President Obama, while not perfect, has ended up being a relatively decent president on marijuana law and greater Drug War reforms. Allowing states to move forward with both medical and recreational marijuana laws without federal interference has been tremendous for the movement and the president should be commended for the early release of nonviolent drug offenders. President Obama’s policies have certainly helped lead the Democratic Party to start embracing sensible drug policy reform. President Obama should be proud to help usher in an era where Democratic presidential candidates are making criminal justice reform a staple of their campaigns.
President Obama needs to continue his rather pragmatic move towards more progressive drug policies by firing DEA Chief Chuck Rosenberg for calling medical marijuana a “joke.” Too many good people have received medicinal benefits from cannabis, from reducing the number of narcotic pain pills they take to helping reduce nausea when suffering through chemotherapy treatments. To call medical cannabis as joke is an insult to every patient that has used medical cannabis. CBS reported on Rosenberg’s offensive statement:
“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” Rosenberg said in a briefing to reporters. “We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine — that is a joke.”
The science is too clear (and Obama was supposed to base his administration on science over politics) that cannabis does indeed have medicinal benefits.In fact the federal government provides medical cannabis to a few patients, and their experiences clearly demonstrate that marijuana has medicinal benefits and that it can be utilized safely. Factcheck.org noted that Rosenberg was simply wrong, stating, that “There is in fact evidence of smoked marijuana’s beneficial effects and safety.”
Marijuana Majority has created a petition calling for President Obama to fire Chuck Rosenberg. Please sign the petition and spread the word. The Obama Administration should not be employing an official that makes such insulting and unscientific comments.
