DEA Report Expresses Profound Hatred of Marijuana and Activism

Jim Finnel

Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Everyone's talking about this DEA report from the summer that failed to make the rounds until now, probably because they didn't exactly send us our own autographed copies. It's called DEA Position on Marijuana, and as you'd guess from the title, it's as heavy a dose of hysterical anti-pot propaganda as anyone could ever cram into 50 pages.

This thing is a real page-turner if, like me, you actually sort of enjoy the hideous spectacle of desperate drug warriors defending their agenda. They spend 4 pages listing the various accomplishments of the "legalization lobby," and if it was even a page shorter, I might blockquote the whole section. It's that awesome. Otherwise, the report basically consists of cherry-picked data and a jumbo-size portion of anecdotal evidence that marijuana turns the world into a sewer.

One thing that jumped out at me, though, was this curiously contradictory description of federal policy on medical marijuana enforcement:
On October 19, 2009 Attorney General Eric Holder announced formal guidelines for federal prosecutors in states that have enacted laws authorizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The guidelines, as set forth in a memorandum from Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden, makes clear that the focus of federal resources should not be on individuals whose actions are in compliance with existing state laws, and underscores that the Department will continue to prosecute people whose claims of compliance with state and local law conceal operations inconsistent with the terms, conditions, or purposes of the law. He also reiterated that the Department of Justice is committed to the enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act in all states and that this guidance does not "legalize" marijuana or provide for legal defense to a violation of federal law.2 While some people have interpreted these guidelines to mean that the federal government has relaxed its policy on "medical" marijuana, this in fact is not the case. Investigations and prosecutions of violations of state and federal law will continue. These are the guidelines DEA has and will continue to follow.


Rather obviously, a policy of targeting operators who violate state law is implicitly acknowledging and upholding those very laws. It's a subtle, but significant, departure from the policy under Bush, and it has the effect of tacitly legitimizing state medical marijuana laws for the first time in the history of federal posturing on this issue. I'm not surprised to find DEA maneuvering to mitigate the perception that they've been ordered to stand down, but that's exactly what happened and everyone knows it. Federal raids on patients and providers haven't entirely vanished, but they're less of a concern in the industry than ever before and rightly so. Anyone who doesn't believe "the federal government has relaxed its policy" should check out what's happening in Denver, or Ann Arbor for that matter.

The great irony of all this is that the federal drug war army spends 50 pages explaining everything it hates about marijuana, but fails to address why or how it came to be the case that we've got dispensaries operating in a half dozen states despite their insistence that this isn't allowed. DEA makes it abundantly clear that they oppose marijuana and possess limitless legal authority to crush anyone who touches it, so why is the industrialization of the American cannabis industry able to make national headlines? Try as they might to frame the legalization movement as a fringe network of cynical stoners and sociopath philanthropists, the truth is that they'd have shut us out long ago if that's all we were. Marijuana policies are changing because public attitudes are changing and politics, unlike drug laws, can't be enforced at gunpoint.

DEA Position on Marijuana in .PDF



NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: StoptheDrugWar.org
Author: Scott Morgan
Copyright: 2011 StoptheDrugWar.org
Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org
Website: DEA Report Expresses Profound Hatred of Marijuana and Activism
 
DEA hates us because they are paid to. Handsomely, I bet. Can't blame the individuals. Just the law that makes them do what they do for a living. I work for the Fed Gov. And I hate it. If I was in LE, I would have quit many moons ago. But many are not like that. They HAVE to provide for their families, they may not have envisioned sending innocents to jail. But now, they are stuck. To those that are Notch Hunters, go to hell.
I just still disagree with the fact that the Fed Gov. thinks it can stop us from doing something, that is safe and 99% without harm, when alcohol and tobacco are legal forms of death.
My best friend just died, and he had to stop taking medicinal marijuana in his State, Oregon, where it's legal, so he could try and get a heart transplant and kidney transplant. His medicine that was helping him was legal, but he could not take it, and still get a transplant. WHAT THE FUCK!!!!! You mean to tell me, people can take Oxycontin and shit, and get a Xplant, but if you take natural mmj you are not qualified???
Ok, no. Not going to get started here. I'll start my shit on FB. Cause now i am pissed. No negative energy allowed on this wonderful site. Ever. I apologize.
Out.
 
I like what you have to say, Guitarman, but I disagree that people are not morally culpable for violence committed in the name of the State or for sake of a paycheck.

The go-to counter-example would surely be that SS soldiers will never be off the hook with the excuse that they had to put food on the table. The DEA agents may not be what the SS soldiers were, but this is a difference in degree, not in kind.
 
I see a great similarity between the DEA and religious pedophiles. While they may or may not beleive the party line, their personal actions destroy the lives of countless innocents.....
 
Other than how and why someone might be a DEA agent, they're one now and will done and say anything to maintain that job. If there is legalization that department will see cuts in personnel. For sure!
 
First off I'm not necessarily an advocate for Med MJ but I was kinda confused by the 'position' of this document.

Is it just me or am I missing the actual 'point' of this article by the DEA? Obviously they are the DEA...they are against any and all forms or marijuana because technically its an illegal substance, medical MJ means nothing to them..so again am I missing the point here? How many people and how much money did it cost simply to generate this report- which simply just repeats "what they already believe and have believed anyway", I wonder?

All I see is 40+ pages of statistics. Fucking statistics, thats all they are...a generalization of reality, not actual reality.

Heres where to me this article loses all credibility (not that it had any to begin with) scan through the 'Endnotes' (p45)..The majority if not all the references are government, news agencies, or anti-drug organizations..no wonder all the statistics back up their argument.

I can just see the typical DEA agent skimming through this and shaking his/her head up and down in agreement, a big smile on his/her face..yeah thats who I'm gonna believe- govt/news agencies. Get in line with the rest of the sheep, its 'feeding' time. :tokin:
 
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