Schwarzenegger is Way Ahead of Obama on Marijuana Issue

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Tuesday "it's time for a debate" about whether or not it should be legal to buy, sell and smoke pot for any reason. The Sacramento Bee reports:

"Schwarzenegger was at a fire safety event in Davis when he answered a question about a recent Field Poll showing 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing and taxing marijuana to raise revenue for cash-strapped California."

Given that U.S. senators, state legislators, The New York Times, Time magazine, scholars and thousands of law enforcement professionals are now thoughtfully assessing the costs and benefits of drug prohibition, it seems odd that our hip, young, president is afraid to address the issue seriously.

Will Obama be the very last person in the country to join the discussion, or just one of the last?

Jeff Norman blogs at CitizenJeff.com.

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Comments

[worldlyhick]

The issue of prohibition of cannabis is a symptom of large failings in our established government. At issue is whether we can trust information disseminated by our government (we can't), our civil liberties and social justice.

For example, Americans for Safe Access took legal action against the department of Health and Human Services years ago (2004) to get them to correct false and misleading information on the HHS website. "Our" government is still resisting having to tell the truth, and that's under the Bush and Obama administrations.

If anyone does the research you will see that cannabis is quite a therapeutic herb and it does help people with a variety of conditions. "Our" government knows this. Instead of a principled approach to this issue, we get a lot of political maneuvering and some narrow minded prohibitionist making decisions for people about what they need to use for their health problems.

I know personally of a young man (one of "the children" that the prohibitionists pretend to care about)who was shot and killed by a deputy some years ago, ostensibly because they wanted to arrest him for some small cannabis possession and he tried to run away. I hear of many more tragedies on a steady basis, all related to the War on Cannabis Consumers. I think about the lives lost to this farcical display of authoritarianism.

So yes, this is quite a serious issue. We have a lot to clean up right here in the USA.

[todd432]

Two things , Carol must not know that Marijuana Prohibition cost the lives of over 7,000 people in Mexico last year. Carol should also know that our current Marijuana Laws affect the lives of Millions of Americans every day. Point 2 is, if it is so hard to figure out if a person is stoned or not to drive then the drug cant be that bad anyway but you still shouldn't drive stoned nor drunk. When a drinker is under suspicion of "DWI" 9 times out of 10 the cops know it because the Guy falls on his arse when he gets out. Plus we should be talking about what our new laws will be, not debating this issue anymore. According to the May 9, 2009 Zolgy Poll for the first time ever, 52% of Americans want Marijuana Legalized and do not need to debate this issue anymore. How long can the Minority go on arresting the Majority? That's the Question

[harriscrl3]

I'd say Pakistan falling into possible chaos is just a tad more important than the issue of legalizing pot.

Carol

[The Ghost]

Nice Eighth Grade False Dilemma.

[JohnJay60]

I vote to let Obama have some states try it out first. There is no good philosphical argument from left or right why I'm allowed to drink myself blind in my own house but can't roll a joint in the same house.

[Dweezle]

As a California resident and registered voter I know that Arnold really NEEDS some platform to gain some support. He is outwardly anti-Labor, and does nothing without first getting permission from Former Governor Pete Wilson. I have never seen such a bombardment of Arnold movies on TV as whenever he has a political battle going on.

Legalizing Marijuana has been on the ballot a number of times in California. Arguments against it have ranged from being a "Gateway" drug to the "Embarrassment" the Federal Government would face after decades of dictating anti drug laws to third world nations. Of course there would be the cost of finding employment for the unknown number of secret undercover anti marijuana DEA agents. Then what would the Drug Cartels in Northern California, Mexico, Columbia, and other Central American Nations do when it is legalized? Imagine having to put away their weapons and become legitimate revenue producing businesses?

One item I foresee is DUI, as I have been told Marijuana will show in a urinalysis for 30 days. So will it show in a test for under the influence in other tests? imagine smoking a joint, (whether inhaling or not) and being charged with DUI drugs a week or a month later? Food for thought perhaps?

[BusGreg]

I have talked to a number of cops who cite the DUI issue as their objection. I am sure that some kind of roadside "stonedness" test could be devised to determine if a driver is under the influence at that time. Maybe something based on pupil dilation and / or reaction to light?

[Dweezle]

LOL Talk to cops? thats unusual, (Unless they are coercing a confession).. LOL
usually they have one sided conversations..

[BusGreg]

One other thing. President Obama mis-represented a few facts. Number one, it was not one of the top questions, it was THE number one question. Second, the main part of the question pertained to the insanely high number of incarcerated Americans.
"With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?"
Lastly, if he thinks that making fun of the online audience will get him re-elected he might be mistaken. From the high number of responses to a number of cannabis related blogs here, his online audience is upset at the shoddy treatment we got. It was after all his online audience and supporters that came out and to a large part filled his campaign war chest and voted him into office. Most of that online audience consists of younger voters who favor legalization and will remember this come 2012!
A Zogby poll just released on 5-6-09 shows that 52% of Americans favor legalization and that number would undoubtably be higher if the subject was addressed openly and based on truth and science by mass media!

[averygard]

The problem is that the very minute Obama says he is pro-marijuana in any way, the right wing will turn him into Bob Marley himself and middle America will start thinking impeachment. I think there are so many problems on his plate right now that this one may not necessarily be the top one on his list.

[BusGreg]

It should be near the top. Let the wrong wing wet their pants, for all I care. The latest Zogby poll shows that 52% agree with legalizing and taxing cannabis for adult use as alcohol and cancerettes are! If the public were told the truth about cannabis and the failed drug war as a whole, this number would be higher.
Consider this:
One trillion dollars (plus) has been wasted on the failed drug war. A one dollar bill is 6.375 inches long, so if you do the math and multiply 6.375 inches by one trillion and then divide the result by 12 you get 531 billion 250 million feet and divide that by 5280 you come up with (drumroll please)
100,615,530.3 miles! Over 100 million miles of dollar bills!
According to wikipedia the distance from the earth to the moon (center to center) is 384,403 km or 238,856 miles. That means the dollars wasted on the drug war would stretch from the earth to the moon 261.75 times!

[Jeff Norman - Huffpost Blogger]

The point of my post, averygard, is to challenge the logic behind your fear. Political adversaries will ALWAYS try to stir up trouble. What I’m saying is that Obama isn’t particularly vulnerable on this issue now that it’s become a mainstream topic. If Obama’s opponents try to portray him as Bob Marley and call for his impeachment, they’ll fail and look foolish in the process. Check out the links which support my argument and then tell me why merely addressing the issue would be ruinous for Obama, even though other politicians, cops and the media are ALREADY leading the discussion, and in the case of the 10,000-member Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), calling for recreational drugs to be legalized. Why haven’t the cops been dismissed as a bunch of potheads?