Lit_Match

Why Don't More Republicans Oppose The DEA's Raids?
07-31-07|TownHall.com|By Jacob Sullum

Last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted for a measure that asked the federal government to stop harassing medical marijuana users in California. Minutes later, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided 10 medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles County.

The disrespect for local judgments on local matters could not have been starker. Determined to maintain anti-drug orthodoxy, the DEA is running wild in the laboratories of democracy, smashing experiments in reform and injuring innocent bystanders.

The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed this cruel crusade to continue based on the premise that a cancer or AIDS patient who grows a few marijuana plants to relieve his pain or nausea is engaged in interstate commerce and therefore subject to federal regulation. As for Congress, on the day of the L.A. raids, the House once again rejected a measure aimed at restraining the DEA.

Because the two other branches of the federal government have failed to protect medical marijuana patients, their most plausible hope lies in electing a president who is less intent on snatching their medicine. At this point, the Democrats look decidedly more promising than the Republicans in this respect.

According to Granite Staters for Medical Marijuana, seven of the eight declared candidates for the Democratic nomination have promised to call off the DEA's medical marijuana raids if elected. The eighth, Barack Obama, has said such raids "probably shouldn't be a high priority."

Three of the nine remaining Republican candidates -- Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson -- oppose the DEA raids. But the rest of the Republicans, including the leading contenders, either have taken no position (Mitt Romney) or have said they would continue the current policy (which, it's worth remembering, has roots in the Clinton administration).

When he was asked about medical marijuana in April, the straight-talking John McCain said, "I will let states decide the issue." Less than three months later, asked whether he would end the DEA's interference with medical marijuana use in the 12 states where it's legal, he already had changed his mind, saying, "Right now my answer to you is no." And in five minutes?

McCain's initial position on medical marijuana was reminiscent of George W. Bush's during his first presidential campaign, when he said, "I believe each state can choose that decision as they so choose." At least Bush waited until after he was elected to renege on his promise.

The Republicans also look worse than the Democrats in congressional votes on this issue. It's true that a conservative Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher of California, repeatedly has joined Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., in cosponsoring an appropriations bill amendment that would prohibit the DEA from spending money on busting medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. But Democrats have been far more likely than Republicans to back the Hinchey-Rohrabacher amendment, which last week was supported by 66 percent of the Democrats who voted but opposed by 92 percent of the Republicans.

These partisan tendencies do not mean Democrats have greater respect for the division of powers between the federal government and the states. When it suits them, they're happy to support federal involvement in policy areas the Constitution leaves to the states. It's just that Democrats are, by and large, more comfortable with the therapeutic use of cannabis than Republicans are.

It's hard to find a logical explanation for this split. Republicans, conservatives especially, are traditionally critical of overly cautious regulators who prevent people from using drugs that could relieve their suffering safely and effectively. They have a record of supporting the freedom to use herbal home remedies without unreasonable bureaucratic interference.

The prevailing Republican stance on medical marijuana, which is at odds with what most Americans tell pollsters they think about the issue, can be understood only in light of the connotation cannabis acquired as a result of its accidental association with the 1960s counterculture. In fighting a symbol of their opponents' principles, conservatives have sacrificed their own.

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Donation links to NORML (The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) | MPP (Marijuana Policy Project)

xxdr_zombiexx

Here's an old post I crafted on this topic a couple years ago.

Links are likely dead by now but the info is there.

The GOP LOVES them some reefer madness. Repubs do not advance to the higher ranks (snicker) without adopting this religion.

It goes all the way to the top and influences stuff you would not immediately imagine.

Check this out:Big Pharma and the GOP and the DOJ all conspire to protect dangerous chemical medications while savagely attacking medical marijuana and general cannabis reform efforts.The GOP is indefensible.

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Torture Good, Healthcare Bad, Marijuana Evil.

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

t-1000

There is an underlying problem that nobody seems to mention...

it is STILL federally illegal. No matter what the states say, it's still illegal according to the feds, so they (by the powers invested in themselves by themselves) still have every right to raid medical pot farms.

The problem is that the feds crossed the line when they took drug regulation out of the hands of the states. Last I heard, the constitution never gave them that power, so it should go to the states. They took it anyway, and nobody did anything about it, and everyone knows when the government gets power they never give it back.

Ok, so Hillary will stop them raiding med pot farms... but she will let them keep it a schedule I drug nonetheless? that's bullshit, if you're gonna stop the med farm raids, then you're saying the feds have no right to decide what is or isn't an illegal drug, in which case all the DEA officers need to go back home permanently.

Simply stopping the med farm raids isn't a solution to the problem, it just adds more confusion to the whole mess.

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xxdr_zombiexx

I AM ever-so-happy she has waded into this, but the key word is "said". She "said" she'd work on stopping raids.

She's a politician and, as you know, sometimes politicians might just say things to one crowd they might contradict to another crowd. Ghastly, I know but it does happen.

Hillary IS doing what I want Democratic candidates at all levels to do: say the words that add up to support for cannabis issues in general. If they will just form their mouths into shapes that sound like support for cannabis reform they will do more than submitting legislation can do, in a way.

Cannabis is blacked out of the national media or MSM. Democratic candidates can force this issue to seep into MSM coverage simply by talking about it.

Why not have the same hope with the GOP? Good question.. why not? Why not be encouraging GOP candidates to support cannabis reform?

While Democrats have aided and abetted the crime of cannabis prohibition it is not a central part of their party philosophy. They hop in bed with the GOP on the issue in a heartbeat but it's not their religion.

This smarminess of the Democrats is what can be accessed by activists keeping the pressure on them. The GOP would rather jump off a cliff foaming at the mouth than flip-flop on 40+ years of reefer mad bullshit.

Plus the GOP is part and parcel of Big Pharma - they have a revlving door with the GOP just as Big Oil does. Big Pharma donates insane amounts of money to the GOP - like they are going to bite the hand that feeds tham AND flip-flop on their 40+ year committment to this nonsense.

To get a flavor of just how powerful this is, see Holy Crap, Batman! Gonzo,Oxycontin and the USA firing list.. I posted that at Diatribune, a Democratic-leaning blog and it's been recommended at Buzzflash and was on the frontpage in the "Buzz Box" last night for a few hours.

A top executive at the PharmaCO that makes Oxycontin, which has been fined for over $600 MILLION for LYING about the dangerousness of oxycontin to EVERYBODY called the DOJ - the one headed by soon-to-be-toast Gonzalez - and "asked" for the US Attorney in charge of the case to "slow down" the consequences of the case against them - so they can make more money, essentially. He DIDN'T because he's a professional (Brownlee) and he ended up on the now-infamous firing list.

That is just huge.

The same DOJ that controls the DEA that is sent swarming into states who have the audacity to want to let sick folks smoke some weed bends over backwards and breaks the law to help a giant, billion-dollar corporation.

How fucked-up is that?

Hansje

My po ole bootleggin granddaddy, rest his soul, had some things to compare the war against marijuana with Prohibition. He'd say folks used to say back then during Prohibition that if the preacher at the church wasn't hurtin for money that there was a lot of bootleggin goin on. Regular folk didn't have a lotta money back then, lessin they was involved in makin moonshine. Revenue men come lookin for em, just like law enforcement looks for violators of the marijuana tax these days. You gotta pay the tax, even if they won't sell you the tax stamp when you wanna pay it. Lotta fancy houses of worship these days, nothing wrong with that. Other thing he used to say was a lotta people was makin lotsa money off moonshine and bootleggin back then. All the dirt from the dirty money came out from unda the rug once Prohibition was repealed. He used to bring up the name Joe Kennedy (the rich family from Massachusetts) and some other names of people in the public eye who was supposed to be fine, upstandin citizens, but they was talkin out both sides of they mouths on booze. In public, they'd denounce it and support Prohibition, but in private and on the sly they'd be makin money hand over fist on illegal booze. I wonder what's gonna be shown to be swept under the rug for these politicians and big cheeses when cannabis prohibition is over. Too bad for their tarnished reputations and from then on loss of tax free illegal income from cannabis.

xxdr_zombiexx

so here it is from GOOGLE cahe:Again, many of the links in THAT post are gone, it's rather old, but it shows, beyond the reasonable doubt, that the GOP is deeply invested in reefer madness.

They have 2 choices - keep making it worse or flip-flopping.

Sucks when you paint yourself into a corner, eh?