An analysis from pro-medical marijuana group
Americans For Safe Access found that President Barack Obama’s
administration has spent nearly $300 million on combatting medical
marijuana in states that have legalized the drug.
The report calculates the total amount of federal spending on medical
marijuana intervention at $289 million over Obama’s four-and-a-half
years in the White House. According to the analysis, the Drug
Enforcement Administration alone spent 4 percent of its budget in 2011
and 2012 cracking down on medical marijuana across 20 states. Taken as a
whole, Obama’s participation makes up the majority of what ASA says is a
$483 million war of lawsuits, indictments and asset forfeiture attempts
waged by the Department of Justice under the past three presidents.
(Read ASA’s entire report here.)
The group claims that over 1 million Americans are using medical
marijuana, and 34 percent of Americans live in a state where its medical
use is legal. ASA’s report comes on the heels of a separate study from California’s chapter of NORML
that found medical marijuana charges responsible for a total of over
480 years in prison sentences in the state, where cannabis has been
legal for medical use since 1996. That number will likely grow when the
Department of Justice hands down a prison sentence for medical marijuana
provider Matthew Davies, who accepted a plea deal late last month.
The studies are just the latest figures that underscore Obama’s aggressive war on pot. While Obama and members of his administration
had left many marijuana reform advocates optimistic in the early stages
of his first term, it quickly became clear that the new president was
determined to ramp up the enforcement-focused approach to medical
cannabis.
While the administration appears to have grown increasingly
intolerant of marijuana, the nation appears to be going in the opposite
direction. Public opinion polls have shown increasing support for a change in policy, whether it be legalizing pot for medical use or legalizing the drug altogether.
