Obama's Medical Marijuana Memo Means Nothing

Background

Today, President Obama released a memo in regards to states with medical marijuana laws. Basically, this memo is telling federal prosecutors along with the DEA and FBI not to waste their time and energy on [destroying the lives of] medical marijuana patients and their suppliers IF they conform to the state's laws.

Feds Can't Touch This
Justice shifts course on medical marijuana prosecutions
Feds: Medical marijuana prosecutions not a priority

Reality

This memo is nothing more than a piece of paper. It doesn't change anything. Think of this policy change as a mother asking her child to do his chores five minutes earlier at 5:55 PM instead of 6 PM. Although, it would be nice if you did it five minutes earlier, it's not anything you have to take into consideration. It just would be nice.

Think about it.

What laws were changed with this memo? Did marijuana, all of a sudden, become legal? Was marijuana removed from the Controlled Substances Act? Will the federal government begin recognizing marijuana's medicinal utility?

NO!

This memo hasn't changed anything. As long as prohibition remains the denominator in the nation's marijuana equation, this memo is nothing more than words on paper. Without the protections and consequences that come with actual changes to the law, nothing has changed.

Problem

President Obama has failed to alleviate or even address the problems that millions of marijuana users, medicinal and recreational, face against violent law enforcement. Well over 800,000 people are arrested and incarcerated yearly. Billions of dollars are burned by law enforcement officials that are only interested in playing 'Judge Dredd' with the lives of nonviolent people. When President Obama has the courage to face these gun toting animals, that's when the memos and speeches will stop. That's when laws begin to change.

Until then, I'd rather President Obama just shut up and leave it alone if he doesn't plan on truly changing anything or helping us. I'm used to the status quo and it's how I operate. It's how thousands of us operate on a daily basis. I won't change how I do things because of some useless memo. I would hope that my grower friends, especially those in medical marijuana states, keep their heads low as well. I don't want them falling for this nonsense.

Just know one thing. Marijuana is not going anywhere. No matter how hard the prohibitionists push against us, we'll still be here - growing, smoking, and teaching!