Obama Is Breaking Another Promise

President Obama is not anywhere near as bad a president as his predecessor was (George Bush). But he has disappointed many progressives by leaving a string of broken promises. Just to name a few, he has not ended either one of Bush's unnecessary and illegal wars, he has not closed the military prison in Guantanamo Bay (or given fair trials to those who are held there), he has not instituted sufficient measures for job creation, he has not ended the outsourcing of American jobs, he has not eliminated Bush's tax cuts for the rich, and he has not covered all Americans with adequate health insurance (although he did make some minor improvements to our broken system).

Now it looks like he is breaking another promise (or allowing his Justice Department to do it for him). Both during his presidential campaign and after he was sworn in as president, Obama (and his Attorney General) promised to stop the DEA and other federal police agencies from arresting or harassing individuals or businesses who were obeying state laws regarding medical marijuana. Here is some of what they said:

March 22, 2008 (Barack Obama) -

 “What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism. We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with.”

February 5, 2009 (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.”

February 25, 2009 (Attorney General Eric Holder) -

“No. What the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing in law enforcement. He was my boss during the campaign. He is formally and technically and by law my boss now. What he said during the campaign is now American policy.”

March 18, 2009 (Attorney General Eric Holder) -

“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law ... Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that's inconsistent with federal and state law.”

June 5, 2009 (Attorney General Eric Holder) -

 “For those organizations that are doing so sanctioned by state law and do it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that will not be an emphasis for this administration.”

Now all of those statements seem pretty clear. They say the federal government will not harass consumers or businesses that are complying with state laws regarding the sale and use of medical marijuana. But now it looks like the administration has broken its repeated promise on medical marijuana.

A June 29, 2011 memo from Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole says the following:

A number of states have enacted some form of legislation relating to the medical use of marijuana. Accordingly,theOgdenMemoreiteratedtoyouthatprosecutionofsignificant traffickers of illegal drugs, including marijuana, remains a core priority, but advised that it is likely not an efficient use of federal resources to focus enforcement efforts on individuals with cancer or other serious illnesses who use marijuana as part of a recommended treatment regimen consistent with applicable state law, or their caregivers. The term "caregiver" as used in the memorandummeantjustthat: individualsprovidingcaretoindividualswithcancerorother serious illnesses, not commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana.

The Ogden Memorandum was never intended to shield such activities from federal enforcement action and prosecution, even where those activities purport to comply with state law. Persons who are in the business of cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardlessofstatelaw. Consistentwithresourceconstraintsandthediscretionyoumayexercise in your district, such persons are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution. State laws or local ordinances are not a defense to civil or criminal enforcement of federal law with respect to such conduct, including enforcement of the CSA. Those who engage in transactions involving the proceeds of such activity may also be in violation of federal money laundering statutes and other federal financial laws.

That means they discourage arresting patients with serious medical problems (probably because of the bad publicity it would bring to be throwing sick people in federal prison). But they will arrest anyone who grows, distributes, or sells that marijuana to those sick people (even if they are obeying all state laws). In plain English, sick people can get a prescription for marijuana, but the feds will arrest anyone who tries to legally fill that prescription. Does that make any sense at all?

Following this kind of ridiculous "logic", it would be legal for a doctor to give you a prescription for pain-killers (or any other controlled medication) but it would be illegal for a pharmacist to fill that prescription or for a drug company to make the drug. What good is a prescription that cannot be filled legally?

They may not be throwing sick people in jail, but they are denying those same sick people the right to fill their legal prescription -- and that is just as bad. Marijuana should be legal for use by any adult, but I know the president (and most other politicians) don't have the moral courage to do that. He could at least keep his repeated promise to let sick people fill their prescriptions though.

I have just about had enough of the broken promises. I do not use marijuana and do not live in a state that has approved medical use of marijuana. But this is the kind of broken promise that could justify my voting for a third-party candidate in the 2012 presidential election. Promises are made to be kept -- not broken.