Furthur
Active Member
I posted this on my blog thing and thought I would share it here as well.
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Initially I was upset with the way that president Obama addressed a question (regarding the legalization of marijuana) at last thursdays experimental online town hall meeting.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTrrqEdrI8
After acknowledging that legalizing marijuana was one of the top questions submitted, he proceeded to give an unsatisfactorily short answer in which he seemed to pass off the question as a joke and not something to be taken seriously stating "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." and "No, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."
I felt sick and enraged as the crowd immediately laughed. 3.5 million people voted and this was one of the top questions. How can you ignore those kind of numbers? Marijuana prohibition is an issue that needs to be taken seriously and to bash a question because it came from the internet (the place where Obama received most of his campaign funds), making it seem like just a bunch of pot heads sitting around at home on the computer was wrong. Medical marijuana is a very viable alternative medicine and very many patients depend on it.
I have since looked more in depth at the online town hall meeting and its purpose was mainly to address the current economic situation so while still disappointing, Obama's answer does not specifically rule out his support for a change in drug policy. If he didn't want to address the issue as a strategy for fixing the economy than that's understandable; however, many people (myself included) do feel that legalizing hemp and all forms of cannabis would be an outstanding way to solve the economic problems, at very least it must be better than printing an endless supply of money created out of thin air. Right now I can't get carried away about what a great revenue generating product marijuana is / could be; besides that fact that millions of taxpayers money would be saved when law enforcement does not have to go after and incarcerate the cannabis culture; that must be saved for another article as this one is strictly about Obama's stance.
So it wasn't the right time to discuss legalization, fine; but more politicians need to realize that this is an issue that isn't going away and needs to be taken care of in timely fashion. I hope most of us know by now that there are several states with medical MJ bills in place (most notably California) that clash with federal law and it can't stay this way forever. Too many gray areas currently exist between federal vs. state decriminalization and medical legalization. There needs to be a clarification on paper but nobody wants to be the one responsible so we, the people, even as the majority, are ignored.
If the economy isn't a reason to legalize than there are plenty more to choose from. There are still too many people incarcerated for victimless crimes, crimes that some didn't even commit; and I'm not talking about your typical street dealers either, there are patients, growers, shop owners, all people who thought they were following the laws of their locality.
After being appointed (by president Obama), Attorney General Eric Holder said that there would be no more raids by the fed on people operating under the regulations of approved states. Pre-election, Obama said that he supported marijuana for medical use and the states rights to make their own law regarding it. Lets hope he hasn't changed his mind or lost his balls.
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Initially I was upset with the way that president Obama addressed a question (regarding the legalization of marijuana) at last thursdays experimental online town hall meeting.
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YTrrqEdrI8
After acknowledging that legalizing marijuana was one of the top questions submitted, he proceeded to give an unsatisfactorily short answer in which he seemed to pass off the question as a joke and not something to be taken seriously stating "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." and "No, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy."
I felt sick and enraged as the crowd immediately laughed. 3.5 million people voted and this was one of the top questions. How can you ignore those kind of numbers? Marijuana prohibition is an issue that needs to be taken seriously and to bash a question because it came from the internet (the place where Obama received most of his campaign funds), making it seem like just a bunch of pot heads sitting around at home on the computer was wrong. Medical marijuana is a very viable alternative medicine and very many patients depend on it.
I have since looked more in depth at the online town hall meeting and its purpose was mainly to address the current economic situation so while still disappointing, Obama's answer does not specifically rule out his support for a change in drug policy. If he didn't want to address the issue as a strategy for fixing the economy than that's understandable; however, many people (myself included) do feel that legalizing hemp and all forms of cannabis would be an outstanding way to solve the economic problems, at very least it must be better than printing an endless supply of money created out of thin air. Right now I can't get carried away about what a great revenue generating product marijuana is / could be; besides that fact that millions of taxpayers money would be saved when law enforcement does not have to go after and incarcerate the cannabis culture; that must be saved for another article as this one is strictly about Obama's stance.
So it wasn't the right time to discuss legalization, fine; but more politicians need to realize that this is an issue that isn't going away and needs to be taken care of in timely fashion. I hope most of us know by now that there are several states with medical MJ bills in place (most notably California) that clash with federal law and it can't stay this way forever. Too many gray areas currently exist between federal vs. state decriminalization and medical legalization. There needs to be a clarification on paper but nobody wants to be the one responsible so we, the people, even as the majority, are ignored.
If the economy isn't a reason to legalize than there are plenty more to choose from. There are still too many people incarcerated for victimless crimes, crimes that some didn't even commit; and I'm not talking about your typical street dealers either, there are patients, growers, shop owners, all people who thought they were following the laws of their locality.
After being appointed (by president Obama), Attorney General Eric Holder said that there would be no more raids by the fed on people operating under the regulations of approved states. Pre-election, Obama said that he supported marijuana for medical use and the states rights to make their own law regarding it. Lets hope he hasn't changed his mind or lost his balls.