Well, the Obama administration finally did what they had promised to do. It took them nearly a year, but yesterday the Justice Department sent new guidelines to federal prosecutors in the 14 states that have a law approving the use of medical marijuana.
These new guidelines tell these prosecutors not to prosecute users and suppliers of marijuana -- as long as they are obeying the applicable state laws. This is a good thing. At least the government will no longer be picking on sick people in these 14 states. Now we need to get medical marijuana laws passed in the rest of the states.
I'm sure there will be some right-wingers whining about how the laws will be abused. It's probably true. It certainly hasn't been a problem for people to find doctors that will write them a prescription for pills (much more dangerous drugs). I'm sure there will be people getting marijuana prescriptions who are not really sick (except maybe sick of our stupid marijuana laws).
Frankly, I'm not very worried about that. Marijuana is a lot less dangerous than many of the legal drugs (including tobacco and alcohol). No one dies from use of marijuana, or becomes addicted to the gentle herb (physically addicted). And no one gets high and becomes violent on marijuana (as on alcohol, pills, cocaine, etc.).
The only thing dangerous about the use of marijuana is the fact that it's illegal, and it's use or possession can bring the weight of the government down on a person. If we were smart, we'd legalize marijuana and tax the hell out of it -- along the lines of what we do with alcohol and cigarettes.
This would give farmers a new cash crop (for which there is a large market), and it would also give both federal and state governments a much-needed new source of income. It would also stop the criminalization of hard-working tax-paying citizens whose only crime is the recreational use of the gentle herb marijuana.
The Obama administration took a step forward yesterday, but it was only a baby step. Much more needs to be done.
I think this is good news, now they can concentrate on major drug problems.
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