Global Ganja Report

US Attorney General Eric Holder stated Oct. 16 that the Department of Justice "strongly opposes Proposition 19," the pending cannabis legalization initiative in California. He wrote: "If passed, this legislation will greatly complicate federal drug enforcement efforts to the detriment of our citizens." He pledged to "vigorously enforce" the federal ban on possessing, growing or selling the drug if voters approve the ballot measure. Holder also indicated that the federal government might sue to overturn the measure if it is approved by voters on Nov. 2, writing that the DoJ "is considering all available legal and policy options."

Holder's statement actually came in a letter to nine former DEA administrators who had just attacked him in the Wall Street Journal for watching from the sidelines as Prop 19 threatens to pass. The fact that they called him out publicly appears to reveal a split between Obama's DoJ and the old guard of Drug War hardliners. (StoptheDrugWar.org, Oct. 19; California Healthline, Oct. 18; San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 16)