Obama the Happy Drug Warrior

[dwiggins]

Why is the federal government under President Barack Obama arguably tougher on medical marijuana operations than it was under George W. Bush? That's the question that anti-drug-war groups have been asking themselves for months.

In 2008, antiprohibitionists thought an Obama administration would not tread on medical marijuana dispensaries in states where they are legal. Obama's 2008 campaign spokesman, Ben LaBolt, told me Obama "believes that states and local governments are best-positioned to strike the balance between making sure that these policies are not abused for recreational drug use and making sure that doctors and their patients can safely access pain relief."

Now that Obama's in office, however, the Department of Justice is not allowing the 16 states that have legalized medical marijuana to self-regulate. Exactly the opposite: Last fall, U.S. attorneys in California warned landlords that they must evict medical marijuana clubs or risk having their assets seized. In October, the Internal Revenue Service informed dispensaries that they cannot declare standard tax deductions, because they are criminal enterprises.

"Drug kingpins and cartels don't file taxes. We do," Steve DeAngelo, director of medical marijuana giant Harborside Health Center, told MSNBC. "But no business, including ours, can survive if it is taxed on its gross revenue. The IRS is trying to tax us out of existence."

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