I'm all for decriminalizing it and always have been. The issue of the FED executing raids has been long simmering, particularly in California. Now that other states have followed suit with regard to medical marijuana, getting this matter addressed was a necessity long over due. Should be interesting to see what happens as a result.
Not exactly.
Because this kind of piece meal approach is (so far) the best approach? Better to get in place the ability to stop the abuse of power and then go after that abuse than stay on the course we were on. Also there is a little more involved in getting Dick Nixon's classification of MJ as a schedule one narcotic changed than simply repealing a law. For profit prisons, court and police staffing levels are all concerns that play into the game and play a big part in the reluctance of those same parties to see their cash grab end. And of course there is the 2005 ruling by the SCOTUS, "the supremacy clause" which says that state laws allowing medical marijuana are subservient to federal laws. Basically since the federal government chooses to ignore the right of the states to set law, and despite the promises of Obama to change this, it has not occurred and is not likely to anytime soon. Until such time as the myriad of concerns and motivations can be addressed and those who lobby against such change (law enforcement and for profit prisons) it will take baby steps like this one to address the schizophrenic approach our representatives at the federal level enjoy perpetrating against the states and citizenry.