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (RATs...nothing more than Bald Haired Hippies!)
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To: grundle

The potheads can’t get a break.


7 posted on 07/27/2009 7:46:52 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: CodeMasterPhilzar

All those young people who voted for him thought he would legalize pot and looks like he won’t.


8 posted on 07/27/2009 7:53:34 PM PDT by hsmomx3 (GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: JRandomFreeper
Bet all the DU dummies will be deeply saddened. Maybe they will start to see that the hope and change thing isn't working out quite like they thought it would... how can this be? hahahahha

OMG Obama lied, and pot plants died!!!

9 posted on 07/27/2009 7:59:34 PM PDT by 1ofmanyfree ((No jobs, licenses,mortgages,bank accounts or amnesty for any illegal alien criminals ! ))
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To: 1ofmanyfree

I imagine there are atleast a few FReepers who are disappointed. Unlikely to be surprised, though.


10 posted on 07/27/2009 8:07:59 PM PDT by MetaThought
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To: grundle
Bull Hockey. I was in Seattle after the WTO Riots, and the RIOTERS HOLED UP IN AN ABANDONED BUILDING NEXT TO THE SEATTLE POLICE STATION.

KERLIKOWSKI DID NOTHING FOR MONTHS WHILE THE RIOTOUS SQUATTERS LAUGHED AT HIM.

11 posted on 07/27/2009 8:10:07 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (It's the spending, stupid!)
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To: Uncle Miltie
Earning him the nickname: GIRLYKOWSKI
12 posted on 07/27/2009 8:10:37 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (It's the spending, stupid!)
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To: JRandomFreeper
"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," Kerlikowske said in downtown Fresno while discussing Operation SOS -- Save Our Sierra -- a multiagency effort to eradicate marijuana in eastern Fresno County.

Even if this statement weren't demonstrably false, it is not demonstrably true, either, at least not any more so than other things like alcohol or trans fats. It is highly irresponsible and completely lacking in integrity to make such a sweeping statement when it has not been proven. It is even more irresponsible to base an intrusive law enforcement policy on such made-up "science".

Having said that, I was under the impression that the marijuana farms in the Sierras that were busted the other day were Mexican cartel farms, not medical marijuana plots, in which case, I'd say eradicating those makes sense whether marijuana has medical benefits or not.
13 posted on 07/27/2009 8:11:00 PM PDT by fr_freak
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To: Uncle Miltie

Hey, GIRLYKOWSKI, if you’re serious, come arrest my neighbors. You can find me.


14 posted on 07/27/2009 8:11:08 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (It's the spending, stupid!)
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To: grundle
What do you think the government should do when Mexican criminals destroy the National Forest to grow marijuana?

The grows are in the National Forest, not on private property. I don't think too many people want to risk being shot at by Mexican narcoterrorists because they took a nature walk in the wrong part of the forest.

15 posted on 07/27/2009 8:54:31 PM PDT by USNBandit (sarcasm engaged at all times)
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LEGALIZE!!! YEAH!

Still wont stop the black market. The garbage will still come across the border, only laced for more addiction.

I am a proponent for legalization. And promote it as grown safe in the U.S.A. with no chemicals (when was the last time YOU bought boot-legged WINE or shine???).
The government stands to do nicely on taxes and people by and large will not be turned into criminals. Look, we already have DUI laws on the books. Are the DUI laws legit or not? a matter for another debate. But none the less, DUI laws exist and can be applied equally with marijuana.
Let the private sector hash out who can smoke and who cannot. Put it in hiring contracts and annual reviews. Employers can still say who they want to hire and many do dope tests already.
These crazy laws against a weed simply boggle the mind.
It is Prohibition part Deux with a larger Police state and growers/suppliers making some dank stuff for black market profit.
Legalize already. Those that want to will continue; those that never have will still be the never halves.

Oh and don't bring in coke or anything else..I DO NOT support that "refined" crap...Never have, never will. Can't pick it? don't sell it it.

16 posted on 07/27/2009 9:01:42 PM PDT by Michael Barnes (When, America?)
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To: USNBandit
What do you think the government should do when Mexican criminals destroy the National Forest to grow marijuana?

I think they should make it legal to grow marijuana on private property, which would make people stop growing it on public property.

17 posted on 07/27/2009 9:06:40 PM PDT by grundle
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To: Michael Barnes; mugs99
"These crazy laws against a weed simply boggle the mind."

And, as everybody knows, some minds are SO much more easily boggled, than others!!!

18 posted on 07/27/2009 10:34:51 PM PDT by SierraWasp (Galloping suffocating American Socialism stinks like BO!!!)
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To: SierraWasp

And this is a bad thing...freeking pot-smoking hippies!!


19 posted on 07/27/2009 10:52:02 PM PDT by gman992
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To: grundle
Obama made a campaign promise to stop the DEA marijuana raids in the states where medical marijuana is legal. But now he has appointed a new drug czar who will continue the raids, and who claims that marijuana has no medical benefits.

I kept telling people pot was never gonna be legalized, especially by this President.

The WOD is simply about government control.

20 posted on 07/31/2009 11:36:51 AM PDT by 08bil98z24 (WOD + Law Enforcement = Govt Revenue $$$)
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