Attorney General: 'You'll be surprised' that we stop busting patients

I thought you'd be interested to hear that at a press conference on Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said his Department of Justice will stop raiding medical marijuana providers in states where it's legal.

Holder said, in response to a reporter's question, that "what the president said during the campaign, you'll be surprised to know, will be consistent with what we'll be doing here in law enforcement." He continued that, Obama is "formally and technically and by law my boss now, and so what he said during the campaign is now American policy."

Interestingly, Holder said this standing right next to DEA Acting Administrator Michelle Leonhart, who has overseen the most recent federal medical marijuana raids, including those that took place after Obama's inauguration.

The video is here and the relevant exchange begins at 25:00 in.

I refuse to get my hopes up too much about the Obama administration's approach to the war on drugs, but still - I'm seeing more baby steps in the right direction than I anticipated even as an Obama supporter during the campaign.

Meanwhile, LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition) got a nice profile recently by MSNBC [via Drug Law Blog]:

LEAP's membership in New Hampshire has now grown to 132, with as many as 20 new members joining in the past three months, according to Tom Angell, the group's media relations director.

LEAP, which began in 2002 with five founding members, now has more than 11,000 members in 90 countries.

Members argue that legalizing drugs would put the dealers who are getting rich out of business and the government in control because people could purchase drugs legally at the store or some other regulated facility.

Jardis said the government could use revenues from sales to fund drug education and treat addiction.

Or prop up a collapsing economy - the amount of money the government would collect in a heartbeat from taxing the sale and distribution of currently illicit drugs would dwarf the amount we're sinking into the automakers to "stimulate" them. Also, Mexico would get to keep its existing government (bonus!).

Aaanyway, sorry choir, I'll stop with the preaching, but my point is, the LEAP profile is a nice reminder that a wide range of individuals across the political spectrum have solid, sensible reasons for opposing the drug war. I don't take that for granted; it wasn't that long ago that it was true career or political suicide to make these arguments in public.