President Obama is not going to legalize weed, and he never said he would.
But when he was running for office four years ago, he did maintain that his Justice department wouldn’t go after medical marijuana dispensaries or those who grow to stock those facilities, saying it was an issue best left to state and local governments. And in 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder emphasized that the Justice Department would only target medical-marijuana providers “who violate both federal and state law.”
But with more than 100 raids on pot dispensaries during his first three years, Obama is now on pace to exceed Bush’s record for medical-marijuana busts, allowing Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project to lament, that “there’s no question that Obama’s the worst president on medical marijuana,” adding “He’s gone from first to worst.”
But the President defends himself on this issue in a new interview in Rolling Stone magazine.
This article appears in Apr 26 – May 2, 2012.
