Hot Pot - Time Mag. Obama VS MMJ - Medical Cannabis News - International Cannagraphic Magazine Forums

irobot sd · 05-10-2012, 09:41 AM

Time Magazine Small Article I just read

The message can take many forms. Sometimes it's armed federal agents with a warrant and handcuffs. Sometimes it's IRS auditors. Sometimes it's just a simple but powerful letter from a U.S. Attorney. But the effect is always the same. It's all part of a tough new federal crackdown on the burgeoning medical-marijuana industry in California and the 15 other states that have legalized pot for the sick.
In recent months, federal officials have shuttered dozens of storefront dispensaries nationwide. Whole cannabis crops in California's Central Valley have been tilled under, and the feds have warned local and state officials not to implement laws or regulations that allow the medical use of a drug still outlawed, without exceptions, under federal law. "None are immune from action by the federal government," warns Northern California's U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.
It's all happening under the Administration of Barack Obama, who pledged as a candidate in 2008 to ease federal pressure on medical marijuana in states that had legalized the practice. "What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he said back then. Obama even promised to end Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical-marijuana suppliers. "The double messaging is what has driven people crazy," says promarijuana California assemblyman Tom Ammiano.
Obama defends himself by arguing that the medical-marijuana industry has changed in ways that Washington just can't ignore. Federal prosecutors, he points out, still will not target genuinely sick patients or their immediate caregivers. "The only tension that's come up--and this gets hyped up a lot," Obama said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, "is a murky area where you have large-scale commercial operations that may supply medical-marijuana users but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users." Prosecutors cite the explosive growth and enormous size of the new medical-marijuana industry, the tens of millions of dollars in cash changing hands, a poor track record of local regulation and anecdotal evidence that recreational interstate trade in the drug is booming. "There are people suffering from serious illnesses who believe they benefit from the use of marijuana," says Haag. "If that's all we were dealing with, I do not believe there would be any federal involvement."
But on the ground, even medicinal-pot peddlers who follow state law to the letter are being shut down or squeezed. In California and Colorado, prosecutors have busted dispensaries with local permits for operating within 1,000 ft. of a school or playground. The IRS has told vendors they can't count their expenses as legitimate business deductions. Gun shops have been advised not to sell to consumers of medical marijuana. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development has barred state and local public-housing officials from renting to otherwise law-abiding medical-marijuana patients.

Critics of the crackdown worry that the medical-marijuana market is being driven underground, to the benefit of real criminals. After the closure of one dispensary in San Francisco, Mira Ingram, a medical-marijuana patient for more than a decade, began to notice a new breed of street dealers in her neighborhood who catered to the infirm with brand-name strains like OG Kush and Cherry Pie. "They assume that I would use it because I am in a wheelchair," says Ingram, 44. "The whole neighborhood has changed for the worse." That's the fear of officials like San Francisco's district attorney, George Gascn. "We don't want people selling drugs on the corner, just like we don't want people selling beer and wine on the corner," he says.
The feds counter that legalized pot is breeding crime too and that state and local officials aren't managing it. And so President Obama, who once promised to respect states' rights on medical marijuana, now runs for re-election amid the haze of increasing federal intervention.

https://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...3817-1,00.html

irobot sd · 05-12-2012, 09:47 AM

Sorry you have me mistaken for the author. I just copied it from time magazine.

DoobieDuck · 05-12-2012, 01:18 PM

Iro thanks for posting that article and including the date n link.

The government knew if they came out and made statements like Obama did in his campaign, and immediately followed that up by a few months of playing the patients best friend n advocate, the people would finally loosen up, come out from hiding their grows, even the six and 12 plant grows.

Patients assumed since the top officials were finally going to allow what the voters wanted in the state; they’d be safe in their own homes. A biggie was allowing people to invest their money into legit, what they thought was legit, businesses that were following the rules laid out by cities and counties.

This move might have saved the feds hundreds of thousands of hours of research, investigations, and exploration finding everyone involved in medical cannabis, not just recreational, including the sick n suffering. But it has alienated not just the cannabis crowd but the general public as well. It is no wonder patients no longer trust this administration, and probably never will.

The Feds intentional deceit and deception has driven medical cannabis back underground, to the benefit of real criminals, just as Holder did with his gun running scheme and other blunders. This will be much harder to undo by the government than it ever was to perpetrate on the people of our country. Cheers..DD

blackosprey · 05-12-2012, 02:54 PM

IMO, Obama is receiving a huge strong arming from big pharma, who have seen a lot of their money move away from their narcotics towards MMJ. I see pfizer and the others out there moving into the industry very soon, but they also understand that if the current system stays in place, they will not be successful because they won't be able to offer the variety or level of dignity and dedication that you find in many dispensaries (not all, mind you). They have to create this crackdown to get things back to a baseline level that will make it possible for them to dominate the market.
My stance is to ditch all dealers, legal, pharmaceutical, or otherwise, and grow your own.

Hydrosun · 05-13-2012, 12:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doobieduck

The Feds intentional deceit and deception has driven medical cannabis back underground, to the benefit of real criminals, just as Holder did with his gun running scheme and other blunders. This will be much harder to undo by the government than it ever was to perpetrate on the people of our country. Cheers..DD

"to the benefit of real criminals?" If your operation is 100% cannabis related you CANNOT be a "real criminal" in my book.

The federal government is making a huge fucking mess trying to stop adults from using a flower as they see fit. It reminds me of the little Dutch boy with his finger in the dyke.

A move back to underground and unregulated markets doesn't really "help real criminals" what it does is make otherwise regulated producers and consumers into underground producers and consumers, but like I said these people aren't criminals in my book.

Those here at ICmag who warned about ever registering with the government are looking smarter and smarter every day.

someotherguy · 05-13-2012, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrosun

Those here at ICmag who warned about ever registering with the government are looking smarter and smarter every day.

lol, as are those of us who warned against Obummer back in '07.

...and i've been 'eligible' for over a decade now but i'm still not legal, ...better under the radar than at the mercy of some freekin' state worker doing data input with access to that particular database.

pearlemae · 05-13-2012, 01:54 AM

There is four, count em four, main reason that weed won't become legal until we change the lobbying system that we have.

#1 Big Pharma, they will never be for legalization. Why? cause pot is in direct competition with them, they spend billions on lobbying some of that is spent lobbying against legalization.

#2 The Cops, The police and their lobbying arm are never going to go for legalization because they get lots of MONEY via forfeitures etc. and the billions the Gov gives out to fight "The War On Drugs".

#3 The alcohol beverage industry, the beer and booze makers lobby's against legalization because pot is in DIRECT COMPITITION with the likker industry, nough said.

#4 The private prison industry, we have more people in prison for smoking weed than anyone. The private prison industry needs inmates to make money, most of the private prisons have contracts demanding a certain level of occupancy( it ain't no hotel) they get money from keeping people locked up, and working them as slaves for pennies on the dollar. They love the weed laws and lobby to keep them the same.

Obama can't wave a magic wand and make weed legal, only congress shall make laws it says so in our Constitution. But he could move it to Schedule 2 by Presidential order.
So these are the 4 biggest reasons the weed we love is not going to be legal anytime soon.
Believe me I've been hoping for 43 years that they would make weed legal. So what to do write call email YOUR CONGRESSPERSON they make the laws. Be polite and respectful when your talk to a staffer. And lastly vote, yeah, your all pissed at Obama but Romney won't get you nothin.

pearlemae · 05-13-2012, 01:58 AM

Weed has been under ground for as long as I've been smoking it. Big Deal..... as for getting a card, I live in a med state and my wife and I both qualify. But we decided that we didn't want to have our names on a government list. The people on the list will get busted first. I on the other hand have stayed under ground except for this web site. So no name on a list no bust makes sense to me.

05-13-2012, 01:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by someotherguy

if you think this is funny you ARE the joke.

hahaha that had me lolling not in a sarcastic way though

lost in a sea · 05-13-2012, 02:12 AM

they would have rigged the elections anyway even if people didnt vote for him because this is history in the making,, and by some sick perversion a white man with black skin will be seen in history presiding over one of the most insanely(as in unpredictable and crazy) violent periods in americas history,,

i mean why would they africanise his name?? thats stupid from everyones point of view apart from new generations in 20 years or 200 years that look back and see mr barack obama, the african that messed things all up,,,

i thought it was going to be hilary at one point and then she would be the woman that messed it all up,, perfectly exemplifying why only a sycophantic arse licking hierachical male world can run things,,

but of course the old boy network still runs everything and this is all just being read off a script to create a particular future which will pay off the whole investment in even more power,, they want to write history and kill off all the good men that get in places of power/influence like kennedy so we just need to do the opposite and actually punish criminals like bush and blair etc ourselves,,

and imo thats for our sake today,,, for the million+ iraqis murdered since 01 of yesterday! and for the generations of tomorrow that will have to get their heads around this mess in a pretty horrible world potentially,,

05-10-2012, 09:41 AM	#1
irobot sd Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 504	Hot Pot - Time Mag. Obama VS MMJ Time Magazine Small Article I just read The message can take many forms. Sometimes it's armed federal agents with a warrant and handcuffs. Sometimes it's IRS auditors. Sometimes it's just a simple but powerful letter from a U.S. Attorney. But the effect is always the same. It's all part of a tough new federal crackdown on the burgeoning medical-marijuana industry in California and the 15 other states that have legalized pot for the sick. In recent months, federal officials have shuttered dozens of storefront dispensaries nationwide. Whole cannabis crops in California's Central Valley have been tilled under, and the feds have warned local and state officials not to implement laws or regulations that allow the medical use of a drug still outlawed, without exceptions, under federal law. "None are immune from action by the federal government," warns Northern California's U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag. It's all happening under the Administration of Barack Obama, who pledged as a candidate in 2008 to ease federal pressure on medical marijuana in states that had legalized the practice. "What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," he said back then. Obama even promised to end Drug Enforcement Administration raids on medical-marijuana suppliers. "The double messaging is what has driven people crazy," says promarijuana California assemblyman Tom Ammiano. Obama defends himself by arguing that the medical-marijuana industry has changed in ways that Washington just can't ignore. Federal prosecutors, he points out, still will not target genuinely sick patients or their immediate caregivers. "The only tension that's come up--and this gets hyped up a lot," Obama said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone, "is a murky area where you have large-scale commercial operations that may supply medical-marijuana users but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users." Prosecutors cite the explosive growth and enormous size of the new medical-marijuana industry, the tens of millions of dollars in cash changing hands, a poor track record of local regulation and anecdotal evidence that recreational interstate trade in the drug is booming. "There are people suffering from serious illnesses who believe they benefit from the use of marijuana," says Haag. "If that's all we were dealing with, I do not believe there would be any federal involvement." But on the ground, even medicinal-pot peddlers who follow state law to the letter are being shut down or squeezed. In California and Colorado, prosecutors have busted dispensaries with local permits for operating within 1,000 ft. of a school or playground. The IRS has told vendors they can't count their expenses as legitimate business deductions. Gun shops have been advised not to sell to consumers of medical marijuana. And the Department of Housing and Urban Development has barred state and local public-housing officials from renting to otherwise law-abiding medical-marijuana patients. Critics of the crackdown worry that the medical-marijuana market is being driven underground, to the benefit of real criminals. After the closure of one dispensary in San Francisco, Mira Ingram, a medical-marijuana patient for more than a decade, began to notice a new breed of street dealers in her neighborhood who catered to the infirm with brand-name strains like OG Kush and Cherry Pie. "They assume that I would use it because I am in a wheelchair," says Ingram, 44. "The whole neighborhood has changed for the worse." That's the fear of officials like San Francisco's district attorney, George Gascn. "We don't want people selling drugs on the corner, just like we don't want people selling beer and wine on the corner," he says. The feds counter that legalized pot is breeding crime too and that state and local officials aren't managing it. And so President Obama, who once promised to respect states' rights on medical marijuana, now runs for re-election amid the haze of increasing federal intervention. https://www.time.com/time/magazine/ar...3817-1,00.html Last edited by Skip; 05-12-2012 at 05:14 PM..
	Quote 2 members found this post helpful.

05-12-2012, 01:18 PM	#3
DoobieDuck Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Only where my disabilities allow me to be. Posts: 7,419	Iro thanks for posting that article and including the date n link. The government knew if they came out and made statements like Obama did in his campaign, and immediately followed that up by a few months of playing the patients best friend n advocate, the people would finally loosen up, come out from hiding their grows, even the six and 12 plant grows. Patients assumed since the top officials were finally going to allow what the voters wanted in the state; they’d be safe in their own homes. A biggie was allowing people to invest their money into legit, what they thought was legit, businesses that were following the rules laid out by cities and counties. This move might have saved the feds hundreds of thousands of hours of research, investigations, and exploration finding everyone involved in medical cannabis, not just recreational, including the sick n suffering. But it has alienated not just the cannabis crowd but the general public as well. It is no wonder patients no longer trust this administration, and probably never will. The Feds intentional deceit and deception has driven medical cannabis back underground, to the benefit of real criminals, just as Holder did with his gun running scheme and other blunders. This will be much harder to undo by the government than it ever was to perpetrate on the people of our country. Cheers..DD __________________ Please join me in my Summer 2018 All Black Grow
	Quote 5 members found this post helpful.

05-13-2012, 01:54 AM	#7
pearlemae May your race always be in your favor Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: On the Short Bus to nowhere Posts: 2,405	There is four, count em four, main reason that weed won't become legal until we change the lobbying system that we have. #1 Big Pharma, they will never be for legalization. Why? cause pot is in direct competition with them, they spend billions on lobbying some of that is spent lobbying against legalization. #2 The Cops, The police and their lobbying arm are never going to go for legalization because they get lots of MONEY via forfeitures etc. and the billions the Gov gives out to fight "The War On Drugs". #3 The alcohol beverage industry, the beer and booze makers lobby's against legalization because pot is in DIRECT COMPITITION with the likker industry, nough said. #4 The private prison industry, we have more people in prison for smoking weed than anyone. The private prison industry needs inmates to make money, most of the private prisons have contracts demanding a certain level of occupancy( it ain't no hotel) they get money from keeping people locked up, and working them as slaves for pennies on the dollar. They love the weed laws and lobby to keep them the same. Obama can't wave a magic wand and make weed legal, only congress shall make laws it says so in our Constitution. But he could move it to Schedule 2 by Presidential order. So these are the 4 biggest reasons the weed we love is not going to be legal anytime soon. Believe me I've been hoping for 43 years that they would make weed legal. So what to do write call email YOUR CONGRESSPERSON they make the laws. Be polite and respectful when your talk to a staffer. And lastly vote, yeah, your all pissed at Obama but Romney won't get you nothin. __________________ Liberalism is the trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is the distrust of the people tempered by fear. William H Gladstone
	Quote 8 members found this post helpful.

05-13-2012, 01:58 AM	#8
pearlemae May your race always be in your favor Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: On the Short Bus to nowhere Posts: 2,405	Weed has been under ground for as long as I've been smoking it. Big Deal..... as for getting a card, I live in a med state and my wife and I both qualify. But we decided that we didn't want to have our names on a government list. The people on the list will get busted first. I on the other hand have stayed under ground except for this web site. So no name on a list no bust makes sense to me. __________________ Liberalism is the trust of the people tempered by prudence. Conservatism is the distrust of the people tempered by fear. William H Gladstone
	Quote 1 members found this post helpful.

05-13-2012, 02:12 AM	#10
lost in a sea Lifer Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: The lighthouse Posts: 9,975	they would have rigged the elections anyway even if people didnt vote for him because this is history in the making,, and by some sick perversion a white man with black skin will be seen in history presiding over one of the most insanely(as in unpredictable and crazy) violent periods in americas history,, i mean why would they africanise his name?? thats stupid from everyones point of view apart from new generations in 20 years or 200 years that look back and see mr barack obama, the african that messed things all up,,, i thought it was going to be hilary at one point and then she would be the woman that messed it all up,, perfectly exemplifying why only a sycophantic arse licking hierachical male world can run things,, but of course the old boy network still runs everything and this is all just being read off a script to create a particular future which will pay off the whole investment in even more power,, they want to write history and kill off all the good men that get in places of power/influence like kennedy so we just need to do the opposite and actually punish criminals like bush and blair etc ourselves,, and imo thats for our sake today,,, for the million+ iraqis murdered since 01 of yesterday! and for the generations of tomorrow that will have to get their heads around this mess in a pretty horrible world potentially,, __________________ "The kingdom of heaven is within you and without you ; any man who knows himself shall find it"
	Quote 3 members found this post helpful.

05-12-2012, 09:47 AM	#2
irobot sd Member Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 504	Sorry you have me mistaken for the author. I just copied it from time magazine.
	Quote 2 members found this post helpful.

05-12-2012, 02:54 PM	#4
blackosprey Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 426	IMO, Obama is receiving a huge strong arming from big pharma, who have seen a lot of their money move away from their narcotics towards MMJ. I see pfizer and the others out there moving into the industry very soon, but they also understand that if the current system stays in place, they will not be successful because they won't be able to offer the variety or level of dignity and dedication that you find in many dispensaries (not all, mind you). They have to create this crackdown to get things back to a baseline level that will make it possible for them to dominate the market. My stance is to ditch all dealers, legal, pharmaceutical, or otherwise, and grow your own.
	Quote 2 members found this post helpful.