Feds to stop busting medical marijuana

Bad news for those of you who love to trash the Obama administration for not being so radical that he never could have been elected:

WASHINGTON — People who use marijuana for medical purposes and those who distribute it should not face federal prosecution, provided they act according to state law, the Justice Department said on Monday in a directive with far-reaching political and legal implications.

In a memorandum to federal prosecutors in the 14 states that make some allowance for the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the department said it was committed to the “efficient and rational use” of its resources, and that going after individuals who were in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state laws did not meet that standard.

“It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a statement accompanying the memo. “But we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal.”

So apparently the new admin took their time to think about it, and then after careful consideration, came to the correct rational conclusion.

Seriously, though, this is HUGE news. I bet I'm not going to be the only one to post it here, too. It's all over the news, just hit an hour ago but I'm sure there's going to be a lot of talk about this. It will be interesting to see whether the admin is clever enough to throw "states' rights" in the face of the inevitable conservative attack dogs who try to score cheap points off this.

Now if I could just find some way to make sense out of the trillion-dollar bailout. At least they'll save a bundle now that they're not busy arresting cancer patients.

Anyway.