Over the last two weeks, the authorities have seized $1.26 billion worth of marijuana and arrested over 80 people in Fresno County, California, writes the Fresno Bee.
Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in Fresno "the federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations."
He added that Barack Obama does not plan to legalize marijuana.
"Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit," said Kerlikowske.
I'm not sure about "medicinal benefits" but when it comes to being dangerous, marijuana is not any more dangerous than alcohol.
A study in the journal Clinical EEG and Neuroscience shows that alcohol has a stronger and more dangerous effect on teen brain development than marijuana.
According to a recent study published in the British medical journal The Lancet, one in 25 deaths around the world is caused by alcohol consumption, far more than in the case of marijuana consumption.
Yet, alcohol is legal, while people go to jail for possession of far less deadly and less dangerous marijuana.
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Comments: 14
Kerlikowske's statement that there is no medicinal benefit is a flat out lie.
And I TOTALLY agree that alcohol is WAY more dangerous.
Needless to say, Obama has even backed off his promises to stop the raids. Convictions continue in the medical marijuana clinic raids highlighting the continued similarity between both Dem and Repub administrations on the issue.
The out and out silliness of our current drug policy is hard to understand unless you want to think that the real purpose of the War on Drugs is to keep intoxicant prices as high as possible to guarantee the highest possible profit for organized crime. Personally I think the support for organized crime is a side effect and it's really a result of politicians' sticking with a proved strategy for getting votes.
"Agents also seized $41,000 in cash, 26 firearms and three vehicles."
That gives you an idea of how much money was involved. Next to nothing relative to the size of the market.
You got my vote!!