I’m sort of constitutionally inclined not to make too big a deal out of things like this, but it’s still welcome news:
The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors today….The policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes. Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
Of course, here in California this comes hot on the heels of the announcment by LA’s district attorney announcing that he was planning to crack down on pot dispensaries, so it’s not as if our medical (wink wink) marijuana community is out of the woods yet. Still and all, it’s always nice to see federal resources being used non-insanely, and choosing not to bust medical marijuana users is distinctly non-insane.
