President Obama Should Keep His Campaign Promise On Medical Marijuana

Let me preface my remarks in this post by saying that I am a supporter of President Barack Obama. I think, on the whole, he has been a good president and I support his re-election to a second term. It is laughable to think that any of the presidential hopefuls of the Republican Party could do even half as good a job as President Obama has done.

However, that does not mean I support everything the president has done. And one of the areas in which he has failed is in his attack on medical marijuana. During his 2008 campaign for the presidency, Mr. Obama said he would respect the right of the individual states to make their own decision on the medical marijuana question, and would not use federal agencies to attack the legal use of marijuana in those states that had approved the use of marijuana for medical reasons.

He has broken that promise. Since his assuming office, the federal drug agencies have continued their war on medical marijuana -- and his policy on medical marijuana is at least as harsh and misguided as that of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

Personally, I would like to see marijuana legalized for recreational use (and taxed at all levels of government). But the least the president could do is keep his own campaign promise. Marijuana is not only the least dangerous drug in existence (far less dangerous than any legal drug), it can be of huge value to people suffering from a wide range of medical ailments (without the possible serious side-effects of all other drugs). Denying sick people the right to use marijuana is just wrong.

And I'm not alone in that opinion. Six respected national drug policy organizations have banded together to send the president a letter. That letter asks him to keep his campaign promise and stop his aggressive war on medical marijuana. Here is their letter:

April 4, 2012

President Barack Obama

The White House

Washington D.C. 20500

Via Fax: 2024562461

Dear Mr. President:

Our coalition represents the views of tens of millions of Americans who believe the war on medical marijuana patients and providers you are fighting is misguided and counterproductive. As your administration prepares to release its annual National Drug Control Strategy, we want to speak with one voice and convey our deep sense of anger and disappointment in your lack of leadership on this issue.

Voters and elected officials in sixteen states and the District of Columbia have determined that the medical use of marijuana should be legal. In many of these states, the laws also include means for providing medical marijuana patients safe access to this medicine. These laws allowing for the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana actually shift control of marijuana sales from the criminal underground to state-licensed, taxed, and regulated producers and distributors.

Instead of celebrating – or even tolerating – this state experimentation, which has benefited patients and taken profits away from drug cartels, you have turned your back as career law enforcement officials have run roughshod over some of the most professional and well-regulated medical marijuana providers. We simply cannot understand why you have reneged on your administration’s earlier policy of respecting state medical marijuana laws.

Our frustration and confusion over your administration’s uncalled-for attacks on state-authorized medical marijuana providers was best summed up by John McCowen, the chair of the Mendocino County (CA) board of supervisors, who said, “It’s almost as if there was a conscious effort to drive [medical marijuana cultivation and distribution] back underground. My opinion is that’s going to further endanger public safety and the environment – the federal government doesn’t seem to care about that.”

The National Drug Control Strategy you are about to release will no doubt call for a continuation of policies that have as a primary goal the ongoing and permanent control of the marijuana trade by drug cartels and organized crime. We cannot and do not endorse the continued embrace of this utterly failed policy. We stand instead with Latin American leaders, members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, and the vast majority of people who voted you into office in recognizing that it is time for a new approach on marijuana policy.

With approximately 50,000 people dead in Mexico over the past five years as the result of drug war-related violence, we hope that you will immediately reconsider your drug control strategy and will work with, not against, states and organizations that are attempting to shift control of marijuana cultivation and sales, at least as it applies to medical marijuana, to a controlled and regulated market.

Sincerely,

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)

Marijuana Policy Project (MPP)

National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA)

National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML)

Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP)

cc:  Eric Holder, Attorney General, Department of Justice

James Cole, Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy