Petition calls on President Obama to fire DEA chief for calling medical marijuana a 'joke'

Written By Emily Gray Brosious

 
Attorney Chuck Rosenberg, of the Eastern District of Virginia, announces an indictment against U.S. Representative William Jefferson at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C., June 4, 2007. Appearing with Rosenberg are agents and prosecutors involved with the investigation of Jefferson, including Assistant FBI Director Kenneth Kaiser, left, and Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, right. A grand jury in Alexandria issued a 16-count indictment charging Jefferson with money laundering, conspiracy, obstruction of justice and other crimes

DEA chief calls medical marijuana a “joke,” but nobody’s laughing.

The acting head of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency, Chuck Rosenberg, crossed the line this week with comments he made about medical marijuana, according to advocates who want President Obama to remove Rosenberg from his position.
Here’s what Rosenberg said, per CBS News:

“What really bothers me is the notion that marijuana is also medicinal — because it’s not,” he told reporters. “We can have an intellectually honest debate about whether we should legalize something that is bad and dangerous, but don’t call it medicine. That is a joke.”
“There are pieces of marijuana — extracts or constituents or component parts — that have great promise” medicinally,” he said. “But if you talk about smoking the leaf of marijuana, which is what people are talking about when they talk about medicinal marijuana, it has never been shown to be safe or effective as a medicine.”

 

A medical marijuana activist holds a sign during a rally January 4, 2010 in Oakland, California. Dozens of medical marijuna activists held a demonstration outside of the Ronald V. Dellums federal building in Oakland demnanding medical marijuana reform.

Rosenberg has made hostile, inaccurate comments about marijuana before. But this statement goes beyond inaccurate, according to medical marijuana supporters who say these comments were medically irresponsible and unacceptable from the DEA chief.
The group Marijuana Majority has submitted a petition to Change.org calling for the President to fire Rosenberg for his statements.
Per Change.org:

Medical marijuana is not a “joke” to the millions of seriously ill patients in a growing numbers of states who use it legally in accordance with doctors’ recommendations.
It is not a “joke” to the growing number of prominent medical organizations — American Nurses Association, American College of Physicians, American Academy of Family Physicians, for example — who know that cannabis has real and proven medical benefits.
And it’s not a “joke” to the clear majority of U.S voters who support passing laws to protect medical marijuana patients from harassment by police and the DEA.
President Obama should fire Chuck Rosenberg and appoint a new DEA administrator who will respect science, medicine, patients and voters.

The petition has already gained signatures from prominent medical marijuana advocates, including Melissa Etheridge.