Calif. Dems want Obama to back off pot enforcement
By Robin Wilkey, Huffington Post
SAN FRANCISCO — Marijuana may not be fully legal in California, but the state’s Democratic Party has made its position clear.
In a resolution released on Sunday, the California Democratic Party requested that President Obama end the federal crackdown against states with marijuana laws on the books:
“The California Democratic Party requests: President Obama to allow the newly enacted marijuana legalization laws in Colorado and Washington to go into effect with no federal interference, and […] end the Department of Justice interference and raids by federal agencies in states with medical marijuana laws.”
The authors cited voter support for marijuana, the cost of enforcing prohibition laws and racially biased punishment as motivations for the resolution:
“18 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws legalizing the use of cannabis […] and Colorado and Washington in 2012 passed laws legalizing the recreational use. […]”
“The United States spends over $20 billion a year enforcing marijuana prohibition laws, and thousands of people are murdered every year involving the smuggling of illegal drugs into the United States and marijuana accounts for over half of these illegal drugs […]
“Marijuana prohibition laws are racially enforced with a far larger percentage of African-Americans and Hispanics convicted and imprisoned for marijuana prohibition offenses than their white counterparts even though marijuana use in their communities is no more than in white communities.”
The party also encouraged state legislators to establish parameters to guide cities and counties in the distribution of medical marijuana, and announced plans to begin a comprehensive study “to produce recommendations for reform of our nation’s marijuana prohibition laws.”
News of the resolution was applauded by marijuana reform advocates, including Marijuana Majority founder and chairman Tom Angell.
“In just the past few weeks, we’ve seen the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the New York Times editorial board and now the Democratic Party of our nation’s most populous state call on President Obama to finally follow through on his campaign promises to respect state marijuana laws,” Angell told the Huffington Post.
A recent survey released by the Partnership at Drugfree.org, one of the nation’s harshest critics of drug use, indicated that a strong majority of Americans support medical marijuana legalization, and nearly half support recreational use.
“Polls show that the American people support what candidate Obama pledged to do over what President Obama has actually done,” said Angell. “Now would be a good time for the president to start delivering on the changes he promised in 2008.”
Either repeal it or enforce it. Don’t treat one State different from another with regards to a Federal Law.
Legalize it, regulate it, tax it, collect the tax revenues, save the money from no longer fighting this, and move on.
Who said ,Money does not grow on trees ? MJ today is making a living for plenty, LEGALIZE IT ,
My company, KUSH Inc, is prepared to sign a contract to provide $1M per year in additional revenue that would go directly to the City of South Lake Tahoe, in return for the exclusive right to license dispensaries here. These dispensaries would be invisible to the community, in terms of zero signage and advertising, but would provide approximately 100 new jobs to local residents. SLT is the largest city in El Dorado County and the largest city in the Tahoe area, so we believe our financial projections are realistic and doable. Our Board of Directors includes a former governor, US senator, LAPD police chief and former superior court judge. We know how to do this right and how to avoid the red flags. Unfortunately, nobody on the city council or SLT government has made any effort to respond to the written proposal we submitted or to even contact me for further information.
No Steve. They would rather make money by slapping senseless cases on SLT citizens
No Steve and John they would rather write a parking ticket for the big bucks!
The City of South Lake Tahoe is all about government control, all government, all the time. They are unable to see the forest through the trees.
I dont care if its illegal or not I jsut dont want to have the neighborhoods of this community taken over by growers that stink up the place and drive recklessly. It needs to be an industrialized grow in the part of town that is set up for that kind of grow. The people that grow in my neighborhood are irresponsable to the others that dont want or need their next door neighbors and kids trying to figure out why it stinks like skunks and why there are very shady people always visiting the neighbors. Their homes are set up like a fortress and they have vicious mean dogs on patroll. If it becomes legal with no oversight than it will destroy our neighborhoods and im against that.
CONCERNED ABOUT MARIJUANA ODOR? The proposal we submitted specifically addresses the odor problem and offers the first real solution to fixing it: “Unlike the city’s current program, we would strictly limit cultivation for dispensaries to local growers and patients within the city boundaries. City residents would be able to supplement their income through a regulated and independently supervised cultivation program that benefits the entire community. Landlords would immediately benefit by this program because growers would be supervised and privately inspected on a regular basis in order to be allowed to sell their medical marijuana locally. Since most patients and growers would prefer to avoid the risks of transporting medical marijuana on the open road, they would have a strong motivation to allow our private inspectors to examine their home gardens to ensure no damage is occurring and proper health and safety procedures are being followed.”
Our proposal was published earlier in the Lake Tahoe News: https://www.laketahoenews.net/2013/06/letter-an-alternative-revenue-source-for-s-tahoe/
So now we r adding reckless driving to the list of stereotypes we put on growers. And vicious dogs too?
On of the most ignorant comments I have seen on here.
If you lived nest door to the growers on my street those “stereotypes” are real and in your face. No ignorance about it its the real situation and we have had to live with it for years. It gets real old and the “neighbors” who are the growers/sellers are really the ignorant ones. And in regards to Kubbys response it sounds like there will be unlimited funds to have inspections and regulations and all kinds of jobs created to help everyone with this amazing answer to local poverty and health issues. Lets all hold hands and sing Cumbuya!