The Administration is taking a new direction regarding medically prescribed marijuana. The Obama administration on Monday told federal authorities not to arrest or prosecute medical marijuana users and suppliers who aren't violating local laws,

This is a good sea change, not only in helping to clarify the situation in California, but also in directing resources towards more important law enforcement concerns. I’m unsure Lamar Smith really believes his Mexican drug cartel assertion: "By directing federal law enforcement officers to ignore federal drug laws, the administration is tacitly condoning the use of marijuana in the U.S.," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee.
He said the decision undermined the administration's plan to attack the Mexican drug cartels, which he said were growing marijuana in U.S. national parks and fueling drug-related violence along the U.S.-Mexico border.

I know I don’t believe that assertion. Maybe Smith just wants to be contrary; maybe he is ignorant of the proven medical benefits of marijuana… I don’t know… who can tell with some of these Texans. I think Smith’s assertion, that the administration’s plan of attacking drug cartels will be undermined by this decision, is just plain stupid, unless he made this assertion to accumulate political capital, in which case he is being devious at worst and perhaps politically impish at best. ("This is a very safe policy," says Bruce Mirken of the Marijuana Policy Project. "There's no constituency for going after sick people." Oh yeah? Tell that to Lamar Smith!)

This seems a much better course of action: "It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal," Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement.

This memorandum was very well written; some thought must have gone into it:

MEMORANDUM FOR SELECTED UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS

FROM: David W. Ogden, Deputy Attorney General

SUBJECT: Investigations and Prosecutions in States Authorizing the Medical Use of Marijuana

I trust the Obama Administration, in cooperation with state and local authorities, will continue to prosecute drug cartels vigorously, whether Mexican or not.

is a scam to supply pot to potheads

the american medical association has come out time and again against "medical marijuana", just as they have against the use of alcohol "for health benefits"

the only thing that will happen from wider pot (and alcohol) use is more auto accidents, and more child neglect from stoned parents.

this is a shameful decision on obama's part,and should be challenged in court

The National Review has a good editorial about this today. The conservative magazine of the late great WFB has long held that marijuana should be legalized, period. A view that I share. They declare it "a baby step in the right direction" which is about the most one can Hope for from Obama.

I would agree with b-a's assertion that the medical thing is mostly a cover for selling weed. I would add, however, so what? What bidness does the gummint have outlawing a perfectly safe substance that is probably less damaging than alcohol?

A waste of law enforcement effort that could be used pursuing actual criminals, and overcrowding of prisons by people who shouldn't be in prison. These are the products of our current policy.

Thank you U for the link. I was able to bone up on Lawrence vs. Texas (sodomy in Texas, marijuana in Maine)

There is something slightly fraudulent about the medical-marijuana argument, and even those of us who endorse the broad liberalization of marijuana laws should concede that fact.

That is a blatant assertion; I’d like to see them back that up.

And, speaking of assertions, what do you think about Lamar Smith and his Mexican drug cartels?

On Lamar Smith whatsoever. I'm in a comfortable majority on that point.

The Mexican drug cartels would be a lot less of a problem if our drug laws made sense. Eliot Ness aside, it's not as if throwing law enforcement effort at Prohibition did anything except foster gang violence and criminalize people who should not have been labeled criminals.

"Cracking down" by enforcing bad laws is worth nothing but a few photo ops of cocaine confiscations. And the damage it causes is huge.

Of course "medical marijuana" is something of a fraud. Just a harmless one. It's not as if there aren't other medications people could take. They just want to get high. Which is fine by me, so long as the gummint doesn't pay for it.

Back in the late 70s at a small private college in upstate NY, a group of high-minded students got together and formed the Society for the Prevention of Glaucoma. Devoted to reduction of the intra-ocular pressure, they were.

You can guess the rest.