The power to
prosecute is an awesome power that confers the ability to ruin people's
lives, which is why an attorney general should use that power
judiciously. There should be, to borrow from language in currency
at the Obama Department of Justice these days, "balance." When
authorities uphold federal drug laws, they should target the worst
offenders first, not prosecute and jail their biggest critics. When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, a
campaign spokesman told me Obama "believes that states and local
government are best positioned to strike the balance between making sure
that these policies are not abused for recreational drug use and making
sure that doctors and their patients can safely access pain relief." When Oregon's Willamette Week asked Obama if he would
stop federal raids on medical marijuana facilities, he answered, "I
would, because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like
catching criminals and preventing terrorism." Those remarks suggested that, as president, Obama
would leave marijuana enforcement to local officials in the 18 states
that have legalized medical marijuana. Yet under Attorney General Eric Holder, the Obama Department of Justice has declared war on medical marijuana dispensaries. Last week in Sacramento, U.S. Attorney Benjamin
B. Wagner announced that his office had cut a plea agreement with
Matthew Davies, 35, a bistro owner and small-business man with an MBA,
who "set out to build a lucrative marijuana empire in the Central
Valley, even though he knew that this conduct was illegal under federal
law." Davies will serve five years in prison and pay a big fine.
Already, he has forfeited $100,000. The smart and humane course would be to place Davies,
who already has been wiped out financially, on probation or home
detention. By putting him behind bars for five years, the feds
end his ability to hire workers for his bistro and other concerns, erase
the taxes he would have paid, and take a father from his wife and two
daughters. And for what? Will illicit marijuana use go down? I don't think so. After a high-profile press campaign waged by attorney
Steven Ragland and public relations ace Chris Lehane to win a pardon or
lenient sentence, Davies caved because federal mandatory minimum
sentences lack all proportion. Wagner asserts that Davies faced a 40-year sentence if
found guilty of three of the 10 counts filed against him. That's an
insane sentence for a first-time, nonviolent drug offender. "It's not just incarceration" that bleeds taxpayers, noted Kris Hermes of Americans for Safe Access. "It's also the investigation. It's also the prosecution." After Colorado and Washington voters chose to legalize
recreational use of marijuana, the president told ABC's Barbara Walters
he had "bigger fish to fry" than going after recreational users. But for all the president's talk about a need for "balance" when dealing with intelligence leaks and First Amendment
rights, he will not demand balance in his own Department of Justice. Hermes sees the "dying gasp" of drug warriors refusing
to accept the verdict of voters -- so they're kicking folks like Matt
Davies and using your tax dollars to feed their nasty habit.
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No balance, no justice
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