From: alanb@sonic.net   
      
   (op ed ... still it is just us apparently that keeps getting special   
   treatment from the Bubble Boy, and not the other 13 States.  California has   
   been getting Katrina-ed around for the last 8 years as we all know !!!)   
      
      
      
   DEA RAIDS CONTINUE IN CALIFORNIA  - IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!   
      California NORML is calling on President-elect Obama to make good   
   on his pledge  to end the DEA's medical marijuana raids.   
      Just last week, the DEA raided the Garden of Eden, a licensed   
   dispensary in Alameda County, showing that the federal government has   
   not let up despite the recent election.   
       In a campaign release, Obama for America stated: " Many states   
   have laws that condone medical marijuana, but the Bush Administration   
   is using federal drug enforcement agents to raid these facilities and   
   arrest seriously ill people. Focusing scarce law enforcement   
   resources on these patients who pose no threat while many violent and   
   highly dangerous drug traffickers are at large makes no sense.   
   Senator Obama will not continue the Bush policy when he is president."   
        California NORML is urging the new administration to honor this   
   pledge by respecting California's medical marijuana law, desisting   
   from arrest and prosecution of medical marijuana defendants;  and   
   pardoning federal medical marijuana convicts,  many of whom face   
   lengthy sentences.   
       Important pending cases include Eddy Lepp, who will be facing a   
   possible 10-year mandatory minimum sentence in federal court on   
   December 2nd in San Francisco;   Luke Scarmazzo and Ricardo Montes,   
   who are facing a likely 20-year mandatory minimum for a Modesto   
   dispensary;  and Charles Lynch, facing a potential 5-year-mandatory   
   minimum for a Morro Bay dispensary that was operated with open   
   support from the city.   
          It is not expected that the administration will move quickly or   
   dramatically to change federal drug policy, which received  scant   
   attention in this year's campaign.   At a minimum, however, it is to   
   be hoped that the new administration will give a fair hearing to   
   reformers' side of the issue and order executive agencies to   
   re-examine Bush administration policies.   
         To this end, advocates are urging the administration to staff   
   the Office of National Drug Control Policy with directors who have a   
   background in public health, addiction and treatment rather than law   
   enforcement or drug war advocacy.   
           Advocates are particularly hopeful that the administration can   
   be persuaded to lift restrictions on marijuana research.   In   
   particular, they are pressing for DEA to stop blocking a license for   
   a medical marijuana research garden at the University of   
   Massachusetts, and for NIDA to unblock access to research marijuana   
   by approving a vaporizer research protocol by California NORML and   
   MAPS.  Both projects have been stalled for five years.   
            Beyond this, advocates are urging the administration to   
   approve a pending petition to reschedule marijuana for medical use.   
   The petition, filed by a coalition of reform groups including NORML,   
   has been stalled by the Bush administration for six years.  A likely   
   response for Obama may be to appoint an inter-agency commission to   
   review the status of medical marijuana, with the ultimate resolution   
   taking several years.   
           In the longer run, NORML is urging Obama to give serious   
   consideration to decriminalization, a policy he supported as a State   
   Senator. However, prospects for any such move remain distant. Despite   
   recent electoral victories for marijuana in Massachusetts and   
   Michigan,  there is little inclination in Congress to change   
   marijuana laws.   
        Initial indications are that marijuana supporters  have a   
   tough row to hoe. Leading Obama advisors, including Chief of Staff   
   Rahm Emanuel and Vice-President Biden, have a record of hostility to   
   marijuana reform.   The directors of Obama's transition team for   
   ONDCP are Christopher Putala, an ex-staffer for  Sen. Biden's   
   Judiciary Committee who helped write anti-drug legislation,  and   
   Donald Vareen, who opposed medical marijuana while working in Drug   
   Czar McCaffrey's office.  AG-designate Eric Holder pursued a   
   crackdown on petty marijuana offenders in the District of Columbia in   
   1996, although that was before Prop 215 and other state marijuana   
   initiatives.   
       Marijuana supporters will have to put on the pressure to take   
   advantage of Obama's opening for change,.  Supporters are urged to   
   make their views known at: http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision or   
   http://www.canorml.org.   
   (Release adopted from article in forthcoming West Coast Leaf)   
       - Dale Gieringer,  Coordinator, Cal NORML   
      
   --   
   Dale Gieringer - dale@canorml.org   
   California NORML, 2215-R Market St. #278, San Francisco CA 94114   
   -(415) 563- 5858 - www.canorml.org   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)