Speaking live at an online Town Hall Meeting Thursday morning, President Barack Obama pledged "to open up the White House to the American people."
Well, to some of the American people, that is.
As for those tens of millions of you who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol -- and the tens of thousands of you who voted to make this subject the most popular question in today's online Presidential Town Hall -- well, your voice doesn't really matter.
Asked this morning whether he "would ... support the bill currently going through the California legislation to legalize and tax marijuana, boosting the economy and reducing drug cartel related violence," the President responded with derision.
"There was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation, and I don't know what this says about the online audience," he laughed.
"The answer is no, I don't think that [is] a good strategy."
Obama's cynical rebuff was short-sighted and disrespectful to a large percentage of his supporters. After all, was it not this very same "online audience" that donated heavily to Obama's Presidential campaign and ultimately carried him to the White House?
Second, as I've written previously in The Hill and elsewhere, the overwhelming popularity of the marijuana law reform issue -- as manifested in this and in other similar forums -- illustrates that there is a significant, vocal, and identifiable segment of our society that wants to see an end to America's archaic and overly punitive marijuana laws.
The Obama administration should be embracing this constituency, not mocking it.
Third, will somebody please ask the President: "What is it that you think is so funny about the subject of marijuana law reform?"
Since 1965, police have arrested over 20 million Americans for violating marijuana laws, yet nearly 90 percent of teenagers say that pot is "very easy" or "fairly easy" to obtain. That's funny?
According to this very administration, there is an unprecedented level of violence occurring at the Mexico/US border -- much of which is allegedly caused by the trafficking of marijuana to the United States by drug cartels. America's stringent enforcement of pot prohibition, which artificially inflates black market pot prices and ensures that only criminal enterprises will be involved in the production and sale of this commodity, is helping to fuel this violence. Wow, funny stuff!
Finally, two recent polls indicate that a strong majority of regional voters support ending marijuana prohibition and treating the drug's sale, use, and distribution like alcohol. A February 2009 Zogby telephone poll reported that nearly six out of ten of voters on the west coast think that cannabis should be "taxed and legally regulated like alcohol and cigarettes." A just-released California Field Poll reports similar results, finding that 58 percent of statewide votes believe that regulations for cannabis should be the same or less strict than those for alcohol.
Does the President really think that all of these voters are worthy of his ridicule?
Let the White House laugh for now, but the public knows that this issue is no laughing matter. This week alone, legislators in Illinois, Minnesota, and New Hampshire voted to legalize the use of marijuana for authorized individuals. Politicians in three additional states heard testimony this week in favor of eliminating criminal penalties for all adults who possess and use cannabis. And lawmakers in Massachusetts and California are now debating legally regulating marijuana outright.
The American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults. And all over this nation, whether Capitol Hill wants to acknowledge it or not, they are engaging in this debate as we speak.
Sorry, Obama -- this time the joke's on you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvGWG7Gmogg
Is it ok for Obama to make fun of groups that hate abortion or wants to cure aids? Is it funny to bring up the War and the soldgers that have died, or 9/11, is that a funny issue? We have an issue that is very important to us and he makes fun of it and those who asked it? We are thinking the War on Drugs has failed us and it needs fixed. We are saying that the majority of americans what this law changed, 60+% CNN poll yesterday!
This topic has not yet been seriously weighed re: the consequences of smoking pot on a regular basis. I am an affecionado (but of the type who uses rarely). Even at that - I sense what COULD be potentially serious problems associated with easy availability. I've known people who can put away far far more than I can even imagine. That's got to have some serious lung implications, as well as the freedom from inhibitions thing that could easily spell disaster for maintaining a healthy diet and one's having self control. Compound that with the freedom of usage among young people who still have high school and college in front of them (or work) - it's BIG. So the fact that the President of the United States wants to put it on the back burner for now makes TOTAL sense to me.
I'd rather see him address the Webb talk about how drugs has contributed to the shamefully huge numbers in our prison populations. That could be a number one peripheral issue: getting people out of jail and into life (rather than getting the rest of us high).
"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?"
He wasn't.
Certainly not in his remarks at the online town hall.
Also, let's not forget he has made an effort to not interfere with state laws by calling off medical marijuana raids by the feds.
I think that last sentence in your comment is not accurate.
I'm for legalization. But, I'm also not naive about how politics work. The Right would LOVE to have a distraction like this, thus hurting Obama's chances of getting his economic agenda passed.
They're already going batsh*t about f**king teleprompters.
You have to read between the lines. Eric Holder has already hinted at the policy position of this president and the states are busy taking matters into their own hands. The best Obama can do is leave the federal government out of state's marijuana policy for the time being.
Baby steps people ... baby steps. The discussion is now too loud for progress not to be made. Just stay active in your state government and pay no mind to the recent town hall meeting. If you read between the lines, you will find the real truth.
That real truth is that the federal government isnt going to take an official reversal on prohibition stand until many states have proven it to be successful and politically not poisonous to the administration in charge.
Give the guy a break, he's been in office like 67 days and already you've seen the DEA raiding medicinal marijuana providers cease and multiple bills and discussions brought to the table in state governments. Progress is atleast happening in the right direction, just be patient and active responsibly with your elected officials!
Second, legalization isn't going to happen at the federal level until anti-prohibition becomes the clear majority in public opinion. You're not going to hear a president or presidential candidate call for it until then. Legalization will take place at the grass-roots level. It'll happen city by city and state by state and when the majority of states have softened their stance on pot, THEN we can expect Washington to catch up to us. Let's cut the man some slack and see how things go in California and Massachusetts.
I think that more than any poll is a reflection of where the majority of Americans stand on this issue.
I have never smoked it. I'm in favor of legalization. But, I think Obama is wise to not get into this now. He needs to get is budget through and anything that distracts from that could jeopardize his ultimate goals.
It would be just the wedge issue that the Republicans thrived on in years past.
It would serve as a distraction from his economic agenda, which is much more important right now
Btw, threatening to vote Obama out of office over this is asinine because the alternative would be a Republican president who would definitely be much less warm to the idea of legalization. How does this not occur to you people when you threaten to do that over this?
I don't want a Doctor who smokes it, A judge who ses it, a Lawyer, or a Surgeon who used the drug.
IT IS A PLANT!!!!
"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?"
and second he contradicts his own government's assertion that cannabis is the largest cash crop, albeit illegal. So explain how sensible regulation and taxation would not benefit the country. Third, from medical cannabis alone there would be millions for the states, not to mention the savings of 25 billion dollars per year going to the often privately operated prison system. 72 years of failure at diminishing druguse has been a colossal failure with the only winners the special interests and the losers the over 20 million incarcerated over the years and most importantly the taxpayers who have for over seven decades been forced to waste over half a trillion dollars on the war on cannabis alone!
Call us typical all you want. We do have the votes and we do have the right for this to be addressed now and for once let the truth and science dictate direction and not the moral inferiority who thinks prohibition has solved anything.
1) only vote for candidates that support marijuana legalization
2) write all your state representatives urging them to legalize marijuana
3) participate in and organize protest
IF
1. The DEA stops raids on medical marijuana clubs, and
2. Prescriptions are easy to get (anxiety? stress? That's what it takes in CA),
Then hasn't Obama basically made marijuana a states rights issue?
You cannot expect a new president to come out for legalizing drugs in their first sixty days in office. We have to convince him to do it, or wait for the second term. Lets just go state by state until we get 50. Obama could make it easier on us, but that might make it harder for him to get a second term.
"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?"
The war on drugs part of the question, THE IMPORTANT PART, was ignored and the answer phrased to deny the very fact the government has been making all along:
CANNABIS IS THE LARGEST CASH CROP IN THE US, yet to laugh it off and make a joke out of the truth is patently disrespectful to those of us who have worked on this for so long as well as every American tax payer whose money has been deliberately wasted for 72 years since the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, some estimates putting the total at well over half a trillion cannabis relarted alone!
As stated; nobody expects the President to micromanage. What we do expect is that this is addressed in a factual basis now. There are plenty of people willing and able to work on this and the time is NOW, not later!
Drug war is criminal....there are more drug dealers than Starbucks in any given location. Gee our taxes are funding corrupt criminals in both houses...they've given us up to the medical insurance industry...wall street...banks....and only the corrupt can afford to run for office...sweet america!
People, try thinking beyond the immediate issue. The President is fighting to get a budget through Congress is adding legalization of pot to the agenda going to do anything good? Most likely result would be that the Republicans would jump on the issue as a way of slamming the president and shutting down the possibility of legalization for years!
Consider for a moment.
There are individuals who have had their possessions and land seized. Their lives destroyed and freedom taken because of their choices concerning marijuana.
Much of this due to the assault on individual choice and liberty based on the insane concept of marijuana being a "gateway" drug to harder drugs.
When I have gone to a liquor store to purchase my favorite adult beverage I have never had the individual at the cash register offer to sell me some cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin or LSD with my vodka, whiskey, beer or tequila.
Marijuana is a "gateway" drug only because it is illegal.
Were it legalized and regulated there would be additional tax income from cultivation, licensing, packaging and sale. Quality would increase and marijuana laced with dangerous additives would decrease.
But rather than have a serious discussion go for the laugh President Obama.
Now you can look good to the mindless too.