Pelosi Condemns Federal Crackdown On Medical Marijuana

By Steve Elliott
Thursday, May 3, 2012


U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Wednesday released a statement pushing back against the Obama Administration's escalated interference with medical marijuana laws in California and other states, which is threatening safe access to medicinal cannabis for patients.

"Crucially, she pointed to the stark contrast between the administration's current actions and its previous written policy that 'did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws,' remarked media relations director Tom Angell of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).

"Access to medicinal marijuana for individuals who are ill or enduing difficult and painful therapies is both a medical and a states' rights issue," Pelosi said. "Sixteen states, including our home state of California, and the District of Columbia have adopted medicinal marijuana laws -- most by a vote of the people.

As a result of threats by U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag to bring criminal and civil charges against San Francisco dispensary operators and their landlords, five city facilities have been forced to close, and at least four additional dispensaries have received similar threatening letters.

Nancy Pelosi: "I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana"

Pelosi's statement came on the same day the Alameda County Democratic Party unanimously adopted a resolution "decrying the federal raids on dispensaries and calling for the U.S. Department of Justice to refrain from future expenditure of public resources on any act that contradicts the will of the California voters regarding medical marijuana."

Last week the San Francisco Democratic Party passed a similar resolution, calling on President Obama, Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag to "cease all Federal actions in San Francisco immediately, respect State and local laws, and stop the closure of City-permitted medical cannabis facilities."

This resolution followed a similar statement earlier in April by San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, opposing "recent federal actions targeting duly permitted Medicinal Cannabis Dispensaries ... that aim to limit our citizens' ability to have safe access to the medicine they need."

"I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana," Pelosi said.

One group behind the recently building momentum of opposition by local, state and federal officials is the coalition San Francisco United for Safe Access, made up of patients, patient advocates like Americans for Safe Access (ASA) and its local ASA-SF chapter, and other stakeholders seeking to maintain a safe and legal means by which qualified patients can get their medication.


"We applaud Pelosi's leadership in urging President Obama to address medical marijuana as a public health issue," said ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer. "Rather than defending a policy of intolerance, President Obama should end his unnecessary and harmful attacks once and for all."

"Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include improving the quality of life for patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other severe medical conditions," Pelosi said. "I am pleased to join organizations that support legal access to medicinal marijuana, including the American Nurses Association, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, and the AIDS Action Council.

"Medicinal marijuana alleviators some of the most debilitating symptoms of AIDS, including pain, wasting, and nausea," Pelosi said. "The opportunity to ease the suffering of people who are seriously ill or enduring difficult or painful therapies is an opportunity we must not ignore.

"For these reasons, I have long supported efforts in Congress to advocate federal policies that recognize the scientific evidence and clinical research demonstrating the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana, that respects the wishes of the states in providing relief to ill individuals, and that prevents the federal government from acting to harm the safe access of medicinal marijuana provided under state law," Pelosi said. "I will continue to strongly support those efforts."

President Obama, who was recently interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, weakly defended his administration's practice of aggressively raiding permitted dispensaries by claiming "there haven't been any prosecutions" of medical marijuana patients.

The President conspicuously avoided the question of why he is using Justice Department funds to carry out a campaign against medical marijuana that not only contradicts a campaign pledge, but has also far surpassed that of his predecessor President George W. Bush.

Obama's Justice Department has conducted more than 200 SWAT-style raids on dispensaries and growers in at least nine medical marijuana states since he took office in January 2009.

tokeofthetown

I sent an e-mail to the DNC and the White House that because of these raids I would not be voting for Obama this fall. Every phone call or e-mail is counted as 100 people that feel that way.

so which bill did Pelosi sponsor to legalize medical pot and end the raids? Oh, bill number ZERO. Lying CUNT.

thanks for the article!

Why Nancy Pelosi is Right to Slam Obama's War on Pot

Pelosi's willingness to call out Obama over the huge gap between his administration's actions and past pledges shows how important and popular an issue medical marijuana really is.

By Stephen C. Webster
May 4, 2012


President Barack Obama’s emphasis on raiding medical marijuana dispensaries drew a rebuke from none other than House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) this week, who warned in a prepared statement that she has “strong concerns” about her political ally’s policy.

Since President Barack Obama took office, “more than 200 state-approved medical marijuana facilities have been raided, according to Kris Hermes, spokesperson for Americans for Safe Access (ASA), who spoke to Raw Story on Thursday.

“That exceeds the number of raids his predecessor, George W. Bush, oversaw during his entire eight years in office,” he said.

The startling statistic wasn’t lost on Pelosi either, whose statement comes just days after she received a petition by marijuana patients in her district.

“I have strong concerns about the recent actions by the federal government that threaten the safe access of medicinal marijuana to alleviate the suffering of patients in California, and undermine a policy that has been in place under which the federal government did not pursue individuals whose actions complied with state laws providing for medicinal marijuana,” she said.

“Proven medicinal uses of marijuana include improving the quality of life for patients with cancer, HIV/AIDS, multiple sclerosis, and other severe medical conditions,” she added. “I am pleased to join organizations that support legal access to medicinal marijuana, including the American Nurses Association, the Lymphoma Foundation of America, and the AIDS Action Council. Medicinal marijuana alleviates some of the most debilitating symptoms of AIDS, including pain, wasting, and nausea. The opportunity to ease the suffering of people who are seriously ill or enduring difficult and painful therapies is an opportunity we must not ignore.”

“We applaud Pelosi’s leadership in urging President Obama to address medical marijuana as a public health issue,” ASA Executive Director Steph Sherer said in a media advisory. “Rather than defending a policy of intolerance, President Obama should end his unnecessary and harmful attacks once and for all.”

“The fact that a Democratic congressional leader like Nancy Pelosi is willing to call out a president from her own party over the huge gap between his administration’s actions and its previous written pledges shows just how important and popular an issue medical marijuana really is,” added Nate Bradley, a former California police officer and current medical marijuana patient who works for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. “Hopefully other elected representatives from California and other medical marijuana states will soon call on the president to get control of his federal agencies and stop breaking his campaign promises. It sure would be nice to hear Gov. Jerry Brown finally stand up in defense of our state’s duly enacted laws.”

Pelosi, who has long supported medical marijuana, is not alone in rebuking the Obama administration’s medical marijuana raids, but she is the highest ranking official to do so thus far.

The San Francisco Democratic Party passed a resolution (PDF) last week calling for Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder to curb the raids, and nine other members of Congress wrote the administration late last year demanding more respect for states’ rights with regards to marijuana. There’s also a bill in the house, put forward by Reps. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Ron Paul (R-TX), that would allow individual states to set their own policies with regards to marijuana.

They’ve got the American people behind them, too: a Gallup poll last year found that a record high 50 percent of Americans favor legalizing marijuana and regulating it like alcohol. When asked about medical marijuana in a prior Gallup survey, the approval rating jumped to 70 percent.

Despite all the pressure, Obama — who’s admitted to trying marijuana previously — has said repeatedly he does not support legalization.


AlterNet


Stephen C. Webster is the senior editor of Raw Story, and is based out of Austin, Texas. He previously worked as the associate editor of The Lone Star Iconoclast in Crawford, Texas, where he covered state politics and the peace movement’s resurgence at the start of the Iraq war. Webster has also contributed to publications such as True/Slant, Austin Monthly, The Dallas Business Journal, The Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Weekly, The News Connection and others. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenCWebster.

Medical Marijuana Advocates Petition Nancy Pelosi to End Federal Crackdown on Pot Clubs

By Erin Sherbert
Wed., May 2 2012

Pot patients are marching to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's San Francisco office as we type to deliver a petition demanding she do something to stop the ongoing and significant crackdown on local pot clubs.

The petition, which you can find here, asks Pelosi to defend medical marijuana users who rely on medical marijuana to relieve themselves of pain they have from illnesses. Five city-permitted pot dispensaries have shuttered their doors in the last few months, and five more are slated to close this month, thanks to President Obama's unpopular policies on medical marijuana.

Here's what the petition says:


Representative Pelosi, you have been a strong advocate for patients' rights and a supporter of the use of medical cannabis in California. The San Francisco Bay area has historically been a haven for HIV/AIDS patients and others with chronic illnesses such as glaucoma, diabetes, and cancer. We the undersigned ask Rep. Pelosi to stand with us in defending medical cannabis dispensaries and patients from persecution, to advise President Obama about the unwarranted persecution of medical cannabis patients and dispensaries, to call for an investigation of the constitutionality of California dispensary closures, and to facilitate setting up a emergency medical cannabis distribution system for catastrophically ill patients whose physicians recommended medical cannabis as part of their treatment in the district you represent.

Last week, local democrats passed a resolution, asking the president to leave pot clubs alone once and for all. The local Democratic Party noted that the Obama Administration is "aggressively persecuting a peaceful and regulated community, wasting federal resources in using a series of threatening tactics to shut down regulated access to medical cannabis across the state of California."

That resolution came a day after Obama was quoted defending himself and his marijuana crackdown, where operators and landlords of dispensaries have been threatened with jail time and asset forfeiture unless they closed their business to the city's tens of thousands of customers in San Francisco. Obama claimed he "never made a promise to ignore federal law, and even if [he] did, [he] can't, because Congress, not the White House, makes the laws."

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Health Department says not one complaint has been filed against a pot club in the city, however, U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag continues to shut down clubs, citing "neighborhood complaints."

April Funcke, a San Jose resident and an Obama supporter, signed the online petition, explaining why she feels the president is a hypocrite.

"I am a medical cannabis patient who worked hard to support Obama and donated to his campaign in 2008. He promised to let the states regulate medical cannabis and to not use Federal enforcement against patients, growers, and dispensaries that comply with California law," she said. "Instead, the very people that are doing their best to comply with state law get harassed, while the meth labs and criminal gangs who deal street drugs get a pass. I feel betrayed by the Obama administration."


sfweekly

Too little too late for Pelosi. Where has she been while all the collectives were shut down by the Feds? Where is her bill to legalize cannabis? Is she a co-author of the Frank/Paul bill? This is all just media hype.

Obummer is another lying politician! He has the authority to reclassify cannabis or order Holder to reclassify cannabis. He's just bought off by big pharm, big oil, big alcohol, all his owners, don't want cannabis legal it will cut into their bottom line!

We all know Government views corporations more important than people!

I have to agree, Obama has proved he is no friend of ours.

I agree GW. And don't forget the corps that own the privatized prisons in this country. They spend billions buying politicians who will keep bad laws and write more bad laws to put and keep more people in prison.

THAT'S why we should vote THEM ALL OUT.