Medical marijuana supporters are rallying to protest the Obama administration's crackdown on medical cannabis dispensaries outside a press conference by U.S. Attorneys at the Sacramento Federal Court House today from 10 AM to 1 PM.
"The federal government has no business dictating local zoning issues.," says California NORML Director Dale Gieringer. "This is government over-regulation run amok."
The DOJ forfeiture threats are the latest in an escalating series of federal attacks on medical marijuana by the Obama administration:
• The IRS has assessed crippling penalties on tax-paying dispensaries by denying standard expense deductions.
• The Department of Treasury has browbeaten banks into closing accounts of medical marijuana collectives.
• The Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has warned firearms dealers not to sell drugs to medical marijuana users.
• The DEA has blocked a 9-year old petition to reschedule marijuana for medical use, ignoring extensive scientific evidence of its medical efficacy.
• NIDA has blocked proposed research on medical marijuana to treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
California NORML estimates that the state's medical marijuana industry generates $1.5 - $4.5 billion in business, over $100 million in taxes, and tens of thousands of jobs in the state: www.canorml.org
With the federal budget on empty, the economy in disarray, our prisons overflowing, and prohibition-related violence raging across the border, it's an outrageous misuse of federal resources to wage war on marijuana dispensaries," says California NORML coordinator Dale Gieringer. "Federal anti-drug bureaucrats are afraid because the dispensaries are proving that it's possible for marijuana to become a safe, legal, tax-paying industry and so expose their own last-century policies as bankrupt and obsolete."
Supporters are urged to call on the President to respect state marijuana laws - White House Hotline: 202 -456-1111. A bill to let states regulate medical marijuana legally, H.R. 1983, has been introduced by Rep. Barney Frank.
Release by Dale Gieringer, Director, California NORML
dale@canorml.org - (510) 540-1066
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