Monday, February 9, 2009


Intro
Thank you to my pothead friends on Twitter. They linked this great article in the Washington Times: DEA pot raids go on; Obama opposes. Let's just do the whole snippet thing; I like that:
Drug Enforcement Administration agents this week raided four medical marijuana shops in California, contrary to President Obama's campaign promises to stop the raids.

The White House said it expects those kinds of raids to end once Mr. Obama nominates someone to take charge of DEA, which is still run by Bush administration holdovers.
It seems Obama just hasn't gotten around to designating someone to head these law enforcement positions. Unfortunately for all of us, sinse-citizens, Obama's priorities are not with us. We have an economy that's hemorrhaging at an alarming rate. Think of it like a scene at an emergency room after a multiple shooting. The United States is one of those patients that was shot and Obama is the doctor doing his best to patch things up. We've got to remove one bullet at a time. the DEA is one of those bullets that Obama will get to eventually. That's great news as far as I am concerned.
At Least It's Been Addressed
Personally, I was a bit concerned. Obama's been very selective about his talking points and the economy has taken precedence. I almost assumed America's first pothead president had forgotten about addressing marijuana policy. I knew it was a wait and see situation but I think we were all overly anxious and losing patience. But, isn't that the situation with all causes; our respective causes take precedence with the individual.
Watch out for DEA's last big push
Now this announcement has been made, I could only hope that Obama acts very quickly. The DEA knows it's their last days. Local police know it's their last days. We all know what it means when it's someone's last day. It's the final moment where you get to make a huge push. I think it's very much possible that another large DEA raid may be planned soon (and sloppily) just before they find out who and when someone will be appointed to head the DEA. I hope that Obama will be able to head off any large plans in the future with a quick appointment and placement.
We still don't know
However, the DEA is part of the Department of Justice. As mentioned in the article:
He said he is aware that Mr. Obama has not installed his own DEA chief but that new Attorney General "Eric Holder can still suspend these types of operations."
As we know, Holder is the new head of the DOJ. So, it all remains to be seen what's going to happen in the future. It's my belief that maybe Obama has bigger plans for the DEA than we realize. Perhaps, they're doing research to find out exactly what's going on with the DEA. It may be the very reason Holder is keeping quiet. This may be the ultimate victory for drug policy altogether. Will Obama abolish or at least severely diminish the DEA? That's not a bad idea.

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