Politics

Yesterday afternoon, President Barack Obama took to the so-called front page of the Internet, Reddit.com, in order to answer questions from users in an AMA —"Ask Me Anything." Almost four million page views crashed the servers and Obama ended upanswering a mere ten questions out of more than 22 thousand.

And, he ignored a lot ofbig issues, noted Slate:

Popular questions about medical marijuana, soldiers with posttraumatic stress disorder, and the president’s failure to close Guantanamo, meanwhile, went unanswered. “20 bucks says he doesn’t address this,” one Redditor predicted, correctly, about the marijuana question. “Should have been titled, Ask Me Almost Anything,” another grumbled.

To be generous, let's say five were legitimate questions and answers, including one on Internet freedom:

Read more: http://reason.com

The San Diego chapter of the ACLU says U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy is interfering in the politics by threatening city officials in Del Mar, CA over their medical marijuana dispensary policy.

Del Mar is considering a ballot initiative this fall that would legalize dispensaries and the ACLU wrote in an Aug. 2 letter to Duffy that threatening prosecution for city employees amounts to “unjustified interference in local legislative matters.”

But Duffy stands by her tactics. “I respectfully disagree with the ACLU’s analysis of federal and state law in this context, and would note that the guidance I provided to the Del Mar City Attorney’s Office is guidance that has consistently been taken by numerous United States Attorney’s Offices around the country as well as the Department of Justice,” she said in a statement this week.

But David Loy, legal director for the ACLU of San Diego & Imperial Counties, said Duffy’s assertion also is legally wrong — and that court cases have said public employees are immune from prosecution when doing administrative tasks required under medical marijuana laws. He called on Duffy to retract the statement.

That’s very unlikely to happen as all the U.S. Attorneys in California – and in other states – have one thing in mind: wiping out the medical marijuana industry.

And Duffy is more likely to dig in her heels after what happened last week, when she was the target of an elaborate hoax by medical marijuana supporters who sent out bogus news releases ostensibly from her office, with one declaring she was cracking down on legal pharmacies dispensing prescription medication. She is thinking about prosecuting them for impersonating a federal officer.

It looks as if the pressure from the feds on medical marijuana is a long way from letting up.

Source: http://www.utsandiego.com

Recently in Washington, DC Students for Sensible Drug Policy staff member Devon Tackels asked Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske to explain why the Obama Administration continues to stick to their rhetoric, saying that the "war on drugs" has ended, when clearly the drug war wages on as evidenced by more than 1.5 million Americans being arrested each year and more than 60,000 Mexican citizens losing their lives in black market related violence.

In the video below you see the Drug Czar talking about how most drug law enforcement is done on the state and local level, but who is shutting down hundreds of dispensaries in this country? Whose policies are restricting medical access for tens of thousands of people?

There is no doubt that local politics plays a major part in medical marijuana, as evidenced by recent events in Los Angeles. But even in cases like that, elected officials are influenced by federal law and potential federal action.

This is not to say that Gil Kerlikowske is avoiding responsibility for the drug war; in most instances he will espouse at length on why marijuana is evil and why the policies he enforces work. But he will always avoid consideration of legalization, preferring rhetoric and failed ideas instead.

Republican Governor Chris Christie recently called The War on Drugs a “failure,” saying that there must be a better way to treat those on drugs besides locking them up.

Last year there were some in the Republican Party that wanted Christie to run for President, so he is fairly popular within the party.

"The war on drugs, while well-intentioned, has been a failure," Christie said Monday during a speech at The Brookings Institution. "We're warehousing addicted people everyday in state prisons in New Jersey, giving them no treatment."

"If you're pro-life, as I am, you can't be pro-life just in the womb," he went on to say. "Every life is precious and every one of God's creatures can be redeemed, but they won't if we ignore them."

And then unlike most politicians, Christie framed it in black and high, showing the stark contrast between prison and treatment. "It costs us $49,000 a year to warehouse a prisoner in New Jersey state prisons last year," Christie said. "A full year of inpatient drug treatment costs $24,000 a year."

What is that extra $25,000 accomplishing?

Souce: http://www.huffingtonpost.com