Drug Prohibition and the President's Political Capital

President Obama was forced to dip deep into his cache of political capital to pay for his "indiscretion" in the "Gatesgate" affair. There's little doubt the uproar served to divert attention from the white-hot issue of health care, at least for a time. (Agree with him or not, the president's original candor on the Gates arrest triggered a vigorous national discussion on race and policing. That's a good thing...if we have the nerve and the wisdom to sustain the conversation beyond a few news cycles -- and the self-control to keep it civilized and constructive.)

The controversy did raise questions about the president's reputation for staying on message, for avoiding needless setbacks to his political agenda.

There's little doubt it was Obama's vaunted personal discipline that motivated him to swiftly dismiss the "marijuana question" during his electronic town hall meeting back in March. He appears to have decided, for purely political reasons, to just say no to consequential drug policy reform.

How can a man of Obama's intellect deny the breathtaking failure of the drug war, and its violence-inducing predicate, prohibition? For that matter, why has he not corrected or muzzled his drug czar when the man speaks repetitively and erroneously of marijuana as dangerous and addictive, and possessed of no medicinal value?

Make no mistake, the president gets it. He knows the personal suffering our laws and policies have caused, the violence they've wrought, the endless drain on our treasury. He's said as much in the past.

But at a time when his administration is struggling to right the economy and secure meaningful health care for all, he no doubt believes he cannot afford yet another brouhaha of the type and proportion threatened simply by raising the subject.

Given the ugly, visceral tone and tenor of his opposition, his fears might well be warranted. Merely calling for an honest examination of our drug policies would likely prompt even more frightened and ignorant citizens to join the agitated souls who continue to question the president's birthplace (that includes you, Liz and Lou), compare him to Hitler, and scream down free speech at congressional members' public gatherings on health care.

Yet there's no escaping the reality that the country's collective imagination, fueled by research and compassion, has shifted toward saner drug laws. Polls have shown that the overwhelming majority of us believe the drug war has failed, and that ending it is long overdue. Support for the legalization of marijuana stands at greater than half the population, with fresh converts signing on daily. And people are finally beginning to understand a simple truth about drugs: The more dangerous a substance, the more sinister its reputation, the greater the justification for replacing prohibition with regulation.

Conventional wisdom has Obama tackling drug law reform in 2012 (if then), not before.

Meanwhile, change we can believe in must come from voter initiatives and/or legislative action in each of the 50 states, pressure on the U.S. Congress, and support for Senator Webb's courageous efforts to radically overhaul our criminal justice system, including its drug laws.

Follow Norm Stamper on Twitter: www.twitter.com/CopsSayLegalize

Comments

[gibstrat]

Marijuana should be legal to anyone 18 or over period. I've smoked for over thirty years and I've enjoyed every minute of it. Alcohol destroys brain cells, marijuana expands the consciousness. No one in the world should be able to tell another person what they put into their body as long as it's not harming anyone. What happened to "life", "liberty" and "the pursuit of happiness". What happened to freedom!

[fredamae]

Part 1
President Obama, Kerlikowske, Chief Surgeon General, Sebelius et al, COULD easily begin programs geared to a New approach For Harm Reduction NOW Via aggressive Substance Consumption Educational Programs.
It's the Most vital part in Reducing Harm from Drug use, Poor Diets etc.
There is No Such Thing As A Safe Drug. Period! It does Not matter if it is an OTC, Prescribed, Legal or Illegal Drug.
We Must Take Personal Responsibility For Every Single Substance WE Decide To Consume, Including a Fast Food Burger.

EDUCATE, EDUCATE, EDUCATE and Give People the Opportunity To Make INFORMED Decisions!

Cannabis Is NOT A Drug. It Does NOT contain the Needed Compounds/Elements to Cause Physical Addiction.

[fredamae]

Part 2
According to the DEA's Own ALJ Francis L. Young, In Order To Cause A Fatal Over-Dose from Cannabis, "A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within
about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response."

"7. Drugs used in medicine are routinely given what is called
an LD-50. The LD-50 rating indicates at what dosage fifty percent of
test animals receiving a drug will die as a result of drug induced
toxicity. A number of researchers have attempted to determine
marijuana's LD-50 rating in test animals, without success. Simply
stated, researchers have been unable to give animals enough marijuana to
induce death.

8. At present it is estimated that marijuana's LD-50 is around
1:20,000 or 1:40,000. In layman terms this means that in order to induce
death a marijuana smoker would have to consume 20,000 to 40,000 times as
much marijuana as is contained in one marijuana cigarette. NIDA-supplied
marijuana cigarettes weigh approximately .9 grams. A smoker would
theoretically have to consume nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana within
about fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response.

9. In practical terms, marijuana cannot induce a lethal
response as a result of drug-related toxicity."
http://druglibrary.org/SCHAFFER/library/studies/YOUNG/young4.html

If you want Better Health Care the WE Must include Cannabis Medicine along With Aggressive Education. Period.

When, For OUR Own Good are WE going to Do this Right?
Federally De-Schedule Cannabis

[Anne Johnson]

Drug legalization is commonly viewed as an issue of the left. However, I know a lot of people on the right who favor drug legalization. This may be one of the few issues in this country where left and right can agree. Common ground on any issue is sorely needed in our country today.

[WorldofTomorrow420]

Forget conventional wisdom, Obama is not going to touch this issue with a ten foot pole after 2012 or no matter how long we wait. He lacks the guts.

[aahpat]

Drug Warriors like Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Rahm Emanuel and too many others in the Obama administration will not see reason or science no matter how obvious. They are authoritarians.

Pressure the congress is the fastest solution to the war on drugs. Organize protests at your local congressman and senator's offices. Fax them letters often. Write letters to the editor about national security, crime and public health aspects of the war on drugs. A full court press is needed.

And the more anger that we can direct at the obama administration is all that much more the Democrats in congress will feel the immediacy of the issue. Use Obama like a cheap crack whole. After all, that's how he used drug reform voters in the 2008 elections.

[fumes]

thanks norm!

...'ere

[budderbean]

Drug treatment.­. Yeah we can go for that. Instead of giving the private prison the tax money let's give it to the health care system to rehabilitate drug addict.. Especially the ones that smoke pot. I should generate big bucks for attorneys, Cops,DEA, and the "treatment providers". Money Money Money Money Money... ..........­.Money!!! Stabbed in the back.

The insurance companies are against it.. Look how powerful Phama is..
What would happen if the people voted to legalize pot ??? What would happen? Would it be legalized.­. I doubt it.. We have no say anymore in what goes on.. FOX news is blasting away 24/7 for the Pharmacy industry, DEA (Real jack booted thug's) the insurance industry, The private prison system. The mouth piece of industry.. I voted for change.. I voted for a representative NOT a law maker.. I like Obama a lot.. But on this one he has really broke my heart along with millions of other hearts...

Drink your beer Mr. President.­. Have a cigarette too if you can afford one. Dealing with drug issues may help with race relations more than having a beer with a white cop and a black man..

[Nicon]

Norm:
When your new video for LEAP is this good, you should toss the link on your blogs.

Almost made me cry to see the drug war talked about as it should be, rather than some pure ideal.

Thank you Norm, keep up the hard work, it will pay off sooner or later.

Cops and Clergy speak out against the drug war.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwIHmHb1cSU&feature=player_embedded

[Coinyer101]

Great article, Norm, as usual. Many of the folks I talk with, here, agree with my/our reform efforts, and they aren't all liberals. I believe prohibition reform is becoming a bi-partisan issue, especially with what is remaining of the repub party ,which is a lot of libertarians. I know lot's of conservatives that are ready for change. Marijuana is not politically affilliate­d....., And 2012 may be too late for this President. There is a chance he will be a one-termer­.....,

[dsws]

As president, Obama is a politician. That's just a fact of the office. Politicians can address only political issues. Currently, legalization is not a political issue. Sure, a solid percentage of poll respondents will agree with decriminalization if the question is framed positively. But that does not automatically mean, and indeed has not so far meant, that it's a political issue. There is no visible and substantial block of voters who will reliably turn out for any candidate who supports reforming our drug laws, and against any incumbent who is prominent in opposing it. There is no recognizable set of many thousands of volunteers who can be counted on to work for campaigns of politicians who support fixing drug laws. There is no PAC strategically directing enough campaign funds to turn a moderately-close congressional election.

NORML, LEAP and others are working mostly at the level of public consciousn­ess-raisin­g. That's progress, certainly better than nothing. But until there's a legalization organization with recognition and funding on a par with NRA, NARAL, and the Sierra Club, nothing much is going to change. We can't expect politicians to create that for us.

[zofo16]

EDUCATION, REGULATION, TAXATION. Are the only answers!

[zakwouldhave]

Legalization will happen....­when we get smart enough about such things. We are becoming dumbed down about many things but this is a no-brainer. We simply don't have the resources nationaly or locally (California?) to continue to prosecute a war on pot. Obama can't and won't take this on in the near future. Until then write congress and get the ball rolling.

[Iago]

What is drug prohibition about anyway? Is it to save drug users from themselves? What of the innocents who are killed and harmed by the drug trade and users? Are their lives less valuable?

Let's legalize the stuff, all of it..heroin­, crack, pot, whatever. In fact, then let's give the stuff away. If addicts want to let the stuff suck their lives away, so be it. Maybe then, potential users will see how awful it is if it is not hidden away and glamorized by an underground drug culture.

Good God, I get physcially sick when I hear that another person was killed by a drug addict for money for his next hit or another child is killed in a cross fire.

Let's remove the criminal activity and then let's fix the users.

[Jack Straw]

Who's going to tell the cops they don't get to steal your property (home seizures) in the name of justice anymore? Those seizures pay for an awful lot of their expensive toys with. They might not want to let it go.

[blogattelle]

peace on drug

[GreatNews27]

The war on drugs is profitable for his campaign investors, that's why. Just like torture, endless war, illegal wiretapping, permenant preemptive incarceration, and high pill prices. Obama sold shares of his presidency to various corporations when he ran. Now they are looking for a return. And Obama is returning all right. The Pharma, Bush, Cheney, Insurance Cos are all having a field day. We, the people, not so much. Oh, well, as long as the rich keep getting richer and I cannot pay for health care, all is well on planet Obama. World of cowardly traitors.