Boo

Obama Administration Weighs Legal Action Against States That Legalized Marijuana Use:

Senior White House and Justice Department officials are considering plans for legal action against Colorado and Washington that could undermine voter-approved initiatives to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in those states, according to several people familiar with the deliberations.

Even as marijuana legalization supporters are celebrating their victories in the two states, the Obama administration has been holding high-level meetings since the election to debate the response of federal law enforcement agencies to the decriminalization efforts.

I get it: Marijuana is still a controlled substance per federal law, and the administration can't just have states ignoring federal law whenever they don't like it, because Indiana would literally have factories filled with child laborers making bootstraps out of asbestos by the end of the year.

On the other hand, maybe there's a better option than high-level strategy meetings trying to figure out how to penalize states for legalizing weed without pissing off Obama's base—like, for example, using those states' new laws as a springboard to propose a national policy to decriminalize weed with the appropriate regulations (i.e. those similar to current alcohol regulations).

I know it's a wild idea, but maybe it's time to move FORWARD on marijuana. And, more importantly, on reforming the reprehensible "drug war" built around its illegality.

Come on, Obama administration. I bet if you really tried, you could get this shit together in time for the president to sign it into law next April 20th.