Clarence Page:

Activists were elated when Obama acknowledged that legalization was “an entirely legitimate topic for debate” — the first time a sitting president has made such a statement, according to Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. Obama promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward California’s pot clinics that adhered to state law, which legalized marijuana for medicinal purposes in 1996. “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws (on medical marijuana),” he said, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

But activists’ joy quickly evaporated as marijuana arrests surged to new record highs — more than 850,000 in 2009 and in 2010, according to the latest annual FBI crime reports. That’s more than half of all drug arrests, contrary to the popular but reckless notion that “nobody” gets busted for grass anymore.

And federal agents have launched more than 100 raids in nine medical marijuana states, resulting in at least 61 federal indictments, according to data compiled by Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group. The raids have closed down dozens of distributors operating legally under state law, and a high-profile training academy for providers in Oakland, Calif.

It is against the backdrop of those events that Obama’s youthful weed indiscretions raise intriguing new questions, such as: Would today’s Barack Obama arrest young Barry Obama?

The answer, judging by his recent interview with Rolling Stone, appears to be maybe not, as long as young Barry were a medical marijuana patient.

Note Page doesn’t say anything about Obama making this a priority in his next term.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/ct-oped-0530-page-20120530,0,5777378.column

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