Obama won't legalize marijuana

The nation's drug czar says President Barack Obama opposes making pot legal. “Legalization is not in the president’s vocabulary, and it’s not in mine,” said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy. His statement was reported by The Fresno Bee.

Kerlikowske was in the Fresno area after checking out a raid on a foothill marijuana farm that was on U.S. Forest Service land. This is the nation's top farm-producing county and it's no wonder pot grows so well. But it won't be a legal crop if the feds have anything to say about it.

In a joint operation with federal, state and local agents, marijuana plants valued at about $1.3 billion have been confiscated and 82 people arrested in recent days in Fresno County. It's called Operation SOS — Save Our Sierra — and is aimed at eradicating marijuana in eastern Fresno County.

Kerlikowske told The Bee that he can understand why California legislators are talking about taxing marijuana cultivation to help cash-strapped government agencies in the state. "But the federal government views marijuana as a harmful and addictive drug," the newspaper reported. "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit."