Six national drug policy reform organizations have sent a letter to President Barack Obama, asking him to end the federal crackdown on medical marijuana. The organizations are NORML, MPP, The Drug Policy Alliance, Students For Sensible Drug Policy, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and the National Cannabis Industry Association.

The letter is an attempt to make the President see how many people he is alienating with his policy toward medical marijuana and reads in part:

Dear Mr. President:

Our coalition represents the views of tens of millions of Americans who believe the war on medical marijuana patients and providers you are fighting is misguided and counterproductive. As your administration prepares to release its annual National Drug Control Strategy, we want to speak with one voice and convey our deep sense of anger and disappointment in your lack of leadership on this issue.

Voters and elected officials in sixteen states and the District of Columbia have determined that the medical use of marijuana should be legal. In many of these states, the laws also include means for providing medical marijuana patients safe access to this medicine. These laws allowing for the cultivation and distribution of medical marijuana actually shift control of marijuana sales from the criminal underground to state-licensed, taxed, and regulated producers and distributors.

Instead of celebrating – or even tolerating – this state experimentation, which has benefited patients and taken profits away from drug cartels, you have turned your back as career law enforcement officials have run roughshod over some of the most professional and well-regulated medical marijuana providers. We simply cannot understand why you have reneged on your administration’s earlier policy of respecting state medical marijuana laws.

Our frustration and confusion over your administration’s uncalled-for attacks on state-authorized medical marijuana providers was best summed up by John McCowen, the chair of the Mendocino County (CA) board of supervisors, who said, “It’s almost as if there was a conscious effort to drive [medical marijuana cultivation and distribution] back underground. My opinion is that’s going to further endanger public safety and the environment – the federal government doesn’t seem to care about that.”

We can expect a similar response to this letter that cannabis White House petitions got last year, if we get a response at all. But someone at The White House or in Obama’s campaign has to see the damage these raids will do to Obama’s reelection chances, especially in a must-have state like California and a swing state like Colorado.

This new round of activism comes as a result of the audacious series of raids the feds performed in the Oaksterdam section of Oakland, CA on Monday. The video below shows a particularly interesting incident that happened the day of the raids to a pro-medical marijuana advocate.

- Joe Klare