Marijuana Crackdown in California: U.S. Department of Justice Says it's Not President Obama's Fault

By Dennis Romero Thu., Oct. 27 2011 at 7:07 AM

Don't blame this guy.

As we've noted, marijuana advocates are mad at President Obama.

An Occidental College-educated lefty, Obama's supposed to be one of them. But when his U.S. Department of Justice cracked down on pot dispensaries in California, essentially saying that all weed shops are illegal on a federal level, the green vote seemed to unite against our Commander-in-Chief. He became the man.

Huffington Post has been all over the story and this week indicates that ...

... Obama had nothing to do with the attorneys' crackdown.

Lauren Horwood, a spokeswoman for the DOJ, appeared to take pains in distancing the prez from the decision to go after dispensaries in California:

... We didn't have direct talks with [U.S. Attorney General and Obama appointee] Eric Holder -- not that we wouldn't, he's been out and visited -- but just the way the Department of Justice works, he's not that hands-on on these kinds of details.

So there you have it. Federal crackdown on California-voter-approved pot: Not Obama's fault.

But still, if you were a pot supporter, you'd have to wonder why the nation's jefe hasn't at least stepped in to stop the madness.

As California NORML chief Dale Gieringer told us recently:

We view the crackdown as a betrayal of Obama's campaign pledge that 'I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.'

[@dennisjromero/djromero@laweekly.com]

Tags:

dispensary crackdown, marijuana, medical marijuana, NORML, Obama, pot shops, U.S. Department of Justice

We Recommend

Focha

Obama's not responsible, but can you honestly believe that he couldn't make 1 phone call and end this ridiculous witch hunt. If the people choose it, it should be so. Do we now live in a world where we need overseerers to tell us what we vote on and approve is not correct?

Vincent Von Dudler

If Obama didn't want to be blamed he could publicly request that H.R. 2306 be passed. There is a way to ensure the federal government doesn't get blamed for anymore medical marijuana dispensaries being raided. We need to remove its power via legislation. Pass H.R. 2306 and limit the federal government's power to enforcing only cross-border trafficking. Regardless of how you stand on the marijuana debate we can all agree it should be left up to the states and the federal crackdown is an abuse that Colorado should not have to tolerate. If Obama came out and said that H.R. 2306 should be passed and a vote was taken on it he has done all he can do. But you know what - right now it IS his fault.

Tell your representatives -> http://pvox.co/CdiFqY

"[Prohibition] attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes." - Abraham Lincoln

Towelie

I strongly urge you to listen to this entire conversation, especially at the end, to understand what is going on (it's 8.5 minutes long): http://www.cato.org/multimedia...

Atoma333

Exactly Dale! The one promise he made I cared about. He broke. Saying he has no clue what the DOJ is doing is a terrible defense.

Sharkcity

he doubled the raids over Bush and doesn't know about the people that help elect him? I guess better to turn Cali's 70 billion a year industry over to the cartels in stead of the hundreds of thousands of taxpaying employees that serve safe cannabis to Americans in need..