Barack Obama is listening to Felipe Calderón: Feds ready to bust California pot distributors

Mexican president Felipe Calderón has complained loudly about drug culture and drug demand in the United States, which is greatly fueling the narco violence here. That culture includes hundreds of medical marijuana establishments in places like California and Washington state, which have been openly peddling grass for several years, in defiance of federal law. Although states in the U.S. have their own criminal codes and are free to define what is lawful and what is not within their borders, they are not free to override conflicting federal law. Under the U.S. criminal code, marijuana remains a controlled substance, and states may not circumvent the prohibition simply by declaring it lawful for medical purposes.

The feds have been lukewarmly warning medical marijuana farms and retailers for some time, but now it appears they're getting serious about the matter. Associated Press reports today federal prosecutors in California have sent letters to 16 San Diego pot dispensaries, reminding them that federal law "takes precedence over state law and applies regardless of the particular uses for which a dispensary is selling and distributing marijuana." The letters were signed by the U.S. Attorney in San Diego, and added that "Under United States law, a dispensary's operations involving sales and distribution of marijuana are illegal and subject to criminal prosecution and civil enforcement actions."

My analysis is that this week's fury in Mexico over the secret ATF and DEA arms sales programs, coupled with a U.S. Senate report in late September which said that almost one out of every 10 Americans is a drug user (that's about 22.6 million people), has catapulted Obama into action, if for no other reason than to appease his good friend Calderón . By sending out these "target letters," as they're called, Obama can demonstrate that he's prepared to get tough with U.S. drug dealers - even of the medical marijuana type.

Sept. 25, 2011 - Americans like to get stoned