VIDEO: Polis questions AG Holder on medical marijuana

Holder spokesperson: 'Colorado has shown that marijuana can and should be regulated at the state level'
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Monday, December 12, 2011 at 9:11 am | More from The Colorado Independent

Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) wasted no time in taking advantage of his appointment to the Judiciary Committee. Polis questioned Attorney General Eric Holder last week during an oversight hearing on the Department of Justice and asked whether the Ogden memo was still in effect.

Holder said the memo (PDF) – which stipulated that the Justice Department would be unlikely to prosecute people on federal drug laws if they were in compliance with individual state’s laws regarding medical marijuana – is still in effect.

Polis, noting that medical marijuana businesses face a difficult, if not impossible, task in opening bank accounts, asked Holder whether the Department of Justice would prosecute banks or law-abiding medical marijuana businesses for deposits related to sales of marijuana. Again, Holder said such cases would be a low priority.

Reached by email after the exchange, Polis communications director Chris Fitzgerald said:

Congressman Polis is pleased that Attorney General Holder once again affirmed that state-legal and well-regulated medical marijuana businesses are not an enforcement priority for the Justice Department, which is in keeping with his and the Department’s statements on the matter for some time now. Colorado has shown that marijuana can and should be regulated at the state level.

“Eric Holder said ‘I don’t know’ three or four times,” noted Art Way, Colorado manager for the Drug Policy Alliance. “He didn’t really address the issue with banks. The climate for legal medical marijuana businesses is not really as good as Holder would have us believe. They have sent threatening letters to landlords and others, and that really goes against the spirit of the Ogden memo.

“Medical marijuana businesses in Denver employ 5,000 people. It is a viable industry that is really helping us in a hard economic time, with no negative effect on public safety,” Way said.

Comments

13 Comments

knowa
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 12:39 pm

What limited resources they have wasted over a trillion Dollars. Why is this criminal not standing trial in Mexico it is a disgrace that he is not in shackles in front of congress, arrest this criminal 50,000 dead Mexican should count for some thing. This is a serious crime.


Rick Rosio
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 12:55 pm

HERE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE BEING AFFECTED BY THE FEAR AND LOATHING GENERATED BY THE ANTI-CANNABIS COMMUNITY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4el6EGqcUw

Thease are the voices of the DYING WHO USED CANNABISTO HELP DEAL WITH THE PAIN

HOW CAN THEIR VOICES BE IGNORED??
WHY NOT AN HONEST DEBATE BASED ON SCIENCE AND HISTORY NOT POLITICAL RETORIC


Don
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 1:30 pm

One way to save this country an incredible amount of money is to quit wasting it on the witch hunt that is also known as marijuana prohibition! There is no good reason for it and it has cost us an unbelievable amount of money and human suffering (via prisons and criminal records).

We should end this idiocy, legalize it, and regulate it in a similar manner as alcohol.

I really don’t know why our Govt just doesn’t get it since so many of them consumed earlier in their lives. That certainly includes President Obama!


O
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 1:48 pm

way to pat yourselves on the back Colorado.

meanwhile the phrase “enforcement priority” still remains ambiguous, Holder still remains a bold faced liar, and the new regulatory authority in CO (the MMED) is sending dangerous organization like the West Metro Drug Task Force into dispensaries in the state.

I do applaud Polis for doing what he can though, but the Fed is already bought off and in the pocket of some very anti-marijuana Lobbies. So it is gonna take more fundamental changes to our Government in general before we see any resolution here.


Bruce Marsh
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 2:12 pm

Anti pot laws are just a law enforcment jobs protection program. Let our people go. A recent genome study shows that pot was cultivated over 6000 years ago, making it one of the first plants to have that honor. Pot has always been part of the human experience. This country was founded by a couple of pot growers named George and Thomas (google it) who would be appalled at pot prohibition. Pot is our genetic and historical heritage. Our last three presidents and Sen. Rick Santorum all smoked pot as teenagers. Maybe it did something to their teenage brains, turning them into political hypocrites. We need to stand up to law enforcment as a nation of free people. Just say no to drug warriors. End prohibition and the loss of freedom it represents. Release ALL POT PRISONERS IMMEDIATELY !!!


FreedomSquared
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 2:18 pm

The Mexican Cartels dearly love corporate owned politicians…. Why wouldn’t they? Free assault firearms, easy access to assault firearms at the border, U.S. feds(big pharma, alcohol, tobacco, firearm, law enforcement, and private prison complex) increasing mj prices by oppressing non violent American businesses, by doing so preserving self and corporate interests, insider trading by law makers renders corrupt laws against Americans….. all of this preserves and strengthens the Mexican Cartels market and market share.

Who are the prohibitionist’s like Obama, Eric Holder, Gil Kerlikowski, and the 4 U.S. Attorney’s in California really serving and protecting? Non violent Americans? Innocent Mexican’s at the border? Mexican Cartels?

Does history and the examples set forth by history support the U.S. government, big pharma, tobacco, alcohol, firearm, law enforcement, and private prison complex, continued suppression of a non toxic plant?


knowa
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 3:02 pm

I hate to bring in Religion but maybe the Religious Right or at least the southern Baptist might get some truth about the Bible. I am not sure which Bible, but came across this on the web one of the main ingredient in the recipe for Holy Anointing oil is Cannabis. You would most likely today need the Jewish Holy book Koran or an old bible to find it and would not be in a new Bible .Exadus 30 verses 22;30 Kaneh bosm = cannabis hemp. The Hebrew translation for kaneh bosm in the recipe of the holy anointing oil is cannabis of Moses in Exodus 30:23. Holy Anointing oil. Bible measures liquid
myrrh- 500 skekels,
cassia- 500 shekels,
cinnamon leaf- 250 shekels,
cannabis flowers- 250 shekels
, olive oil- 1 hin


Esoteric Knowledge
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 4:30 pm

No one, not an individual, not a group, not a government, has the right or the authority to illegalize a natural growing plant. By illegalizing a plant a government is declaring itself God. Government is not your God. You need to ask how weak people or governments are if they are afraid of a thing that grows from the ground. Then ask if we should listen to people like this? And how weak must every government on the planet must be if the only way the can exist is to illegalize the same certain plants? Governments all over the world commit the crime of violating your will. It is a violation of your will to create laws that stop you from putting your hand up to your mouth, it makes you a slave. We do not have free speech in any country, because in order to speak you must think first, and if governments control how you will think and control what experiences you will have, you do not have free speech. We do not have freedom of religion in any country, because you must pick from pre-designated religions, and religions that have marijuana as a sacrament are not on that list.


David Light
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 4:41 pm

Holder has mastered the art of speaking, while saying absolutely nothing. The truth is that Obama lied to legalization advocates, and his administration continues that lie through their repeated “double-speak.” If you think you’re going to get the straight scoop out of Holder, forget it.

While Polis is at it, he should ask him to fess up on “Project Gunrunner” and his “Fast and Furious” debacle He won’t come clean on that either.

This guy needs not only to be fired, but prosecuted. He’s a schmuck, a liar and a tyrant. “change you can believe in” alright…


malcolm kyle
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 5:49 pm

Are you an international criminal? And are you wondering if it’s wise to maintain your affiliation to any one of the estimated sixteen currently-active Mexican Drug Cartels? Maybe you should consider the following information very carefully:

As a gesture of good will vis-a-vis cross-border relations, key members of the American Federal Government have recently pledged a solemn oath, declaring their commitment to encouraging people like yourself to increase performance and productivity. In particular, the United States Department of Justice will guarantee that you achieve a respectable level of technology in both military grade weapons and equipment while actively facilitating the laundering of that swirling cascade of cash that a business like yours invariably and continually generates.

Still not convinced that during prohibition the phenomenal benefits of remaining an international drug criminal far outweigh the remotely possible, negative consequences? Here’s another recent DOJ announcement, and this time written personally by their principal corporate attorney whose main priority at the moment is to avoid being tried for treason, gun-running, racketeering and murder:

“For nearly three years, I have been privileged to work closely with many of the most ruthless organizations to the south of our border. I am extremely proud of our record of abuse, fraud, waste, misconduct, and treason and I pledge a continuation of all such policies that will further weaken our national security and compromise all honest efforts of law enforcement.”
- Attorney General Holder.

Some people, it appears, have absolutely no problem being simultaneously absurd, and very, very evil.

Must we wait for a complete economic collapse to regain our unalienable­ rights?
Maybe it’s high time we all stood up and told our government that we’re pooped at being beaten and jailed in order that unconscionable Transnational Corporations, and their Media Enablers, can continue to abuse, addict and poison us for obscene profits?

“I’m not upset that you lied to me, I’m upset that from now on I can’t believe you.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche


cannadude
Comment posted December 12, 2011 @ 8:51 pm

Limited resources? It only takes one DEA agent to participate in a raid with local police in order for charges to be on a federal level.


TiredOfBS
Comment posted December 14, 2011 @ 10:40 pm

The Obama administration has relentlessly attacked medical marijuana using a wide array of federal agencies to harass and intimidate legal businesses and individuals who are in compliance with state law. This past week alone, the Obama administration arbitrarily stripped America’s 300,000 medical marijuana users of their 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. Never mind that people who ingest THC by taking the pill Marinol aren’t being disarmed. Never mind that when the new drug Sativex hits the market, its users won’t be disarmed. They’ll both have the same THC swirling in their blood, but they get to keep their guns. Big pharmaceuticals are poised to make billions peddling THC and the Obama administration is helping to pave the way by demonizing the use of the same substance, when it comes from any other source, like the back garden.


TiredOfBS
Comment posted December 14, 2011 @ 11:12 pm

Genesis 1:29 says Then God said, “I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.”

The same right wing religious zealots that jump on the line that condemns men laying with men and use it as basis for their anti gay crusade seem to overlook this line from Genesis. When God gave man EVERY seed bearing plant, there was no exclusion made for cannabis. For those that claim to be Biblical literalists, it would seem to be defiance of God’s Will not to support legal marijuana. Making up phony reasons to use the Bible as a club while ignoring the every plant with seeds line could be construed as bearing false witness.

The Book of Isaiah has something to say on the subject as well. Isaiah 10:1 Woe unto those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people.

My bet is that God doesn’t like it when people use their power to crush the sick and the old because they used marijuana to ease their aches and pains.


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