President Obama: Says He Expects More US States To Regulate Cannabis Commerce
"What you're seeing now is Colorado [and] Washington, through state referenda, they're experimenting with legal marijuana," the President stated. "The position of my administration has been that we still have federal laws that classify marijuana as an illegal substance, but we're not going to spend a lot of resources trying to turn back decisions that have been made at the state level on this issue. My suspicion is that you're [going to] see other states start looking at this."
President Obama made his remarks in a YouTube interview last Thursday.
In December, the President signed spending legislation barring the Justice Department from interfering in the implementation of state-approved medical marijuana distribution programs. The administration had previously issued memorandums to US Attorneys in all 50 states urging them not to interfere with state-sanctioned cannabis regulatory schemes and/or the legalization of marijuana on tribal lands, provided that such activities do not violate specific federal priorities such as marijuana sales to minors or the plant's diversion to states that have not legalized its use.
The President also acknowledged during the interview that he is asking the Justice Department to reassess federal policies involving the prosecution of nonviolent drug offenders. Addressing illicit drug offenses "exclusively as a criminal problem" has been "counterproductive," he said.
Twenty-three states have enacted legislation permitting for the use of marijuana therapeutically, while four states and Washington, DC have now approved legislation permitting the plant's use for anyone over the age of 21.
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Erik Altieri, NORML Communications Director, at (202) 483-5500.
No comments:
Post a Comment