Huge news!

The Obama administration issued guidelines today clearly stating that the federal government will not arrest medical marijuana patients or providers who comply with state law. This development is the most significant, positive policy change for medical marijuana patients since 1978.

According to Justice Department officials, the orders sent today to federal prosecutors, the DEA, and the FBI clearly state that medical marijuana patients and providers who are in compliance with state law should not be arrested or prosecuted by the federal government. This codifies statements made by the attorney general earlier this year.

The policy is a signal of support for medical marijuana from President Obama and the new administration. And the guidelines are exactly what MPP’s Aaron Houston asked for in a congressional hearing earlier this year.

Under the Bush administration, the feds raided, arrested, and otherwise terrorized medical marijuana patients and their caregivers. Even in the 13 states with medical marijuana laws, patients still lived in fear. With this new policy change, medical marijuana patients finally know exactly where they stand with the law and can focus on their health, not their legal status.

To help MPP build on this momentum, please write your member of Congress. We’ve set up an action item online to make this quick and easy. You can also help by sharing this blog post on Twitter, Facebook, Digg, and other social network sites online.

As a result of the media attention that the social networking site Twitter has been receiving, many members of Congress have become active tweeters, some updating and reading their pages personally. This means that we have a new forum to interact with our representatives in Washington, D.C., one that’s quick, easy, and increasingly effective.

If you use Twitter, please send a tweet asking your member of Congress to end marijuana prohibition today. In keeping with Twitter’s real-time nature, we’re asking you to tweet about this great article from The Washington Post and tie it to your support for ending marijuana prohibition. Please see the message and steps below for help.

Step 1: Sign in to Twitter.

Step 2: Visit tweetcongress.org/. After you enter your zip code, the site will display your member of Congress’s Twitter account. (Note that some members don’t have accounts. If this is the case, tweetcongress.org allows you to petition them to join.)

Step 3: Post a Twitter message that “mentions” your member’s account. You can do this by beginning your tweet with “@[your member's account]” with out the quotes. For example, Congressman Jim Moran would be “@Jim_Moran” with out the quotes. Do this, and your message will appear on your legislator’s Twitter page.

Sample Message:

@[your member's account] Read http://tinyurl.com/ydwf2uj (WaPo). Legal marijuana will cut cartel violence where law enforcement has failed.

Just copy and paste the above into Twitter and customize it with your member of Congress’s account name.

Please also also follow MPP on Twitter at twitter.com/MarijuanaPolicy.

As reported on the front page of today’s Washington Post, domestic marijuana production is cutting into the bottom line of Mexican drug cartels while decades of police enforcement have failed to curb their growth.

The article states, “Stiff competition from thousands of mom-and-pop marijuana farmers in the United States threatens the bottom line for powerful Mexican drug organizations in a way that decades of arrests and seizures have not, according to law enforcement officials and pot growers in the United States and Mexico … Illicit pot production in the United States has been increasing steadily for decades. But recent changes in state laws that allow the use and cultivation of marijuana for medical purposes are giving U.S. growers a competitive advantage, challenging the traditional dominance of the Mexican traffickers.”

Now imagine for a moment if we encouraged this trend, rather than fought it. If the U.S. adopted new policies giving states the option to create legally regulated domestic markets for marijuana, we could go a long way toward eliminating the violence and corruption along our southern border entirely — and in the 230 American cities in which the cartels operate.

Under a legal and regulated system, the marijuana market — which is already thriving — would be safer, contribute billions to the American economy, and free up billions more in law enforcement resources.

Click here to read the article in today’s Washington Post.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had several opportunities to attend Q & A sessions with the Obama administration’s drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske. Increasingly, the audiences are asking him about the cartels in Mexico.

A typical question goes something like this: “Wouldn’t ending marijuana prohibition in the U.S. wipe out the drug cartels like the 21^st amendment wiped out the illegal liquor trade in the 1930s?” [Read more →]

Drug czar Gil Kerlikowske and border czar Alan Bersin have dropped out of this week’s Global Public Policy Forum on the U.S. War on Drugs, an event organized by the University of Texas at El Paso.

Organizers were surprised when the two officials backed out of the event. El Paso County Sheriff Richard Wiles was not:

“I don’t know why you’re all so surprised about the federal government’s unwillingness to address this because, quite frankly, they’ve ignored the problem for years, and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in now.”

El Paso city Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s position on the conference might provide some insight into the administration officials’ decision to back out. He hopes, according to the Newspaper Tree, “for a meaningful public discussion at the conference about legalizing drugs in the face of a failed strategy that has had such a destructive impact on everyday life in Juarez.” Kerlikowske may have sought to avoid addressing this issue, one that’s becoming increasingly difficult for him as border violence and soaring prison populations continue to highlight his untenable position.

Read the full story at NewspaperTree.com.

Today, Congressman Mark Souder (R-Ind.) attempted to pass an amendment that would continue to prevent students with even minor drug convictions from receiving financial aid. His amendment was withdrawn, paving the way for students with drug convictions to seek higher education and a better life.

Souder authored a provision in 1998 that for nearly 10 years has blocked students with drug convictions from receiving financial aid. This year, congressional Democrats added language to SAFRA (Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, HR 3221), which fixed the problem created by Souder’s provision. During discussion of the bill today, Souder offered an amendment that would have undone this fix.

Congressman Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.), a close ally of MPP, convinced Souder to withdraw his amendment.

Eliminating financial aid for students with drug convictions is one of the most small-minded policies in America’s war on drugs. By preventing these students from seeking opportunities in higher education, the provision locked many students into a cycle of poverty and forced low-income students to bear the brunt of a misguided, prohibitionist mindset. The fix, which would allow students access to aid, will provide hundreds of thousands of students the opportunity to make a better life for themselves and their families.

SAFRA is still working its way through the legislative process. MPP will continue to update you on its progress.

The Obama administration’s official position on the movement to decriminalize drug use in Latin America is to take a “wait-and-see attitude.” However, San Diego Police Chief William Lansdowne was willing to share his thoughts with the Associated Press:

“Now they will go [to Mexico] because they can get drugs. For a country that has experienced thousands of deaths from warring drug cartels for many years, it defies logic why they would pass a law that will clearly encourage drug use.”

His quote illustrates one of the most baffling positions held by drug prohibitionists … that sending people to treatment instead of jail encourages drug use.

The logic Lansdowne can’t see is that drug use is not a criminal justice problem; it’s a public health problem. And when viewed in that light, it’s understandable why he got it wrong — Lansdowne isn’t a doctor; he’s a cop.

The impetus behind Mexico, Argentina, Switzerland, and Portugal (likely to be joined soon by Brazil and Ecuador) changing their drug laws is a decision to focus on treating addiction rather than punishing it. In doing so, they hope to free up law enforcement resources that are better spent fighting violent criminals (like the drug cartels in Mexico). Portugal, which changed its policy in 2001, has had great success — and without becoming a destination for drug tourism.

Argentina is expected to remove criminal penalties for marijuana possession today, according to the Buenos Aires Herald:

Supreme Court Justice Carlos Fayt said the court has reached a unanimous position on an expected ruling that would decriminalize the possession of drugs for personal consumption, which would be announced analyzed today.

If the court rules as expected, Argentina will become the second Latin American country in the last four days to allow the personal use of marijuana.