Obama Will Curtail Medical Marijuana Raids

A White House spokesman has said that once President Obama has an appointee at the DEA, that he will not use federal resources to pursue majiruana cases that are lawful pursuant to state medical marijuana laws.

The president believes that federal resources should not be used to circumvent state laws, and as he continues to appoint senior leadership to fill out the ranks of the federal government, he expects them to review their policies with that in mind," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said. . . .

“I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue," Mr. Obama told the Mail Tribune newspaper in Oregon in March, during the Democratic primary campaign.

He told the newspaper the "basic concept of using medical marijuana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate."

The current Bush appointee at the DEA is continuing to make medical marijuana raids.

Colorado is one of many states that have authorized the use of marijuana for medical purposes, something prohibited by the federal controlled substances act, which as currently applied classifies marijuana as a drug with no medical purpose despite scientific evidence to the contrary.