nice he needs to put out a executive order on lega
Post# of 51135
President Obama Signs 'Ceasefire' in War on Medical Marijuana
President Obama Tuesday afternoon signed a massive $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill with some historic provisions for medical marijuana advocates. The controversial “cromnibus” spending bill funds the government through September 2015 and includes a rider to de-fund the Department of Justice’s war on medical pot.
The Hinchey-Rohrabacher Amendment blocks the use of Department of Justice funds to “prevent [medical marijuana states] from implementing their own State laws that authorize the use, distribution, possession, or cultivation of medical marijuana.”
The vast majority of Americans (78 percent) support states’ right to allow access to medical cannabis.
The rider is a huge, symbolic victory for medical cannabis, which was first legalized in California in 1996 and has spread to 22 other states and DC.
The rider means an end to the three-year-long medical pot crackdown in California and other states, some say.
Americans for Safe Access states the rider “will dramatically impact DOJ enforcement, including ending federal medical marijuana raids, arrests, criminal prosecutions, and civil asset forfeiture lawsuits, as well as providing prisoners with a way to petition for their release.
"This is truly a long-fought victory for medical marijuana patients who have lived in fear of being caught in the crossfire of conflicting state and federal laws for nearly two decades,’ stated Steph Sherer, Executive Director of Americans for Safe Access (ASA), the country's leading medical marijuana group that has pursued passage of the measure for years. ‘But this is also a victory for taxpayers because of the hundreds of millions of dollars saved on unnecessary and harmful enforcement."
Others say narrow interpretation of the rider by law enforcement will mean ongoing raids on lawful dispensaries in California.
source
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/LegalizationNat...marijuana/