October 19, 2009 11:37 PM UTC

Obama Admin: Hands Off Medical Pot Where It's Legal

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• by: redstateblues

(Next stop, tax that weed! – promoted by Colorado Pols)

In what can only be described as a stunning victory for medical marijuana advocates, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today that the Federal government would no longer be prosecuting medical marijuana patients and caretakers who conform to laws in certain states–like Colorado and California–legalizing the drug’s use for medical purposes.

Los Angeles Times:

In guidelines issued today, Justice Department officials are telling prosecutors and federal drug agents that they have more important things to do than to arrest people who obey state laws that allow some use or sale of medical marijuana.

The move clarifies what some critics had said was an ambiguous position of the Obama administration on the controversial issue, especially in the battleground state of California, where authorities have raided numerous clinics and made arrests over the years. Some of those California raids followed Obama’s inauguration in January, after, as a presidential candidate, he had pledged to stop them.

The new guidelines note that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources and that they need them for more pressing priorities. One of those priorities is countering the spread of violent Mexican drug cartels, which use the vast profits from their marijuana sales in the United States to support other criminal activities, the guidelines say.

For people who worked hard to legalize medical marijuana in this state, this is the policy they have been waiting for in Washington for a long time. Finally the government can stop taking people’s medicine, and start focusing on true criminal activity.