Obama Won't Support Legalizing Marijuana, Says Drug Czar

Fresno Bee:

The federal government is not going to pull back on its efforts to curtail marijuana farming operations, Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy, said Wednesday in Fresno.

Read the whole story: Fresno Bee

Comments

[Perry Callas]

The taboo against marijuana is less a result of empirical evidence than an outward sign of the cultural war that still rages between the Baby Boom Generation and its parents. Pot is not as harmful as alcohol has been repeatedly proven to be: in my own life I have lost several relatives to alcoholism, but none to marijuana use. Pot is illegal because the “Greatest Generation” as Tom Brokaw calls it, is still miffed that we did not fall in line behind their version of the way things should be.

People who use marijuana are sometimes not as ambitious and are not easily manipulated into working as wage slaves. This fact is a great threat to corporations who want willing workers whose entire focus is upon the acquisition of material goods. Marijuana may affect the bottom line.

However, marijuana, used in a reverent and mature way, can be a significant relief to those who are ill and a sacramental substance to those seeking to alter their consciousness. Perhaps when we and our parents are dead, the next generation will throw off the baseless taboos and use marijuana to make their lives better.

[PostModernPatriot]

Ok, the article being linked to here by huffpost is about how the government is going to continue to spend money to try to eradicate the illegal, large scale marijuana farms that the drug cartels run in National Parks and other public land in California.

Kerlikowske talks about these operations and then in the next breath says that both he & Obama oppose legalization.

Legalization would INSTANTLY eradicate those illegal farming operations, alleviating the need for the government to spend money combating them (which seems to be a losing battle, since they keep springing up regardless of how well the govt fights them).

Instead of spending money fighting this losing battle, the govt could be collecting tax money from the Americans who create the demand for this marijuana.

By the way, the "drug czar" is required by law and by his job description to promote the status quo. Even if Kerlikowske believes and KNOWS otherwise, as drug czar he is required by law to say publicly that marijuana has no health benefit, bla bla bla. He has to repeat the govt line or lose his job.

[hempster4twenty]

Just look at the prohibition of alcohol. Look a little familiar? Crime and death in the streets. Not to mention "easier" creation of organized crime. Unfortunately, legalization will probably never happen because of many reasons. Beginning with all the money to be had with this so called, "War on Drugs". What a joke. Another legal way to imprison, MANY people in the guise of "protecting" the people. Let's not forget the SUPER wealthy pharmaceutical companies, prison unions, and powerful police who, by the way, receives massive amounts of money from the gov. to "house" these "hardcore criminals" that just smoke pot. Ha Ha. How laughable. What is really sad is the majority of the public believes ALL of this "spoon fed" garbage the Gov. Wants you to believe. In short I personally know many people with problems created by the use of alcohol and tobacco. Are these "Illegal"? Of course not. Why you might ask? Ask your local representative. They are more then happy to line there "pockets", oops, I mean war-chests with the money they receive from the respective lobbyists. Is anyone giving them money to end violence and pain caused by this so called "Drug War"? I would have to say "NO". Until we can pay our way out of all this hardship created by the same people who say, "We are doing this to help", we are all just going to have to hunker down and continue to fight this war ourselves the best we can.

[Tyler Anderson]

Decriminalization of marijuana is no longer a fringe movement, nor even a liberal movement; it is the pragmatic thing to do. If individual states want to impose penalties, let them. The majority of the nation, however, has finally realized that pot smokers are by and large not dangerous criminals, and not worth the time and effort of prosecution and incarceration. I hope that Obama wakes up and starts raking in cash from marijuana taxes.

[batguano]

In case any have not taken the time here is an excerpt:

"On March 29, 2001, the San Antonio Current printed a carefully researched, bombshell of a story by Raymond Cushing titled, "POT SHRINKS TUMORS; GOVERNMENT KNEW IN '74." Media coverage since then has been nonexistant, except for a copy of the story on Alternet.

It is hard to believe that the knowledge that cannabis can be used to fight cancer has been suppressed for almost thirty years , yet it seems likely that it will continue to be suppressed. Why?

According to Cowan, the answer is because it is a threat to cannabis prohibition . "If this article and its predecessors from 2000 and 1974 were the only evidence of the suppression of medical cannabis, then one might perhaps be able to rationalize it in some herniated way. However, there really is massive proof that the suppression of medical cannabis represents the greatest failure of the institutions of a free society, medicine, journalism, science, and our fundamental values," Cowan notes.

Millions of people have died horrible deaths and in many cases, familes exhausted their savings on dangerous, toxic and expensive drugs. Now we are just beginning to realize that while marijuana has never killed anyone, marijuana prohibition has killed millions".

Maybe "Drug Czar" Kerlikowske, who shows his ignorance by saying "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit", should get the facts.

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=748

http://americanmarijuana.org/Guzman-Cancer.pdf

[Malkin71]

Yeah, information that says that pot cures cancer wouldn't be bad for Big Pharma or anything....

[RevRayGreen]

'Carl's Cannabis Corner'- Iowans 4 Medical Marijuana respnd to the Iowa Board of Pharmacy 7/25/09-
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1868252


http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20090726/OPINION03/907260311/1035/Opinion

Roses & Thistles: While reefer madness grips state board
July 26, 2009-

A thistle to the Iowa Board of Pharmacy for a gratuitous personal attack on a Des Moines man who wants Iowans to be able to use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Nearly a third of the board's 13-page order denying the petition from Carl Olsen consists of a detailed recitation of his rap sheet on drug-related charges that fairly drips with contempt and sarcasm. The board may be right that Olsen's interest in marijuana goes beyond the pharmacological, but that is irrelevant to the question: Should doctors be allowed to prescribe marijuana to relieve certain medical conditions? This recalls a quip from Don Marquis, a New York newspaper columnist in the '20s, who said, "An idea isn't responsible for the people who believe in it."

[worldlyhick]

I supported Obama in part because he had earlier stated that he supported cannabis decriminalization.

This issue is a good indicator of how other progressive issues will turn out as well, I'm afraid. If these officials continue to be willing to criminalize people for using a therapeutic plant that has been used for thousands of years, they do not care about human rights or social justice.

We need a progressive party in the USA.

[phrancine]

Drug Czar Kerlikowske says that "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit".
What planet is this guy living on? Are all the doctors, studies and patients who believe otherwise, just lairs? Why can't we have a rational government, without a (barely) hidden agenda, study the issue...and decide? Instead we get a knee-jerk response about the boogie-man again. This is rubbish!
Treat us like adults....­tax-paying­...voting adults.

[DrDemon]

EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTING FOR SURE !

[ThomasDoubting]

The people who seem to be most certain about the evils of Marijuana, are the people who will proudly tell you, that they have never used it. They claim to be the experts.They apparently know something the rest of us don't. Some have read about it, some have heard about it, some have even seen it used. I believe that each of us is entitled to an opinion, but we must consider the source of the opinion. Very often the people who tell us that marijuana is bad, are the same people who will tell you that they don't use drugs. Ask them if they drink, smoke cigarettes, drink caffeine, eat sugar, etc. You might also inquire which prescription drugs they take, and why. Ask if they belong to a church, which tells them, which of the above are acceptable for them. Ask if they are free, to express an opinion, that conflicts with their government.

[tck29]

Not only do the people who decide the criminality of marijuana use not use marijuana, but the only scientific evidence ever presented to congress when initially deciding the issue were hysterical propaganda films like Reefer Madness.

Ever known anyone who jumped out a window after smoking a joint? Ever see marijuana use result in maniacal behavior? Is there even ONE documented case of addiction or overdose? Yeah, didn't think so.

[lmvd3]

Good! I support Obama's position on this. And those of you who want it legalized must realize that you're supported by many conservatives who are seeing dollar signs all over the place. So, you'll have Big Business selling smoke for massive profit, and a high priced "legal" marijuana that only the wealthy, insured can afford. You'll also see local governments taxing the heck on the sales of legalized pot, so they can continue to cut income taxes and maintain bare bones minimum as far as infrastructure and services. It will also help maintain the terribly inequitable levels of wealth that continue intragenerationally to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer.

[Nicon]

Want to back any of that with facts or science?

[Malkin71]

So, rather than letting the already rich make more money (by your odd theories) you support continuing the current policies where the police use pot as an excuse to arrest black, brown, and poor white people?

Are you high?

[batguano]

The stated claim by "Drug Czar" Kerlikowske that "Marijuana is dangerous and has no medicinal benefit" is baseless & shows his ignorance on the subject, perfect for his position. The war on marijuana wastes billions annually for no purpose other than the empowerment of police agencies & to justify their existance!

Claims of loss of focus, concentration, motivation & productivity of people who enjoy Cannabis have been refuted numerous times! Some of our most revered artists, musicians, scientists, athletes, people of all pursuits & interests have smoked pot to greater or lesser degrees. Bob Dylan, Bing Crosby, Louis Armstrong, Michael Phelps, Carl Sagan, the list is long! Throughout history people have been law-abiding & still experimented with pot, opium, hallucinogens, & have had constructive, non-violent extraordinary careers - something we cannot say for many cops who seem to revel in busting heads. Alcohol abuse & 75,000 deaths annually are tolerated; tobacco abuse & hundreds of thousands of deaths are tolerated, costing our nation billions in health care costs. “Legal” dangerous drugs pushed by “Big Pharma,” kill tens of thousands (that are identified!) annually & hospitalize millions yearly, solely for obscene profits by Big-Pharma criminals. Marijuana use is claimed to have never directly caused the death of any person. Humans have evolved with Cannabinoids and they have numerous important benefits for us, including Cancer, wasting diseases, blood pressure & MS.

RESIST THE PHONEY WAR ON DRUGS! LEGALIZE IT!

http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=748
http://www.thc-ministry.net/cannabinoids.html
http://americanmarijuana.org/Guzman-Cancer.pdf

[Disuberence]

(I'm sure this has been said a million times)

LEGALIZE IT!

[MBryant]

As well he should. Marijuana decriminalization (still illegal to sell, legal to own) is a corruption - like don't ask don't tell. Marijuana legalization is at best a distraction from things we really need to be working on.

Marijuana shares many of detrimental health characteristics of tobacco and alchohol. How can we really say we are working for a healthier America and health care reform when we legalize a cancer-causing intoxicant?

True it is not as addictive like tobacco and alchohol. True it has some positive characteristcs they dont' have. True, legalizing it would produce tax revenue and normalize the product - making it safer (and more reliable?)...

But it is not a major "injustice" to not legalize it. Marijuana is not a person - nor a characteristic of a person. It is a chosen consumable and it has no rights. Maybe someday it will be a choice that is available in the United States - maybe not.

For any politiician to support legalization is polarizing in the extreme. We need to bring moderate indendents around on many key issues that have life and death consequences and we need to repeal laws which actually do represent injustice to specific Americans.

This is just a distraction. Let this sleeping dog have a good long nap...

[batguano]

This comment is filled with distortions and misrepresentations of fact. Marijuana is not a "cancer-causing intoxicant" and totally different from alcohol and tobacco that do kill many tens of thousands annually. The injustices done to thousands of otherwise law-abiding people are real, and the waste of billions to eradicate, pursue and incarcerate people is an outrage that must be remedied now. The continued criminalization of Industrial Hemp (IH) is loosing American workers probably hundreds of thousands of jobs from agriculture, new technologies and business ventures. Marijuana legalization is not a distraction, it is an imperative.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/ncnu02/v5-284.html
http://www.votehemp.com/overview.html http://nynorml.org/news.html http://www.cyberessays.com/Politics/92.htm

[Malkin71]

Innocent people are rotting away in prisons, their lives ruined...not by the plant they chose to smoke, but because of unjust laws that otherwise decent people shrug their shoulders at or worse, support.

You name 3 substances, 2 of which you are acknowledge are worse than the third. Only the third is illegal. The fact that the other two are legal is a better argument for making the third legal, than keeping it illegal. If you think people should be forbidden from having things that are bad for them, fine. Then you must support criminalizing tobacco and alcohol.

Otherwise, you support the picking and choosing of who goes to jail for things that are only crimes because they are illegal.

People NEVER UNDERSTAND that illegal and criminal are VERY different. What happened on Wall St. was not illegal, but it was insanely CRIMINAL. Smoking pot is illegal, but what is criminal about it?

Intolerance from people who's opinions are based on bias, misinformation or prejudice (pot laws allow cops to arrest black and brown people while letting whites go free for the same thing) or a combination of all 3....RUIN far more lives than the drug itself.

Please stop ruining people's lives.

[Coinyer101]

Who cares what he thinks?

YES WE CANNABIS!

Sorry, Mr. President, but, this is our country, so ,it's not up to you. You will be a one-termer, anyways.

[Malkin71]

Bro,

I'm disappointed too, but unless you think Mitt Romney can win the election then Obama will most assuredly be a two term President..

The problem is Obama knows it and has taken the left for granted from Day One and will most likely do so until late 2011.