Great editorial in the Aurora, Colorado Sentinal after the recent medical marijuana raid.
Sweetin’s comments raise serious questions about just who’s in charge of this federal agency, and how inappropriate it is for this agency to usurp state’s rights in contradiction to the will of the president. […]
As to Sweetin’s remarks about the medicinal properties of marijuana, he’s clearly out of his league as a law enforcer to be taking on the role of a medical research scientist.
All of his comments should be worrisome to state residents, no matter how they feel about the recent medical marijuana controversy.
Of course all of this points to the fact that instead of pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into a useless war against marijuana and sending hundreds of billions of consumer dollars into the hands of murderous Mexican drug criminals, Colorado and the rest of the United States could be taxing and regulating a huge industry that will never go away.
And even numbers created by government officials who’ve come down closer to Earth on the matter make it clear that, just like alcohol, prohibition only serves to enrich criminals, while regulation and legalization could be made to serve us all.
Until common sense prevails, however, reasonable federal law and chain of command will have to suffice.
It would be nice if this started the kind of ruckus that got people in authority thinking it would just be easier if Sweetin wasn’t around — like maybe transferred to a weather station in the Antarctic.
Message to the 50 states the 10th amendment exists. It hasn’t been repealed. Feel free to use it.
Finally, the words have been spoken. And spoken in a State where anti-Fed sentiment is already extant.
The Feds want The States to think of themselves as ‘the states’, i.e. provinces in an empire, not sovereign entities within a federation. (It is no accident why the common spelling of the word is not capitalized as it should be, courtesy of the practice of the Founders intending them to be sovereign political entities; this ‘demotion’ is deliberately fostered on the part of both government and educators who are unaware of the significance.)
This editorial reminds the readers and the Feds that The States most certainly are not provinces, and that the citizens of The States are not ‘subjects’. And Mr. Sweetin is no praetorian…
Does Sweetin consider himself to be the Voice of the Federals now? Over and above the AG? Is he certified in the fields of both law enforcement and medical science? Of course, Holder hasn’t got the balls to put Sweetin in his place, as you and I would be if we were as stupid as he.
“All Men Rise To Their Own Levels Of Incompetence.” Sweetin is a prime example of this saying.
FYI, the Denver Post reports that Sweetin has backed off of his statements regarding cannabis dispensaries. However, his justification for busting Chris Bartkowitz’s residence in Highland Ranch was due to the fact that the owner reported possible income of upwards of $400,000 / year from medical cannabis and it was located in a residential area. But it is really about the money too.
“Four hundred thousand dollars a year goes beyond, I’m just a caregiver for sick people”, Sweetin said Sunday.
In a tough economy, taking away someone’s ability to make a living through honest hard work is the real crime.
“In a tough economy, taking away someone’s ability to make a living through honest hard work is the real crime.
And that is precisely their intent: to destroy you in order to make an object lesson of you, to make others keep their heads down.
But…the DEA are Feds.There’s so few of them, they must either pool their personnel from other Fed sites or get the local LEOs in on the action. Even if that’s done, it’s still done on the taxpayer’s dime, and that will only chafe more as things get tighter. Especially when those taxpayers realize how much this little stunt has cost them…after they voted for MMJ. More insult to democracy’s injury. More reason for anti-Fed sentiment. More ammo for reformers.
Sometimes I wonder if any of the DEA’s members read history books. They must have had American History in school…and must have read about Prohibition. They have to know how the usual trend of history goes regarding social justice issues…and they are on the downside of that trend. Must feel like a suicide in achingly slow motion.
They justify 80% of their 4 billion dollar budget with marijuana arrests and investigations,and they will lose a large portion of that budget if legalization or even decriminalization occurs. They will go down kicking and screaming.
Please excuse me if someone else already raised this point.
If this Colorado farmer was breaking state law, why didn’t the Feds contact state officials and let them handle it?
And if the State allowed the Feds to handle it, why?
My personal opinion; I think the DEA is clearly out of control, violating direct orders from the president of the united states. (POTUS)