Dispatches from the Drug Wars:
Agents with a regional drug task force raided Leonard French’s home in southeastern New Mexico on Tuesday and seized several marijuana plants. But the wheelchair-bound man said he’s certified by the state Health Department to possess and smoke marijuana for medical reasons. The 44-year-old lost the use of his legs about 20 years ago as the result of a motorcycle crash and now suffers from chronic pain and muscle spasms. French allowed the agents into his home in Malaga, just north of the New Mexico-Texas border, because he said he believed he was doing nothing wrong. He had worked with his doctor and the state to get permission to have marijuana. “I’m kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place,” he told Albuquerque television station KOB-TV on Tuesday. “It makes me feel like the state says, ‘Here you go. Here’s your license to drive,’ and the first time I left the driveway, they took my car away.”
Indeed. Here’s what the Feds say however:
A press release jointly issued by the Pecos Valley Drug Task Force illustrates the political nature of the raid, reading in part, “Citizens of New Mexico need to be aware that they can still be prosecuted on the federal level even though New Mexico has a law permitting marijuana for medicinal use.”
One reason to be happy about the prospect of a Democratic president (beyond their not being named George W Bush) is that all the candidates have said they’ll put an end to this madness.
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