Obama's recent claim [3] that he can't do anything about the illegality of medical marijuana has drawn plenty of criticism, but this ought to take the cake.
Attorney General Eric Holder was a guest of The Huffington Post at the correspondents' dinner. Before it began, a HuffPost reporter noted to Holder that Obama's reference to "congressional law" was misleading because the executive branch could simply remove marijuana from its "schedule one" designation, thereby recognizing its medical use.
"That's right," Holder said. [Huffington Post [4]]
Okay, can we please stop making excuses for the President? Legally, he does not have to wage war on medical marijuana. Politically, he doesn't have to do this either [5]. Yet the war rages on and the people responsible are still denying what they're doing right before our eyes.
To those who say we shouldn't blame Obama for this outrage, I say of course we should. He has the biggest microphone in the nation and if he can't use it to tell the truth and stand up for a human rights issue as basic as this one, then he needs to hear from us. To remain silent is to reward intransigence and invite injustice.
Follow Scott Morgan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drugblogger [6]