Marijuana Town Hall Denial

[SHRED]

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With all due respect Mr. President...put this in your pipe and smoke it.
:grr:

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~snippet~

Well Mr. President I can tell you “…what this says about the online audience,”. It says that students are tired of being denied Federal student loans (200,000 students denied student aid) because of drug convictions under the “Higher Education Act” amended in 1998. Of course if you were a convicted murder, rapist or pedophile by all means here is your Federal Financial aid to attend the college of your choice.

It says people are tired of the increased incarnation rates the associated costs to the tax payers. In 2007 775,137 out of 1,841,182 drug violation were for marijuana possession. Up from 646,042 in 2000.

It says people are tired of lip service by AG Eric Holder in regards to reigning in the budgetary money hungry DEA’s continued raids of Medical Cannabis dispensaries resulting in medicine being deprived those who need it and are legally entitled to it under State law.

When asked in a presidential press conference as to why President Obama waited so long to address the AIG debacle his answer was that he wanted to wait until he knew what he was talking about. I am wondering whether or not he has actually researched the subject of legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis. I don’t call an estimated $33,000,000,000.00 in tax revenue and $44,000,000,000.00 in savings a laughing matter Mr. Obama and neither should anyone else.

FULL ARTICLE:
http://neighbors.denverpost.com/blog.php/2009/03/29/marijuana-town-hall-denial/

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[Usrename]

1. Damn straight!

He should immediately pardon any and all non-violent pot smokers.


He surely shouldn't mock them.

[snake in the grass]

2. I think this iron is too hot for even Obama to touch.

Perhaps things will be different in his second term. One can only hope.

[crikkett]

8. i dunno. that pic of 12-time gold medal olympiad sucking on a bong really

shattered some myths. The conversation's changing. It's hot, but in a different way than perhaps you're thinking.

:hippie:

[intheflow]

11. I think it will be the next generation.

I'm in Obama's age demographic, and almost while everyone I know in our 40's thinks weed should be legal, it's the older baby boomers (ironically) and their parents who seem to be resisting. The people who, like Amy Madigan said to the bitch in Field of Dreams, "I don't think you experienced the '60's. You had two '50's and went straight into the '70's." This is Bill Clinton's generation, the people who are perfectly comfortable in their own hypocrisy at having smoked pot in their youth yet continue to perpetuate the meme of the "evil weed." Same mentality that brought us the "I got mine so screw you" mentality of the '80's and '90's market bubbles.

[ima_sinnic]

3. good luck with that

but the next time I make a "political contribution," it will be to NORML and not to middle-of-the-road politicians who give lip service to "change"

[lfairban]

5. A contribution to NORML is a good thing.

n/t

[ima_sinnic]

4. kick & rec

[comtec]

6. I think his dismissal of the entire issue unaccptable

and I voted for him, and I'll still defend him...

But to say NO flat out, is not right.

The fact is , that yes a L A R G E enough number for him to mention it TWICE is a SIGNIFICANT %age of teh population.

The American people are ready to do this.

If nothing else the US federal (let alone state and local) will save BILLIONS in not having to enforce antiquated laws.
They don't have to legalize it right away.. just decriminalize it.

The idea that he wouldn't even consider local he,p production is the real outrage to me imho.

If people could be allowed to grow their own hemp (not pot) plants, it would go a long way towards helping the economy.
I'm not sure sure how much I'd want to trust hemp-made food from being THC free, but rope, cloth, paper, et al, would be a great boon to teh economy. Hell the local business for converting material into cloth and oil alone would go a long way.

oh well... one thing at a time i suppose =\

[Dawgs]

7. Thank you. I'm glad to see that his response has received so much attention.

:)

[ProSense]

9. Who supported

Dodd for President?

Dodd Would Decriminalize Pot

Here is Kerry in 2003:

We have never had a legitimate War on Drugs in the United States, ever, and we won't until we have treatment on demand for addiction and until you have full drug education in our schools. The mandatory-minimum-sentencing structure of our country is funneling people into jail who have no business being there. I've met plenty of people in my lifetime who've used marijuana and who I would not qualify as serious addicts -- who use about the same amount as some people drink beer or wine or have a cocktail. I don't get too excited by any of that...What we did in the prosecutor's office was have a sort of unspoken approach to marijuana that was almost effectively decriminalization. We just didn't bother with small-time use. It doesn't rise to the level of nuisance, even. And what we were after was people dealing with heroin and destroying lives, and people who were killing people. That's where you need to focus.

link

Dodd is facing a tough re-election. I wonder if his position on this issue will help him. Given his position, I'm sure he'll strongly support Webb's prison reform legislation.

[cbc5g]

10. He supports Sen. Webb

If a bill came before him to legalize/decriminalize and it's part of a broad package of criminal justice reform, Obama will sign it.

[cliffordu]

12. Yes, yes he is complete failure. What else ya got??

[Ganja Ninja]

13. The Marijuana question that should have been asked to Obama is ...

"Given that alcohol and tobacco are legal what is the justification for keeping marijuana illegal?"

And when he answers that 'the majority of people don't support legalization' it can be argued that his answer proves that marijuana laws are purely political and that all marijuana prisoners are really political prisoners.

[polichick]

16. Well put - I hope you submit that!

[Qutzupalotl]

14. I think Obama left the door open.

Remember, the question was asked in the context of a town hall on strengthening the economy. His answer was no, he didn't think legalizing would grow the economy. (It would reduce incarceration costs, but that's not the same thing.)

As far as sales generating tax revenue, I'm very skeptical. Why would anyone pay taxes on something they can grow themselves for next to nothing? I could see a segment of users buying it for convenience, but I think the tax revenue estimates by some advocates are too rosy.

Cannabis should be legalized or decriminalized, just on its own merit. But I don't see it happening before Obama's second term. If this issue somehow backfires, it could be deadly politically. President Palin would be far worse than Bush, if that's even possible.

Public attitudes are changing. Recent polls show we're near the tipping point in which a plurality is in favor of legalization. We're about two years away from that, according to one graph I saw posted here. The opportune time for a successful culmination will be just after that point, IMO.

Until then... thanks for all you and everybody here does for this cause.

[Uncle Joe]

17. I believe legalizing Marijuana would redirect precious resources to far more

constructive sectors of the economy instead of just those geared toward destruction.

With construction there could be a substantial return on investment, no so much if any with destruction.

[TrogL]

15. Marijuana is basically legal up here

Not like it's being sold it stores and you can still get busted for having too much but possession of reasonable quantities is fine.

Awhile ago, my previous partner (Ahknaten) smoked for medical reasons. One time the police came to visit me on a routine matter (volunteer stuff). To make room on the coffee table for their papers they blithely shoved aside half-a-dozen bongs (they're openly sold in stores here) and a sandwich bag of weed. On the way out, one of them commented that it looked like good stuff.

[Occam Bandage]

18. Does that really add up to making marijuana the most important economic issue?

No? Then his implication is correct; his internet audience is fixated on marijuana beyond any sense of proportion, since marijuana legalization was the highest ranked economic question.