WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder signaled a change on medical marijuana policy Wednesday, saying federal agents will target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state law.
That would be a departure from the policy of the Bush administration, which targeted medical marijuana dispensaries in California even if they complied with that state’s law.
“The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law,” Holder said in a question-and-answer session with reporters at the Justice Department.
Medical marijuana advocates in California welcomed the news, but said they still worried about the pending cases of those already in court on drug charges.
California law permits the sale of marijuana for medical purposes, though it still is against federal law.
This move is welcome and far overdue. In a similar vein, Tom Ammiano’s bill in the California Legistlature, the Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act, would make California the first state in the nation to have both a progressive and libertarian public policy toward California’s largest cash crop. If passed as introduced, an estimated $1 Billion in new taxes could come to the state’s coffers, as well as more money for drug abuse prevention, education, and treatment. Marijuana would be treated in a fashion similar to alcoholic beverages.
It’s about time the governments woke up to the fact that the War on Drugs has been an utter and absolute disaster for the world. Violent crime surrounds the illegal drug trade, as well as the prosecution of otherwise law-abiding citizens, and by bringing this underground economy to the light of day, crime would be dramatically reduced. When’s the last time you heard about a shooting between rival distillers or distributors? I’d say sometime around 1920 to 1933 when the Eighteenth Amendment was in force.
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