Medical Marijuana

“bullet” The full video of the Cato Institute forum The Politics and Science of Medical Marijuana, (featuring Donald Abrams, M.D., Director of Clinical Programs, Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, University of California; Robert DuPont, M.D., President, Institute for Behavior and Health; Rob Kampia, Executive Director, Marijuana Policy Project; Moderated by Tim Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute) is now available online [Thanks Fidelity]
“bullet” Attorney General Holder reaffirmed policy of not going after medical marijuana clinics that were complying with state laws.

“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law, to the extent that people do that and try to use medical marijuana laws as a shield for activity that is not designed to comport with what the intention was of the state law,” Holder said. “Those are the organizations, the people, that we will target. And that is consistent with what the president said during the campaign.”
A Justice Department official confirmed that Holder’s comments effectively articulated a formal Obama administration policy of not going after such clinics.

“bullet” Iowa Senator Grassley criticized the Obama administration for this position saying that “the new policy is counterproductive because marijuana leads to use of harder drugs.”
NORML Responds

Funny, last time I checked Chuck Grassley represented the state of Iowa and only the state of Iowa, which is not one of the thirteen states that have legalized the possession and use of medical cannabis under state law. If Senator Grassley so desperately wants to control what people do in states other than his own perhaps he should consider running for President. Or, better yet, maybe he should just mind his own business!

“bullet” Update: Good article in the New York Times: Dispensers of Marijuana Find Relief in Policy Shift [Thanks, Tom]
“bullet” Further update: Robert Schlesinger in U.S. News and World Report: Obama, Holder’s Drug Policy Partially Decriminalizes PotÖTime to Go All the Way?

And it may spark (as it were) a broader debate about drugs in this country: Why stop at partial decriminalization? Why not go all the way?