Obama Budget Whiffs on Needle Exchange
June 10th, 2009 by Russ
To the chagrin of progressives everywhere, the Obama budget was released this week without any alteration to the 20-year old ban on funding needle-exchange programs.
According to White House Spin Meister Ben LaBolt:
We have not removed the ban in our budget proposal because we want to work with Congress and the American public to build support for this change.
The Obama White House is making an appeal here to higher minded politics by claiming to put the needle exchange debate on the floor of Congress instead of obscuring it in the murky land of Omnibus. Unfortunately, there are several problems with this approach:
Firstly, if Republicans have been waging political war through the budget for the better part of a decade, Dems are ceding a great deal of ground by refusing to go back and revise it. A budget provision to ban needle exchange funding is inherently political, in itself. We’re not talking about a grey area where funding can vary administration to administration. This is a prohibition on federal support for all time until the ban is lifted.
Secondly, wasn’t the Obama budget already hailed as a political statement? Obama’s first address to Congress repeatedly stressed the budget’s importance in setting a new national agenda. Health care, renewable energy, and education funding were hammered into the budget as a direct statement of purpose by the new administration. Therefore, we can only assume that Obama is selectively choosing what budget items to play politics with and what not to. This is exactly what Bill Clinton did on this issue in 1998, when a lifting of the needle exchange ban became a victim of political negotiations and remained intact.
The new dialogue on drugs in this country (as embodied by Obama and Kerlikowski) is supposed to dispose of the crusader’s ‘moral’ approach to the problem. In point of fact, there is no moral approach to the problem. What people choose to put in their own bodies is not a moral issue, it’s a public health issue. And public health officials have been crystal clear on the benefits to having these clean needle programs.
The premise of this program is mind numbingly simple. Needle exchange reduces the spread of HIV, and thereby reduces suffering and death. No one on either side of the political aisle disputes this. Any stance that opposes needle exchange, therefore, fosters an increase in HIV and deaths. If that’s the moral approach to the issue, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.
SoCal Medical Marijuana Raid Update
February 13th, 2009 by Perry
More than a week after a string of federal dispensary raids in Los Angeles and San Diego, the MMJ community is still concerned about Obama’s federal pledge to not interfere with state marijuana laws. More specifically, that he hasn’t exactly lived up to it so far.
The Americans for Safe Access recently held a meeting in San Diego where they addressed the crowd with some fairly promising news: In response to flooding the White House switchboard, a representative contacted the ASA, and publicly addressed the issue.
The raids were a part of “Operation: Endless Summer,” an aptly named effort to eradicate drug dealing near several different communities, which also seized six pounds of marijuana from legal dispensaries.
The Other Big Three Push for Decriminalization
February 12th, 2009 by Perry
Citing the utter failure of any kind of war on drugs, several world leaders have urged President Obama to consider further reducing the penalty for marijuana use.
Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, and Cesar Gaviria of Colombia, all made the same recommendation – coincidentally these men reside in three of the world’s four leading weed exporters.
It’s time to recognize the failure, the article states. And, if we’re doing it abroad, we might as well do it at home too.
Marijuana activists in Minnesota are leading a renewed push at legalization for MMJ. They are hoping a shift in strategy, emphasizing compassion, will garner enough votes that Gov. Pawlenty will think twice before blocking it, as he did with previous MMJ legislation.
Also on the legalization front, lawmakers in Seattle are considering again downgrading marijuana as a legal priority. Already not considered high on the list, no pun intended, a new piece of legislation will make it a $100 fine for being caught in possession.
Okay I guess if you’re used to being thrown in jail over it, a $100 ticket should be a Godsend, but I think we can do better Seattle. Why do we need to punish these people at all, they’re not hurting anyone?
Obama’s First Good Step Regarding Federal Raids
February 12th, 2009 by Perry
Recently, Obama’s White House showed he might live up to the promise of change that swept him into office.
In response to federal raids on several Los Angeles-area dispensaries, White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro said, “federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws,” and as the Obama cabinet takes shape, he expects new policies to reflect the new prioritization.
It could have been smoke-and-mirrors political gobbledygook; granted. However, a sliver is more than anyone would have ever hoped for from the previous administration.
It’s also, as the Alternet blog points out, a good first step.
Obama MMJ Policy: Slow Progress
February 11th, 2009 by Alex
Aaron Houston, the director of government relations for the Marijuana Policy Project, has written a great article detailing his proposed steps for the implementation of President Obama’s policy on medical marijuana.
Aaron’s ideas are both sensible and relatively realistic to implement:
- Wash the DEA of Bush administration leftovers
- Accurately classify marijuana as have medicinal benefits
- Foster new & continue existing marijuana research projects
Seems doable right? I really hope so.
Aaron goes on to explain that, despite the “low key” language of the White House spokesman, this new administration is implementing a drastic ideological change not seen in almost 2 decades of policy.
First, Obama believes that science trumps all, even political agenda. Second, Obama believes that federal resources shouldn’t be used to undermine state-level laws.
It’s great to see the first rain drops of the impending change storm finally touch the ground. Now let’s see Michele Leonhart ousted from the DEA, then dispensary owners and patients alike won’t have to keep looking over their shoulders.
Changes in Policy Inevitable
February 5th, 2009 by Silvio
Although the Department of Justice and the DEA are very aware (or at least should be) of the change in policy regarding MMJ raids with federal resources under the new government, the harassment continues.
One raid in South Lake Tahoe on January 22 and four simultaneous raids in the Los Angeles area on Tuesday, seem to indicate that President Obama’s pledge to end federal interference with state medical marijuana laws are still being ignored by some government branches.
To quote White House Spokesman Nick Shapiro:
The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind.
The sheer number of raids under the Bush administration went through the roof, and it seems this is one last uproar of his die-hard followers. A number of organizations like Americans for Safe Access (ASA) are already on the case. And as it seems, the issue won’t be swept under rug. There is dialog, and it’s being taken seriously.
10 Reasons to Celebrate
February 3rd, 2009 by Perry
NORML says the marijuana community has 10 reasons to be optimistic about legalization this year, inspired by the recent news that Michael Phelps tokes up.
While the first three reasons are kind of similar (No. 1 is the President, No. 2 is medicine, and No. 3 is politics), they are all decent reasons why marijuana could be legalized sooner rather than later.
There’s also a few reasons why the community shouldn’t get that excited yet though. What about the fact that Phelps had to publicly apologize for the picture that leaked of him smoking pot. One news agency actually referred to what Phelps is holding as a “huge bong,” and the quotes are not mine.
I’m also thinking that Holder, Obama’s DA, may not be as green friendly of a selection as we’d hoped for O, but I could be wrong. Although the federal raids haven’t stopped yet…
Roll Call Addresses Marijuana Reform
January 5th, 2009 by Perry
In what many in the MMJ community are considering a sign of the times with our incoming lefty administration, Roll Call, a traditional Capitol Hill magazine recently covered the topic of marijuana reform.
Running the jump under the headline, “A Tokin’ Lobby Expects Less Opposition in ‘09,” the article talks about how after eight years of pushing a strong stance against weed, the government’s attitude towards the medicine may begin to change.
The article quotes several of Obama’s platitudes regarding decriminalization, but more significantly reports a call by Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, for congress to study marijuana politics.
While such a request was likely to go unheeded in years past, Obama’s sympathy towards medical marijuana users could lead to a rescheduling of the drug out of the Class-A category with heroine and LSD.
