Budding Optimism: Holder on legal pot in CO & WA [View all]

[RainDog]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/15/eric-holder-marijuana-legalization_n_5148663.html

But the nation's top law enforcement official, who spoke to The Huffington Post in an interview on Friday, also said it was tough to predict where marijuana legalization will be in 10 years.

...Holder's positive outlook on how legalization is going in Washington and Colorado stands in contrast to the views expressed by Drug Enforcement Administration head Michele Leonhart, who reportedly criticized President Barack Obama for comparing marijuana to alcohol. Leonhart claimed earlier this month that voters were mislead when they voted to legalize and regulate marijuana on the state level, that Mexican drug cartels are "setting up shop" in Washington and Colorado and that this country should have "never gone forward" with legalization. Another DEA official recently claimed that "every single parent out there" opposed marijuana legalization.

Washington and Colorado, of course, aren't the only places in the U.S. reforming their approach to marijuana. In March, Washington, D.C., decriminalized the possession of small amounts of marijuana. Asked about D.C.'s move, Holder said it didn't make sense to send people to jail on possession charges.

Holder also acknowledged the Obama administration has made the political decision not to unilaterally "reschedule" marijuana by taking it off the list of what the federal government considers the most dangerous drugs, though that is something the attorney general has the authority to do. Instead, Holder has said DOJ would be willing to work with Congress if they want to reschedule marijuana, which doesn't seem likely to happen in the near future.

Holder noted he had experimented with cannabis in college, saw no need for any sentencing for simple possession - disliked the lack of discretion for sentencing he experienced as a judge dealing with possession cases, and noted the federal AG office doesn't go after such cases (tho, of course, the DEA does fund law enforcement efforts that do, in fact, target possession in various ways - but these are all state LEOs, not federal.)

While I understand the need for Congress to do its job to address the will of the scientific, medical, and general population regarding the scheduling AND legal status of cannabis (they're two different things), if Congress does not respond, I hope, as a second-term president, this administration would place cannabis as a schedule IV, rather than I, substance before the Obama term is over. Since voting districts are so gerrymandered, Congress can stonewall reform for decades at this point.

iow, if Congress repeatedly refuses to deal with the error of scheduling cannabis as one of the most dangerous substances with no medical value - the Democratic Party as a whole would benefit from such an action because it is in line with current understandings (and the initial placement of cannabis as a schedule I substance was intended to be provisional anyway - the placement was to placate Nixon - who wanted to use cannabis as a way to attack his enemies list.)

On the other hand - Alaska, Oregon and CA may soon join the two legal cannabis states - at which point Congress will have to admit they are ignoring the will of the people and the medical and scientific communities in order to appease a shrinking segment of the population that would rather arrest Americaans than tax and regulate a substance that has been used for thousands of years without significant harm.