I'LL BELIEVE IT WHEN I SEE IT

Whether Proposition 19 passes or not, it is a fact that Kookfornia’s medical marijuana law has for all practical purposes legalized pot for recreational use. The Obama administration gave carte blanche for Kookfornia’s pot heads to toke up and have a ball when it announced that the DEA was not going to interfere with the ‘medical’ use of marijuana.

OK, so they decided not to mess with people who were allegedly growing or using pot for medicinal purposes. However, they could have busted the doctors who were abusing the law by prescribing pot for ingrown toenails, hangovers, and dozens of other made-up phony ailments that had no relationship to cancer, AIDS or glaucoma, the ailments marijuana was supposed to be used for. But then that would have wiped out over half of Kookfornia’s doctors.
　
If Proposition 19 passes, and there is a good chance it will, are the feds really going to enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act as promised by Attorney General Holder? I’ll believe it when I see it. And even if they go ahead and enforce the marijuana sections of the CSA, the relatively small number of DEA agents won’t be able to make a dent in the illegal use and possession of pot.
　
FEDS OPPOSE CALIFORNIA POT LEGALIZATION PROPOSAL
Attorney General: u.s. Will Enforce Marijuana Laws Even if Voters Legalize the Drug

CBS News
October 15, 2010
　
(AP) Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its marijuana laws in California even if voters next month make the state the first in the nation to legalize the drug.
　
The Justice Department strongly opposes California's Proposition 19 and remains firmly committed to enforcing the federal Controlled Substances Act in all states, Holder wrote in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday.

"We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute marijuana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote.

The attorney general also said that legalizing recreational marijuana in California would be a "significant impediment" to the government's joint efforts with state and local law enforcement to target drug traffickers, who often distribute marijuana alongside cocaine and other drugs.

He said the ballot measure's passage would "significantly undermine" efforts to keep California communities safe.

If Proposition 19 passes in November, California would become the first U.S. state to legalize and regulate recreational pot use. Adults could possess up to one ounce of the drug and grow small gardens on private property. Local governments would decide whether to allow and tax sales of the drug.
　
Under federal law, marijuana is still strictly illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government has the right to enforce its ban regardless of state law.
　
The ex-Drug Enforcement Administration chiefs sent a letter to Holder in August calling on the Obama administration to sue California if Prop 19 passes. They said legalizing pot presented the same threat to federal authority as Arizona's recent immigration law.

Some legal scholars and policy analysts have questioned how much the Justice Department could really do on the ground to halt a state-sanctioned recreational pot trade.

Nearly all arrests for marijuana crimes are made at the state level. Of more than 847,000 marijuana-related arrests in 2008, for example, just over 6,300 suspects were booked by federal law enforcement, or fewer than 1 percent.