Marijuana Patients Need Future Protection

The one thing I never liked about Obama's memo regarding medical marijuana is that his memo is nothing more than a memo. It's not a change in the law. I've always stated the memo doesn't really mean anything. If the DEA decided to ignore it, they'd be in the right. They are a law enforcement agency. Last time I checked, there were no "memo" enforcement agencies.

Today, 14 states and Washington DC (not a state) have legislated some form of medical marijuana. In most of these states, the patient and/or "caregiver" need to register with the government to be considered "legal".

I have a major problem with all of this.

First of all, have we forgotten that the law has not changed? The good thing about being in New York City is that we have some serious problematic politicians (ie Bloomberg) so medical marijuana hasn't come here... yet. So, I haven't forgot. I am sure many of us haven't forgotten either. While Obama's love letter to the DEA suggests they concentrate on commercial business that somehow remains illegal, it's obvious from various news reports that the DEA is still doing the same damn thing. Obviously, they aren't giving President Obama much attention.

Aside from the obvious fact that Obama's memo doesn't mean much outside of a toilet stall, I have to wonder, how many people in these states (and territory) are registered with their local governments? Is it over one million or maybe less than 100,000?

Now, another question comes about. What is going to happen when Obama is not the president anymore? Does his memo still stay in tact?

Simple answer.. NO.

The memo goes in the trash along with all of Obama's other "middle of the road" policy. Of course, it depends who the next in charge will be and what they will do. Maybe this nation will luck out and get someone whose common sense outweigh special interest money. Chances of that happening or low. Chances are much higher that this nation will have to further waste its time with another drug warrior.

The question becomes, when this new president gets into office, what will be the state of registered patients and their caregivers? What protections will they have from the US Government? Will the Department of Justice draft subpoenas for the names and addresses of all the "caregivers" and their patients? Will local and state governments help the people that they've registered or sell them out in the long run?

These are real questions that I believe should be addressed for the sake of those that are truly ill and find benefit from the use of marijuana. As far as I am concerned, my policy has always been to keep my mouth shut regardless of the state. I'll change when the actual law changes. Until then, I am keeping well below the radar.

Perhaps my paranoia is getting the better of me. I do truly fear that one day in the future, there will be mass arrests of medical marijuana users. When you think about it.. what would stop the DEA from carrying out mass arrests? Is there some law in place that would prevent it? No. In fact, they'd be well within their right to do everything I just mentioned.

I hope it doesn't come to that. I just don't see any reason why it would not come to that. Perhaps some of you have more faith in humanity. I don't have that kind of faith when it comes to law enforcement.