Another rogue DEA agent -- in Denver

Remember Obama's and Eric Holder's promise that it would be the policy of this administration not to send the feds after medical marijuana users, growers and distributors of medical marijuana in states with medical marijuana laws, so long as they were compliant with state law? Well, the DEA in Denver last Friday raided a home where a guy was growing for patients in his basement. As far as I can tell his "crime" was getting a little publicity. So the thuggish liar Heffrey Sweetin, head of the local DEA office, went after him, repeating the lie the feds are still so arrogant as to think they can make you believe, that "marijuana is not medicine." Maybe they have to convince themselves, but it is such a low lie and anyone who knows even a tiny bit knows it.

I still think that such thuggishness will backfire, that it will only convince more people to support initiatives like the tax-and-regulate initiative that will be on the California ballot in November. If the authorities aren't willing to cooperate in carving out an exception to prohibition for people with cancer, multiple sclerosis and the like, people will be ready just to legalize and take the decision out of their hands.

Another Obama promise broken

During the campaign and after being inaugurated, Obama said and AG Eric Holder affirmed that policy going forward would be for the Drug Enforcement Administration not to raid medical marijuana distribution or patient cooperatives (I've talked to a lawyer who objects to using the word "dispensaries" since it's the term the drug warriors prefer and it isn't a legally-defined entity) in states that had medical marijuana laws. There were a couple of raids in Calif. shortly after the statement, but you could perhaps attirbute that to Bush holdovers.

The raids today, however, are a clear reversal of that promise. Now Eric Holder did fudge the promise a bit by talking about maybe going after entities that were violating styate law -- but if that's the case there's no reason not to let the state handle it. The West LA raids conducted today were a multi-agency, feds-state-local operation. I presume we'll get some charges filed, but in a surprising number of these cases no charges are ever filed; it's pure harassment and an effort to nullify the law the voters passed and continue to approve.

Eric Holder: bad on guns and grass

Eric Holder is almost sure to be confirmed as Obama's attorney general some time this week, but my doubts about him are growing. As this Register editorial outlines, he signed on to a "no individual right to keep and bear arms" amicue curiae before the Suptreme Court's Heller decision, and at least in 1996-97 he was a militant drug warrior who sought a five-year mandatory-minimum sentence for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. He was questioned briefly about guns during confirmation hearings, but although the Marijuana Policy Project and NORML have expressed concern, nobody questioned him about his retrograde views on the war on (some) drugs.

All this is germane because during the campaign Obama promised he would stop the DEA from conducting raids on atients and providers in states with medical marijuana laws (though the DEA conducted raids in California and Colorado last Thursday, after the inauguration. But the DEA is part of the Justice Department. Will Eric Holder implement Obama's promises or drag his feet?

Feds trying to intimidate medical marijuana providers and patients

The feds have secured convictions against the two Modesto operators of medical marijuana dispensaries who were arrested some months ago, on charges that carry "mandatory" sentences of 20 years. That distributing marijuana should carry such a sentence is simply mind-boggling. That in federal cases it is forbidden to refer to the California law or to utter the words "medicinal marijuana" is a travesty.

I think this case is largely intended to intimidate other operators of dispensaries and make the DEA thugs feel like they've had a success. The feds simply don't have the resources to prosecute all the dispensaries in the state. From what I've heard from various activists, they were pretty shrewd in those they chose to prosecute. These two guys, according to at least a few other mdical marijuana activists, operated on the edge of ethical practice, and made more profit than most dispensary operators. I have nothing against profit, but this is an area where large profits attract negative attention.

Quite frankly, I've been a little shocked at the prices most dispensaries get for the product -- up to $160 for 1/8 of an ounce. I understand that growing for therapeutic purposes is more expensive than just throwing some seeds somewhere in a national forest or in a back yard. And I know that in many cases up to half of revenues go to lawyers, because the feds have made that advisable with their actions and their threats. But dammit, they don't call it weed for nothing. There are subtleties, but it's not that hard to grow.

If the feds weren't in prosecution/intimidation mode, of course, there would be more dispensaries and more competition, and the prices would decrease significantly. Barack Obama has said when asked that he will call off the feds in states with state medical marijuana laws, although he has hardly been a profile in courage on the issue of decriminalization. (McCain has indicated he might be tougher than Bush.) He should be asked this question at any appearance where activists get a chance to pose questions so that the position is cemented more firmly in the public record and the "public mind" than I believe is the case yet.

Study confirms medical marijuana as pain reliever

A clinical trial conducted at the University of California at Davis and published in the Journal of Pain has confirmed what many patients already knew from their own experience and others from voluminous anecdotal information. Marijuana or cannabis provides significant relief of neuropathic pain -- pain caused by damage to the nerves -- from a variety of causes. This kind of pain is notoriously resistant to conventional treatment, including opiod drugs. This is the second study in just over a year to confirm this. A UC San Francisco study published last year showed relief from HIV/AIDS-related neuropathy.

In the study, 38 patients experiencing pain from various conditions, including diabetes, muscular sclerosis and other conditions were given marijuana cigarettes of three different THC strengths. The first had zero percent THC and was thus the placebo. The second had 3.5 percent THC and the third 7 percent. In each session the patients took a uniform number of puffs. Both strength of cannabis with THC relieved pain, with the relief lasting about five hours. The researchers said side affects "were relatively inconsequential" and "psychoactive effects were minimal and well-tolerated." From the many patients I have talked to for my book, "Waiting to Inhale" (Amazon.com has it mixed up with another book; leave a comment if you want to buy a copy from me for $15 --list $18.95) and for other articles, that jibes with the experience of most patients experiencing pain. They get pain relief but don't get high.

So far as I know, the drug czar and the drug warriors have not commented on this study. How could they? It shows just how irrational and cruel current federal drug policies are. The claims of those who continue to insist that marijuana has no real therapeutic benefits are gradually being shown for the superstitious and anti-scientific myths they are. Unfortunately, the invincibly ignorant are still in charge of marijuana policy.

This finding makes it all the more important that people start asking presidential candidates, in any forums open to the public, about federal policy toward medical marijuana. It should soon become politically feasible to reschedule marijuana from Schedule I, reserved for drugs with particular dangers and no therapeutic benefits. It should actually be popular for candidates to announce that they will direct the DEA not to go after patients and dispensaries in states with medical marijuana laws.

The ideal outcome, of course, fully justified by the principles of liberty and the relative danger of marijuana -- not a single person has died in thousands of years of use -- would be to give marijuana the legal status that parsley has now. But that may take a while.