The letter comes back-to-back of federal raids at the medical marijuana training school in California’s Oaksterdam University. The lawmakers allege that raids would only “force patients underground” and ultimately into the illegal drug market. They reminded President Obama of his campaign promises to leave the regulation of medical marijuana to the states.
The letter mentions that over the last two decades, 16 states and the District of Columbia “have chosen to depart from federal policy and chart their own course on the issue of medical marijuana, as states are entitled to do under our federalist system of government.”
However, the Obama administration seems to object to any other authority but the federal government having a say on any law at all. Obama’s warning to Supreme Court judges on Monday to restrain themselves from judicial activism over the healthcare law is a clear indication of the mindset of the President. Trampling the rights of the states in the issue of medical marijuana is just another instance of that mindset.
The letter written by eminent lawmakers from California, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico and Maine mentions about the states which passed their own laws on medical marijuana, “These states have rejected the fallacy long promoted by the federal government — that marijuana has absolutely no accepted medical use and that seriously ill people must choose between ignoring their doctors’ medical advice or risking arrest and prosecution.”
However, the letter claims that “Unfortunately, these laws face a mounting level of federal hostility and confusing mixed messages from the Obama Administration, the Department of Justice, and the various United States Attorneys.” This is in spite of the fact that, in 2008, then candidate Obama stated that as President, he would not use the federal government to circumvent state laws on the issue of medical marijuana.