TIME FOR OBAMA TO TACKLE MEDICINAL MARIJUANA

On Jan. 20, two days after Barack Obama's inauguration, the Drug
Enforcement Administration raided a medical marijuana dispensary in
California. Last Tuesday it happened again. DEA agents simultaneously
raided three medical marijuana dispensaries in Los Angeles.

It seems "hippie bashing" is one of those American pastimes we cannot
resist. There's nothing quite like taking a baton to another human being
and having him or her respond, "Hey man, chill; we aren't hurting anyone."
Even better if said hippies, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, suffer
from "epilepsy, cancer, [multiple sclerosis], diabetes," or amputations --
or so "South Park's" Eric Cartman would have us believe.

For those of us who aren't motivated by the prospect of harming docile
creatures, however, hippie bashing seems like a relic of a bygone er,
something that should have died with Jimi Hendrix -- or at least Ronald
Reagan.

Granted, there was no direct hippie bashing conducted during the raids
(the DEA only crippled the dispensaries by confiscating everything from
the stores' cannabis supplies to cash in their cash registers), but the
DEA's actions reek of evils we thought would end after Jan. 20. After all,
with President Obama's promises of change, many thought he would enable
states with medical marijuana provisions to enforce their laws.

Perhaps the DEA didn't get the memo. Or, perhaps Obama has not yet taken
any action relating to the issue of medical marijuana, thereby allowing
the DEA to continue enforcing policies of the Bush administration.

Under the Bush administration, the federal government worked to deregulate
the economy while regulating morality. We know the Obama administration
will regulate the economy, but the DEA's raids highlight the following
question: Will the Obama administration continue regulating morality for
morality's sake?

Myriad reasons may decide whether the new president chooses to continue or
discontinue federal enforcement of drug policies that conflict with state
policies, but political issues stand at the fore.

Intense political backlash will accompany whatever decision Obama makes.

Supporters of medical marijuana, moderates who voted for Obama and
everyone in between, will likely expect action favorable to the use of
medical marijuana.

Dissenters and right-wingers -- despite their talk of state's rights --
will take favorable action toward medical marijuana as another slap in the
face. With the heat on Obama's economic stimulus package and his cabinet
choices, dissenters will do that much more to sabotage Obama's presidency.

This all indicates a much larger problem. We will have to see whether or
not Obama can wade his way through the political muck to affect the change
he promised.

In the meantime, people suffering from crippling diseases wish to use
cannabis to make their lives a little more bearable.

President Obama, they're waiting.