California's four U.S. Attorneys, including Sacramento's US Attorney Benjamin Wagner, held a press conference Friday to announce the federal government's intention to crack down on medical marijuana dispensaries. The federal government has sent out letters to dispensaries and their landlords in San Francisco, San Diego, and Marin County. The letters state that the dispensaries are in violation of federal law, which supersedes state law, and that landlords should evict their dispensary tenants and dispensaries should close up shop within 45 days otherwise both the dispensary owners and the landlords will be arrested and prosecuted.
The four U.S. Attorneys say they aren't aiming to close every dispensary in the state; just those that are "clearly profiteering" from the medical marijuana industry. But the letters come after the news that the IRS is trying to make Harborside Health Center in Oakland, the largest medical marijuana provider, pay $2.4 million in tax penalties for trafficking in illegal drugs. The federal government is sending a message loud and clear "we are no longer going to respect state medical marijuana laws". After Obama was elected he promised to respect state laws legalizing medical marijuana. He directed U.S. prosecutors to leave the sick with medical cards alone. Obama has broken that promise. By attacking the medical marijuana dispensaries the federal government is cutting off the sick from their medicine, and thus in effect attacking the sick with medical cards and ignoring state laws.
And while the Obama administration begins the assault on medical marijuana; there is a scandal growing that has gotten little attention. In December of 2010 a border patrol agent, Brian Terry, was found killed by drug cartels in Mexico. Then in March 2011 an agent of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), a federal agency, named John Dodson blew the whistle on a program called "Fast and Furious". "Fast and Furious" is a program by the ATF to sell thousands of guns to traffickers and drug cartels in Mexico; allegedly so the federal government can build a legal case. Two guns found at the scene of Brian Terry's death were linked to the "Fast and Furious" program. Since March the Obama administration has been distancing itself from the program.
But then in October 2011 new documents were released that show Obama's administration has been intimately involved in "Fast and Furious" from the start. First documents were released that high level ATF agents were in direct communication with White House National Security staffers; and those communications included discussions of guns moving from Arizona to Mexican drug cartels. Then after that release more documents were leaked that showed Attorney General Eric Holder lied to Congress about being briefed on the "Fast and Furious" program. Holder had claimed in May 2011 before Congress that he had only been briefed on the program "over the last few weeks". But documents released reveal that he was briefed about the program as early as July 2010.
So what is the link between Obama's new push to prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries in California and the ATF "Fast and Furious" program? The number one drug that Mexican cartels traffic in is marijuana, it is their cash crop. Without marijuana sales these drug cartels wouldn't be able to afford the guns ATF agents are selling. And the legal medical marijuana industry growing in America is challenging the drug cartels' profits. The Obama administration seems to be attacking state medical marijuana laws because they cut down on how many guns the cartels can afford to buy from ATF.
This is a sick game. It is time for Americans to call for an end to this ridiculous war on marijuana that seems to be in place just to increase gun sales to Mexico. The rational for the war on marijuana has always been that we have to fight these violent drug cartels in Mexico. But now it is clear that these drug cartels are able to act violently because the U.S. government sells them weapons. And probably the saddest part to the whole story is that this isn't the first time the U.S. government has been caught selling weapons to known drug traffickers. We should not forget about the scandals under President Reagan. The federal government should not only leave the medical marijuana industry alone; but it should encourage its full legal acceptance. And at minimum, the federal government should stop selling guns to people who kill our own citizens.
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