Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Last Wednesday, April 20, President Barack Obama made an appearance in Northern California on the most marijuana-friendly day of the year, 4/20. That same day, cannabis-patient-advocacy group Americans for Safe Access delivered Obama's marijuana report card. And, no, the president didn't smoke it.
He earned an F.
"The report card highlights broken promises, half-measures, and a general failure by the Obama Administration to address medical marijuana as a national public health issue," read the report by ASA. Specifically, ASA cited a 2009 Department of Justice memo, which urged federal prosecutors to deprioritize enforcement efforts in medical-marijuana-friendly states-but that "100 aggressive, SWAT-style raids on patients, growers, dispensaries and laboratories in California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana and Nevada" have occurred since that very '09 memo.
Still, this week, Obama has a chance at redemption: Next Monday, May 2, Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband, Dale Schafer, will turn themselves in at downtown's federal courthouse to serve five years for growing medical marijuana at their home in Cool.
The couple was not allowed to invoke Proposition 215 or California's medical-cannabis laws during their trial.
Fry and Schafer, who leave behind five children and two grandchildren, are petitioning Obama for clemency, asking that their sentence be commuted.
The couple was arrested seven days after the 9/11 attacks.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: Sacramento News & Review - Home
Details: MapInc
Author: Nick Miller
He earned an F.
"The report card highlights broken promises, half-measures, and a general failure by the Obama Administration to address medical marijuana as a national public health issue," read the report by ASA. Specifically, ASA cited a 2009 Department of Justice memo, which urged federal prosecutors to deprioritize enforcement efforts in medical-marijuana-friendly states-but that "100 aggressive, SWAT-style raids on patients, growers, dispensaries and laboratories in California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana and Nevada" have occurred since that very '09 memo.
Still, this week, Obama has a chance at redemption: Next Monday, May 2, Dr. Mollie Fry and her husband, Dale Schafer, will turn themselves in at downtown's federal courthouse to serve five years for growing medical marijuana at their home in Cool.
The couple was not allowed to invoke Proposition 215 or California's medical-cannabis laws during their trial.
Fry and Schafer, who leave behind five children and two grandchildren, are petitioning Obama for clemency, asking that their sentence be commuted.
The couple was arrested seven days after the 9/11 attacks.
NewsHawk: Jim Behr: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Sacramento News & Review (CA)
Copyright: 2011 Chico Community Publishing, Inc.
Contact: sactoletters@newsreview.com
Website: Sacramento News & Review - Home
Details: MapInc
Author: Nick Miller
