President Obama has been taking a lot of well-deserved heat for his disjointed and disappointing approach to medical marijuana. Of course, with an election approaching, Obama supporters are struggling to explain why the many Americans who care deeply about this issue should support this president following his badly broken promises and recent false statements. An argument I've been hearing a lot is that Mitt Romney would be even more of a monster when it comes to medical marijuana policy.
But why would anyone assume that? Because he's a Republican? Obama's been worse on this issue than George W. Bush ever was, so what's to say he wouldn't be worse than Romney too? There's no logical basis at all for assuming that one party is just automatically going to be better when it comes to respecting state laws that protect medical marijuana patients. A strong majority of voters on the left and the right support medical marijuana, so it's not like Romney's supporters are asking him to go on the attack.
Sure, we've heard Romney say he's not in favor of medical cannabis, but only when he's been pressured for a comment on it. His statements have been brief and evasive, utterly lacking the vigorous drug warrior convictions often attributed to him. Romney certainly isn't running around on the campaign trail making threats or saying anything at all to justify the knee-jerk assumption that he'd be more of a horror show than the aggressively anti-pot president we already have.
Anyone who wants to argue that Romney would be worse when it comes to medical marijuana should begin by explaining how. Really, how would he be worse? The Obama Administration is already doing every single awful thing that can be done short of suspending all other federal law enforcement functions and spending the next 4 years demolishing dispensaries one at a time. They're raiding businesses, prosecuting providers, intimidating landlords, suing operators on bogus tax claims, threatening to arrest state regulators, blocking medical research, and even banning gun ownership by patients. I honestly doubt Romney could be any worse than this if he tried.
For some horrible reason, the Obama Administration is at war with medical marijuana on every imaginable front and it's ridiculous to rationalize any of this with fictitious partisan comparisons. That's pure political hackery that serves only to distract us from placing the blame where it belongs. Anyone who wants to help re-elect the president should stop making excuses for what he's done and instead insist that he clean up his act before November.
Looking at the polling on medical marijuana, you'd think the debate would be over which candidate supports it more, not who hates it less.
Follow Scott Morgan on Twitter: www.twitter.com/drugblogger
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 |
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| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Electoral Votes (270 to win) |
332 | 206 |
| Obama | Romney | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | 65,899,660 | 60,932,152 |
| Percent | 51.1% | 47.2% |
| Democrats* | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Current Senate | 53 | 47 |
| Seats gained or lost | +2 | -2 |
| New Total | 55 | 45 |
| Democrats | Republicans | |
|---|---|---|
| Seats won | 201 | 234 |
need proof? here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NY6UTnS6Z-A
(He could be prosecuting patients, which the Obama Administration has not done. See the factual background for the case of Gonazles v. Raiche, please).
From what I have been able to ascertain from all available sources the answer is Yes. When it comes to Marijuana, Mitt Romney is a dinosaur.
American 46 post:
“I know nothing of the cannabis politics of Michigan and I know absolutely nothing about
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. However, I can make 2 assumptions based on this article, either of which may be true. 1. He is grossly ignorant of cannabis use in the U.S. OR 2. He has some financial or political gain to be made by criminalizing the use of this plant. Both assumptions could be true.
Reply
Adam DeVaney on Jan 9, 2012 at 17:22:02
“Both in Schuette's case. He has run out of jobs here in Michigan (having been in the House, the Appeals Court and now the Executive Branch). His ambitions are for a national position. Let me tell you, we are very concerned about a Republican getting into the WH (namely Romney) and appointing him to the national Attorney General position. If this happens, I apologize in advance.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabilone
To me that means Obama considers cannabis a medical treatment and I think he will remove it from Schedule 1 sometime during his 2nd term. Gary Johnson 2012.
Published: 1/24/2008 3:26 pm
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - ABC 4 News has learned that a proposal to ban the sale of cold beer is now being talked about by some powerful Utah lawmakers.
According to a very well placed capitol source, the idea of selling only warm beer actually came up Tuesday at the senate's republican caucus.
Reportedly, here's the thinking behind introducing and passing a warm beer bill in the legislature.
If beer at Utah grocery or convenience stores had to be sold warm, that might discourage people from drinking beer right away or from drinking as much.
But one beer drinker we talked to brought up the following point, saying, "A lot of beer isn't filtered. It has live organisms in it which will actually spoil if it’s warm for too long."
Now, ABC 4 News is being told the senator who raised this idea has been told to study it more and then report back to the republican caucus.
So, at this point, its not clear if there will be a warm beer bill or law this year.
But, as you might imagine, this has been a pretty hot or warm topic at the capitol.
Not only did several other legislators confirm that this idea has come up, but also one jokingly suggested you could accomplish the same thing by only selling frozen beer.
I can't blame them for not standing tall on the issues that have surfaced from the medicalization rhetoric during an election year. I personally think its going to cost somebody the election if they get on board with it then fail to deliver the goods. After all it is a godsend from man!
Bush may have been showing signs of more leniency on the issue of medical marijuana, but he was not beholden to the Tea Party -- it didn't exist yet. This element, as we know, is schizophrenic in its positions on whether government is too intrusive or not. This is an area where they see no discrepancy with their small government "philosophy" (read: justification for wanting things their way).
If anybody thinks that Romney will reverse federal direction on this issue in today's political climate, with an conservative extremist movement successfully moving government to the right, they are sadly mistaken.
If you want to see this trend reversed, a stronger presence of Democrats and committed progressive independents needs to happen in Congress, as well as Obama staying in the White House four more years. We may or may not see Obama changing tack on the issue (hopefully we will) -- but, if Romney gets in the White House -- you can kiss even a long-term strategy of success goodbye.