Marijuana Blog

Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan recently said in a radio interview that while he is opposed to medical marijuana, states should be allowed to decided MMJ policy for themselves.

While we can take Mr. Ryan’s words with the proverbial “grain of salt,” his enunciation of them puts medical marijuana in the news, which is always a good thing.

A Presidential candidate that actually supports medical marijuana and legalization in general, Gary Johnson, took the opportunity to release a statement responding to Ryan’s words.

"While I applaud Paul Ryan's words, this is not the first time we have heard a candidate for national office express a willingness to tolerate state medical marijuana laws, so 'buyer beware',” Governor Johnson said. “Barack Obama categorically pledged to not use federal resources to go after medical marijuana dispensaries operating legally under state law, and his Justice Department even issued a memo to that effect. But what's happened? The Obama Administration has proven to be an even greater enemy to medical marijuana than President George W. Bush.

"We've heard Barack Obama's words, and seen his actions. Now we've heard Paul Ryan's words. And all we really know about Mitt Romney on this issue is that he doesn't want to talk about it, having rebuffed questions from the media and a medical marijuana patient.

“Medical marijuana may not be an important issue for Gov. Romney, or for any of the other candidates, but it is vitally important to the many Americans who are suffering and who could be helped if the Feds would just get out of the way. Polls show 70 percent of Americans believe states should be free to permit medical marijuana. We need to know where Mitt Romney stands."

Mitt Romney has said he opposes medical marijuana on at least two occasions, and the odds of him slowing the federal crackdown if elected are slim at best.

Source: http://www.examiner.com