At long last
Finally I've found like minds to converse with. The war on drugs is costly and futile.
How to Build a Movement
I found this video wonderfully charming and insightful:
Will DEA Help States Implement Medical Marijuana Laws?
I like the way Eric Sterling frames his concerns about Michele Leonhart's nomination to head the DEA:
Medical marijuana is indeed the most volatile political issue the DEA deals with. Any questionable move on their part is guaranteed to ignite an immediate firestorm of protests and bad press. But Eric isn't just asking DEA not to attack people for medical marijuana activities. He's suggesting that DEA could actually help with the implementation of new laws, for example by providing regulators at the state level with a realistic assessment of what their enforcement priorities will be. Â
It's an idea so crazy it just might work. But in order for it to happen, the White House will have to improve on its position that medical marijuana raids are a poor use of resources and acknowledge instead that the government actually has a responsibility for making this medicine readily and safely available to the people who need it.
Aside from the Mexican drug trafficking organizations, the big challenge for the next DEA administrator is to help the states and D.C. implement their medical marijuana laws. President Obamaâs nominee, Michele M. Leonhart, has been at the top of DEA for seven years as deputy and acting administrator. Previously she was DEA special agent-in-charge in both San Francisco and Los Angeles. Since 1997, she has led DEA in resisting state medical marijuana laws. She lacks an essential qualification: a commitment to working with the states to implement these compassionate laws. The Senate Judiciary Committee should look closely at her record and her willingness to carry out that mission. [Washington Post]
Medical marijuana is indeed the most volatile political issue the DEA deals with. Any questionable move on their part is guaranteed to ignite an immediate firestorm of protests and bad press. But Eric isn't just asking DEA not to attack people for medical marijuana activities. He's suggesting that DEA could actually help with the implementation of new laws, for example by providing regulators at the state level with a realistic assessment of what their enforcement priorities will be. Â
It's an idea so crazy it just might work. But in order for it to happen, the White House will have to improve on its position that medical marijuana raids are a poor use of resources and acknowledge instead that the government actually has a responsibility for making this medicine readily and safely available to the people who need it.