NORML.org - Working to Reform Marijuana Laws

Over the past several months, the Federal government escalated its war against medical marijuana to previously unseen heights. The Drug War machine kicked into high gear starting in October when the IRS began applying an obscure part of the US tax code, meant to target drug cartels, against medical dispensaries in attempts to shut them down. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms joined in the fight when it issued a heavy handed one page memo to every gun and ammunition dealer nationwide informing them that they must, by law, deny sales to lawful medical cannabis patients. 

The hammer really fell when the US Attorneys for the four federal districts in California formally announced a crackdown on medical marijuana dispensing operations and began issuing memos threatening operators and landlords of these properties. Threats were even waged against news publications who ran advertisements for medical marijuana businesses. Since then, federal officials have coordinated raids in Montana and Washington, and have threatened to take action against state-licensed dispensaries in Colorado. Most recently, the Justice Department threatened to prosecute state employees in Delaware for simply complying with the state's legislatively approved 2011 medical cannabis law. All of this in an environment where over 70% of Americans support medical use of cannabis, the country's largest physicians group endorsed full legalization, and at least four governors are petitioning the DEA to reclassify marijuana based on overwhelming evidence of its medicinal value.  ...