Patriot Media Network
This article appeared on the GW Patriot Journal, posted October 14, 2010.
If there’s anyone who misses George W. Bush, chances are they didn’t vote for President Barack Obama. Even greater chances show that they probably don’t reside in California and furthermore probably aren’t smoking weed. For a large group of people, however, a throwback to the Bush era might be just what they need. Medical marijuana patients in California are now struggling with a hard truth: the man who threw promises around during his 2008 campaign regarding the eventual legalization of marijuana and the end of federal crackdowns on the medical marijuana industry, may not be keeping those vows.
Yes, I know it’s hard to believe: a President not keeping his campaign promises? Truly shocking. But what is legitimately hard to believe is how quickly Obama has turned on the MM community. From discussing it candidly in 2008, describing the federal prosecution of dispensaries and patients as trying to “circumvent state laws on … the issue,” Obama has since authorized many investigations and prosecutions citing the fact that “marijuana is a dangerous drug, and the illegal distribution and sale of marijuana is a serious crime.” Wow. That’s a far stretch from his campaign, when he said: “In terms of prescribing medical marijuana as a treatment for glaucoma or as a cancer treatment, I think that [it] should be appropriate because it’s really no different than a doctor prescribing morphine or anything else.”
Fact: during the eight years of the George W. Bush presidency, there was not a single federal prosecution of those involved in the legitimate medical marijuana industry. During Obama’s two years, numerous armed raids of legal establishments have occurred, some as early as February of 2009.
I bring this up because publications from the right, such as the National Review, and the left, such as the Huffington Post, have questioned Obama’s sudden and direct change of stances. Neither, however, has offered possible reasoning behind this phenomenon.
While I can only conjecture, it is very possible that the motivation behind the administration’s betrayal of its formerly loyal stoned voters is the notion that they are, indeed, disposable compared to other blocs of voters. Traditionally, a ramping up of “the war on drugs” has helped politicians bolster their ratings among older citizens. Most importantly, I believe, this is a flexion of the federal muscle that will unmistakably alienate valuable voters, young and old, from the Obama machine. In the growing dispute between California citizens and the federal government, the Obama message, is, ironically, “yes we can.”
Medical marijuana patients, often suffering from terminal illnesses, definitely saw the ‘change’ promised to them in 2008. Before Obama, they didn’t have armed DEA agents barging into their homes with gas masks. Welcome to social responsibility.