The Feds Start Again

So, here we go again. It appears that the Federal Government has upped their ante when it comes to busting medical marijuana patients and the people who supply them with their medicine. It is an election year, after all, so I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised about this. This story from the Contra Costa Times give a little of the idea of the approach they’re taking, as it appears the “war on drugs” has begun again in California. On a More statewide basis, you can look at some of the lurid law enforcement details at this CBS news story. These are definitely sad times.

Naturally, there is a political part in this apparently, at least according to marijuana activist Lanny Swerdlow. He claims that, “In exchange for (police) support in the election, President Barack Obama has broken his promise to leave medical marijuana patients alone and states that allow medical marijuana.”

Is he’s right about this? I would probably say no. That all sounds a little bit too conspiracy theory for me. But, let’s not forget in this whole war on drugs that there is a huge vested interest for law enforcement. Let’s not forget that marijuana is a huge “cash crime” for them and that without it they would have to lay off a lot of people. They would also have to report to government with a lot less revenue generated. Needless to say, that is a lot of unhappy people with power.

It’s going to be a battle for marijuana activists for some time because of the fact that law enforcement is such a huge business in the state of California. Frankly, it’s a huge business in the United States. And when your competition has guns and badges, things can get pretty ugly.