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Obama Pot Policy a Victory for States' Rights

Administration takes long-overdue steps to end Bush-era excesses

By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 19, 2009 5:31 PM CDT

(Newser) – The Obama administration’s decision to respect state laws on medical marijuana is good policy—and not just because it demonstrates compassion toward cancer and AIDS patients, writes Glenn Greenwald. Despite his critics’ charges of “socialism” and “fascism,” President Obama is showing that his administration, unlike the Bush White House, is willing to stick its neck out for states’ rights.

The policy change is part of a larger shift away from the “drug war” mentality that has dominated US policy since the Nixon era, Greenwald writes for Salon. "The War on Drugs is the pernicious precursor to the War on Terror in so many ways,," he contends. "Anything that moves even a little bit towards abandoning the orthodoxies which sustain it should be applauded."

A box is filled with marijuana plants at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009.
A box is filled with marijuana plants at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Buds of marijuana are shown before being placed into packets for sale at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009.
Buds of marijuana are shown before being placed into packets for sale at the San Francisco Medical Cannabis Clinic in San Francisco, Monday, Oct. 19, 2009.   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
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The Obama administration's decision is a major advancement for the rights of states to have their laws respected by the federal government.
- Glenn Greenwald

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 27 comments
maevealleine
Oct 20, 2009 12:27 PM CDT
Conservatives should be all for it. Why? Because technically, conservatives are for the very least amount of government intrusion possible in the lives of its citizens. true conservatives, by definition, want a *conservative* amount of government at all times.
cornelison
Oct 20, 2009 12:26 PM CDT
At the very least let's make it legal for patients who have prescriptions from their doctors. Ideologies against marijuana only cause more suffering for cancer & glaucoma patients.
justme
Oct 20, 2009 12:21 PM CDT
Armywife, I'm a conservative and an independent, not a republican. States should have control of all issues beyond the natural federal issues mentioned in the constitution (international politics, issuing money keeping an army etc.). Issues such as gay rights, abortion, etc belong to the states. So does in-state drug regulation but interstate commerce is federal. The best thing happening in gay rights is happening one state at a time with gay marriage becoming law.

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