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> Look at Colorado or other states which the populace decided to legalize marijuana industry - which were actually big deals. Where has the executive branch ste

> Look at Colorado or other states which the populace decided to legalize marijuana industry - which were actually big deals. Where has the executive branch stepped in to stop the federal governments intervention in state policy? Obama made the decision that the DEA/DOJ would let state legalizations continue[1], at least unless it became clearly problematic. I and many others assume that he's not opposed to legalization and is letting the states be the laboratories for democracy that they should be. I also think this would never have happened in the previous administrations, and Obama is behind more of it than you seem to be giving him credit for. He's just not coming forward as an explicit supporter because it would detract from his support outside of his base supporters. [1] http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/obama-enforcing-pot-laws-in-states-that-have-legalized-it-not-a-top-priority/ http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/12/14/obama-enforc...

dmix 10y ago
Despite Obama's words it sounds like business as usual in Colorado if you've been following the news since then. Raids continue all the time in Colorado (including last month) and the banks keep getting pressured to not support the industry due to federal policy which has practically crippled growth. Just this month the DEA openly blamed the legal companies following state laws as the source of criminality and baselessly dismiss the medical science behind it: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/10/dea-reduce-medical-marijuana-research-restrictions/ http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/10/dea-reduce-medical-mari... The DOJ is still prosecuting these cases too. So again I wouldn't hand out any prizes over just talk. They've also made a number of tough statements against Wall st excess, mass surveillance, mass incarceration, etc. Should we reward that as well? Unless you look at the data and continued actions/policies of federal agencies you'll just be rewarding talk and the bare minimum of action to appease voter bases. Which doesn't get us anywhere. Low standards = bad results.

dmix 10y ago

Despite Obama's words it sounds like business as usual in Colorado if you've been following the news since then. Raids continue all the time in Colorado (including last month) and the banks keep getting pressured to not support the industry due to federal policy which has practically crippled growth. Just this month the DEA openly blamed the legal companies following state laws as the source of criminality and baselessly dismiss the medical science behind it: http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/10/dea-reduce-medical-marijuana-research-restrictions/ http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/10/dea-reduce-medical-mari... The DOJ is still prosecuting these cases too. So again I wouldn't hand out any prizes over just talk. They've also made a number of tough statements against Wall st excess, mass surveillance, mass incarceration, etc. Should we reward that as well? Unless you look at the data and continued actions/policies of federal agencies you'll just be rewarding talk and the bare minimum of action to appease voter bases. Which doesn't get us anywhere. Low standards = bad results.