Washington Times, 26 Dec 2012 – Documents Put City One Step Closer To Legal Medical Use This time, there will be plants. Fifteen years after voters gave the green light to a medical marijuana program in the nation’s capital, a pair of locations approved to grow or sell the drug have cleared regulatory hurdles and will set up shop a few months into the new year, according to city officials.

Washington Examiner, 20 Dec 2012 – Re: “President’s pot comments prompt call for policy,” Dec. 17 In the aftermath of the Connecticut school shooting, I find it both ironic and infuriating that a president of the United States would discuss legalization of marijuana, the drug that has been so damaging to America’s children.

The Oklahoman, 15 Dec 2012 – WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama says the federal government won’t go after recreational marijuana use in Washington state and Colorado, where voters have legalized it. In a Barbara Walters interview airing Friday on ABC, Obama was asked whether he supports making pot legal.

Los Angeles Times, 15 Dec 2012 – He Is Not Ready to Support Widespread Legalization but Is Willing to Reconsider Enforcement. WASHINGTON – President Obama and a key Senate Democrat said Friday they were willing to consider relaxing federal enforcement of the laws against marijuana for those who possess small amounts of the drug.

Orlando Sentinel, 15 Dec 2012 – President Says It’s Time to Have ‘A Conversation’ WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama and a key Senate Democrat said Friday they are willing to consider relaxing federal enforcement of the laws against marijuana for those who possess small amounts of the still-illegal drug.

Washington Times, 10 Dec 2012 – Marijuana Is Growing Mainstream Legal prohibition against marijuana is going up in smoke. Cops in Seattle now look the other way when potheads puff in public because Washington has become the first state in the nation to decriminalize the possession of marijuana. Voters in the Evergreen State approved Initiative 502 on Nov. 6. The age of cannabis arrived on Dec. 6 as the new law took effect.

New York Times, 07 Dec 2012 – WASHINGTON – 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.

Washington Post, 03 Dec 2012 – THE RECKLESS EXPERIMENT OF COMMERCIALIZING POT Regarding the Nov. 26 editorial “What should the feds do about pot?”: The new laws of Colorado and Washington state do not simply decriminalize marijuana; they commercialize its production and sale, thus creating a major commercialized drug industry. These laws are explicitly modeled on the tobacco and alcohol industries – industries that make the bulk of their profits from substance abusers. Marijuana has 60 percent more cancer-causing agents than tobacco and stays in the body and brain 20 times longer than alcohol. There are overwhelming public health reasons to oppose legalization of marijuana.

Washington Post, 26 Nov 2012 – How the Obama Administration Should Respond to Colorado and Washington State SMALL-TIME MARIJUANA use will soon be legal in Colorado and Washington state. Sort of. This month voters in those states approved ballot measures permitting possession of up to an ounce of pot. But the federal government has not changed its policy, which labels the drug an illegal substance. Members of Congress introduced legislation Nov. 16 that would allow state marijuana rules to preempt federal ones. But that, in effect, would resemble federal legalization, and it’s unlikely to pass anytime soon.

Washington Post, 13 Nov 2012 – It is encouraging that the Justice Department is not immediately challenging Washington state and Colorado’s marijuana legalization laws [“Marijuana legality elicits confusion,” news, Nov. 10]. The best course is a “wait-and-see” approach. The nation can now observe two different experiments in state marijuana control – if the Justice Department cooperates. But if it fights these states the way it has fought state medical marijuana laws for 16 years, it will delay the learning of potential regulatory and social techniques to control marijuana use, production and distribution.