Change.org will be giving Obama a list of thing to change on inauguration day. I don't believe we should give up so quickly let put this in front of him yet again. My experience is the squeaking wheel gets the grease, lets make so much noise that he has to respond with more than a 1 liner of BS.

In Criminal Justice it is in 1st place
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/criminal_justice

In other it is 4th place
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/other

In Government Reform it is in 6th place
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/government_reform

In Economy it is 3rd and 4th
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/economy

In Agricultural Policy it is 3rd and 4th
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/agricultural_policy

In health care it is in 5th position
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/health_care

It is second in Environmental conversation it is in 2nd place
http://www.change.org/ideas/browse/environmental_conservation

Get on change.org, people, and vote it right back to the top. It's telling that the number one question was moved to the bottom of the page. These political hacks think they can ignore the masses, so let's show them they can't!

someone's scared to say what Howard Dean doesn't want him to say

well that goes to show you that just because someone says "change"
it doesnt mean anything will be different

attica

He got away without directly answering any drug policy questions throughout the election. I guess the team wasn't expecting this one.

At the very least, Obama will have to come out in support of minimizing crack vs powder cocaine disparities. He's got Biden on his side for that one.

Talking about arrests and shooting puppies will only get you decriminalization. However, if you can provide evidence that shows how prohibiting government regulation over the marijuana market is bad for children (like junior and high school students), then you will win any tax and regulate initiative. Maybe I haven't kept up to date on drug policy reform but I don't think there has been a single reform group that has heavily focused on the tax and regulation issue framed in this manner. (If there is, please let me know.) That's how you force a powerful politician like Obama to go out on a limb and support regulating the marijuana market by making its prohibition too controversial to sustain.

My take: Now that Obama's had his briefings from the sitting president and from the CIA he now knows just how necessary this drug war is to our economy, to our military expansion,and to the prison industry.He also realizes the far-reaching effects marijuana legalization could have on the pharmaceutical industry. In other words, he no longer sees marijuana criminalization as simply an injustice. It's an integral part of our economy.

With the majority of Americans pushing for getting marijuana arrests off the books I don't understand his argument about the issue being "too controversial". Controversial for whom? Certainly not the general public. And since when has America shied away from controversy?

What to do? Barrage our legislators with emails,get well known and widely read,general audience-type publications such as the NYT,Washington Post etc to address the issue.

But the most effective strategy of invoking change has traditionally been visibility and widespread awareness. I wish we had even a quarter of the monies for advertising and public education that the pro-drug war factions have at their disposal.

I don't know what the answer is but we can't allow such a non-commital response to go unaddressed.

if you dont listen to the people your out and going back to chiago .you must adress this now or be sent to the junk heap

I, too, have gone to change.gov and posted. I saw what Scott saw, and I had the same reaction. I am also beginning to host town meetings and legalization is a part of it. Go to change.gov or barrackobama.com and they will set you up. You report back. I mean, at least we can come out of the closet, and answer those phone surveys truly without fear of CIA buggings (I hope). Heck, Judge Souter agrees with us.

My guess is right now this thing is still political. Remember there are still people on that website busting President Obama's chops for smoking two cigarettes a day, you know, the people who want us to raise their children for them.

Understand these are his people as well, and he can't just say all you monkey DEA are out of work, and you courts are gonna lose a bunch of cash.

Denver, California, NYC, Vegas, Michigan...these are US places that have for all practical purposes decriminalized the use of marijuana. If nothing else, a coherent national policy would be a good start.

My feeling is this. Redo the Million Man March or something similar, the time is ripe. Get Mason in Denver to hold one end. But above all give it time. I have seen my usually scared brethren come out from under the rug. This issue means more than our right to smoke, remember. It means all the lies, all the curtailments of our freedoms in attempt to justify a prohibition that is no tort in itself. Keep the faith...and speak up!

Angelo Caiazzo

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYKQ65Uf7ac

www.trm.3-801.org

july 4th 2009

heard about it at

www.usmjparty.com

now i hope i got all my dots coms & orgs in the right order :)

peace
heide

Go to https://www.change.org/admin/sign_up and sign up. Then all you have to do is click on the links above to vote.

Hey Heide/Anonymous,
I tried the 1st web site: www.trm.3-801.org

It didnt work.

The www.usmjparty.com works though. Thanks for the links.

Remember everyone that 20,000,000 people a year smoke cannabis, and I would imagine that many more of them voted for him than for McCain. It's quite sad to see the new President-elect already playing politics with this issue -- we deserve better than to have the #1 question posed to him answered so tersely.

Jessica

I spent over a hundred hours and a few grand trying to help get Obama elected. And I counted that I persuaded at 17 different people to vote for Obama (they told me my Obama info changed their minds).

However, if Obama doesn't end the DEA Raids on Medical Marijuana patients, I will begin to campaign to bring him down in 4. No more patience for blatant lying. In fact, I will publicize every lie he utters for his entire 4-years.

Make no mistake: with more than three-quarters of the U.S. not supporting this against the People "War on Drugs," politicians supporting this barbarism will not continue to be re-elected.

The fact that the legalization of marijuana was so high in the O's Change website is telling that people are demanding change; but it is infuriating Obama's team appears to be "side-stepping" an issue of extreme importance to their people.

Kissing the asses of all the politicians who helped Obama get in and giving them high paying positions is part of politics; but then, turning around and continuing to allow the FEDS to war on patients, doctors and medicine -- is unconscionable.

In addition to writing your comments on Change, make sure O knows he will lose a lot of support, if he continues to flip-flop, in an effort to appear as "tough on crime" as "the toughest Democrat on Crime," Joe Biden

Hasn't anybody influential told Joe and Rahm that most of the U.S. thinks their warring on the sick and the dying and Biden's Drug Czar creation is AN INCREDIBLE WASTE OF MONEY; but more importantly, it is BARBARIC!! Joe might think he is tough because of his Drug Czar creation, but most of the voters think obscuring medical facts is not something our government should be a part of...

We should not be creating government whose main role is to distort science. No good can come from hiding and obfuscating the facts concerning Medical Cannabis or the facts concerning the larger War on Drugs.

Let's be perfectly clear about what Obama favors. Obama had two choices here, and he decided that:

1) we should continue to arrest nearly 1,000,000 nonviolent people every year who make the decision to use a substance less harmful than alcohol, possibly destroying their job prospects, relationships, ability to get social services and college loans, etc.

2) even though we are facing a horrible economy, a devastating recession, state budgetary crises, and an insolvent social security system, we should forgo more than $30,000,000,000 in taxes upon marijuana in favor of giving that money to organized criminals further propping up the underground markets which also deal in violence, etc.

3) children should have much easier access to marijuana and other drugs that could possibly be tainted or adulterated.

4) etc.

Great links,thanks! I wasn't aware of the Million March but now that I am I'll help spread the word.

My first thought about our campaign's effectiveness was a rememberance of the grassroots movements of the 60's; how powerful the simple physical presence of hundreds even thousands of people was when it came to affecting Change. Peaceful marches and rallies held across the country garnered tons of publicity and media coverage. The voices of the American people were hugely instrumental in ending the Vietnam War for example,all accomplished without the communication tools like the internet that we're so fortunate to have today. Just recently we saw how the worker demonstrations in Chicago had a direct impact on their situation.

As Angelo so wisely pointed out, we really need to give this more time but his comment/observation about Fear really speaks to one of the most basic,embedded roadblocks to this cause. And one of the most difficult to overcome.

It isn't just stoners who smoke, it's also professional people-great numbers of people,thousands of them, whose jobs and careers could be in jeopardy should they openly advocate for marijuana use. Ironically it's those very people whose voices and numbers would lend HUGE credibility to this anti-drug war movement. What's the government going to do,arrest the backbone of America? Doctors,lawyers,teachers,law enforcement,nurses,parents,soccer moms, corporate people,union workers...the list goes on and these are the grassroots,neighborhood people I'd love to see become more vocal and involved.

So how do we get mainstream America to overcome that fear in great enough numbers to provide them with some sense of security? Not an easy task in these Patriot Act,militia driven times we live in. Most everyone I know,including myself,are subjected to a pre-employment drug test and even random testing if there's a perceived need to do so.

Education is vital, not just education about marijuana itself but education about the extent to which this drug war is affecting our economy especially. I emphasize the economy because that seems to be everyone's focus now and rightfully so.Hard times for a lot of folks in this country, and my experience with talking to people about the drug war indicates that SO MANY have absolutely NO idea how entrenched in our basic economy these illegal drug monies truly are. John Q. Public has the drug war completely compartmentalized, when in reality it's tentacles are encroached into almost everything that concerns us today.

If more people,especially non-smokers,knew the truth of how much the drug war is directly affecting their wallets and their children's very futures, our cause would be lent an even more extensive and diverse voice.

With polling as high as it is for Medical Cannabis, it would be a brilliant political move for Obama to end the raids and begin a discussion about the larger drug war. Continuing to steal medicine from sick people and trying to cage them and the people who care for them is not too nice or too American. The people will not continue to tolerate the FEDS very real warring on the seriously ill and dying.

But Obama's advisers -- old drug warriors from the Clinton days -- are still so terrified that some big Bully Republican is going to call them "soft on crime," that they haven't been keeping up with the polls or the Science. And they apparently don't have the fucking spine and the fucking intellect to present the facts, which are overwhelmingly against the draconian drug war and overwhelmingly in support of Medical Cannabis.

Gov. Richardson made Medical Cannabis legal, because it was the "right thing to do"; and if anything, people respect him more for not perpetuating lies. Richardson now has an even bigger position!! Richardson also spoke to his people in a manner that illustrated Richardson knew the People were well informed on the issue, and didn't throw out the normal fear mongering propaganda.

I know Obama is a politician and therefore is 67-percent more prone to telling lies than the avg. non-politician, but I am really disappointed by his refusal to discuss this issue in the in-depth fashion it deserves.

Team of rivals who don't discuss all the options don't work, because they aren't really teams of rivals, just teams of ass-kissers.

No. Simple answer. Controversial? My ass.. Look at evidence. AMA supported legalization 70 years ago. The majority of medical associations who have studied it also say legalization is logical and will not affect rate of use. My idea? The bottom line is they're beating around the bush and they need to realize they have more than just a lot of responsibilities. They have a shitload. Marijuana is one of them. Look at the real numbers of the prisons and arrests and make a real decision on what we should be spending money on. OVERHAUL should be the word of the election.

Perhaps we need to promote questions that don't have potentially simple answers. Eg:
"With 14 states having medical cannabis laws on the books, how do you explain marijuana's classification as a Schedule I substance?"

My feeling is this is just a feel-good stunt and Obama nor his team have any intention of discussing drug policy no matter what questions make the cut. As dissappointing as this is, I don't think we'd have any major .gov site littered with drug policy questions under McCain.

Or are we relegated to pushing questions to the top some rock star's fan mail website?

Let this be a lesson to all reformers that Obama is a politician and will sell us out when it is politically expedient. He's already looking at some idiot Republican thats against syringe exchange programs because they encourage drug use.

If you want change, make it. Don't wait for Obama to catch up.

This result is another reason why reformers should focus at least an equal amount of efforts pressuring the mainstream media instead of our public servants who more and more seem to be ignoring the will of "We the people", thanks to the disconnect our nation has from the written American foundation (thanks to people not understanding the firm "live and let live" message that is the unalienable Right to Liberty as clearly stated in the U.S. Declaration of Independence).

The mainstream media will push back, because to reveal the truth about drug prohibition would be self-condemning (compare media coverage to the public record and other data over the past several decades, a comparison shattering the notion that the media is unbiased), and since the truth severely humiliates law enforcement (people who consistently provide journalists with newsworthy information), they will also push back to avoid jeopardizing access to these critical information providers.

When all of the evidence is considered, we are clearly dealing with heavy corruption.

The greatest tool we can use to oppose corruption is a properly-placed, bright light.

Keep on shining! We're getting closer to ending this atrocity.

It will take time. If they maintain their website and have a continuous flow of questions and voting on questions throughout the next four years, it will at some point have to be addressed. Obama and his team are not completely senseless; they just have too much on their plate right now. They know that eventhough there are a lot of reformers out there, the rest of the country doesn't even think about our existence. If he addreses the issue now (if he goes on television and does so), with all the other things that are going on in the world, he's gonna have a major backlash of republicans and conservatives of all kinds angry at him (he's already seen as a possible socialist). On the other hand, we are accustumed to not getting attention. It's true. And he knows it. I didn't expect very much of an answer from him on this issue and I don't think anyone else here did either. Let some time pass, let some of the bunch of huge issues they have on their plate right now subside a little, and, in the course of the next four years, drug reform (or at least marijuana reform) will HAVE to become a big national mainstream debate (on the level of, for example, the gay marriage issue). if they maintain the website and we keep sending reform questions to them and voting them up, it will HAVE to be addressed in a big way in the next of four years; and i'm talking about BIG national level debate in the mainstream media, something unprecedented.

There is no time left for us to wait, that is if Obama's choice for Secretary of Energy is to be believed about the state of our environment and energy future. Hemp is the reason marijuana became illegal in the first place, and it is a major reason why lobbyist-owned lawmakers avoid the issue today; that is why hemp must be fully embraced by environmentalists and alternative energy supporters everywhere.

People may not care about the injustice, violence or corruption; but most people care about the environment and we ALL need energy reform. Obama himself said that energy is the central issue of our time, does he really want to be known at the last President who ignored the best source of renewable energy (and carbon sequestration) known to man--even after he had embraced it earlier?! Or does he want to be remembered as the leader who made great strides towards a better world? If he were asked whether or not he cares about the world his children will inherit, is there any way he could answer with a simple 'no'?

Think about it this way: there is no other issue that is more important or pressing than our failed War on Drugs, because about 90% of the issues we face today exist as a direct result of this insane policy. We can fix the economy, the environment, the manufacturing industry, the energy crisis and even the War on Terror by ending the failed War on Drugs.

If we can't get our politicians and lawmakers to understand that, then we have to take it upon ourselves. If all the marijuana users in this country stood up to be arrested for their 'crimes' then it would utterly crush the systems built to deal with them--and our precious government's revenue stream would be non-existent. Let's hope that Obama's smart enough to realize that the people always have the power, so he had better pay attention to his employers.

I have never heard anyone ask this question about Marijuana use, and I think it is a very important question to ask. "Have you ever heard of anyone high on pot, robbing a convenience store for money for another bag?". And that's an important question in this world of paranoid people. I've smoked pot(inhaled too) off and on for over 40 years. My lungs are in great shape. I took an IQ test online the other day, and I realize they are not all that accurate, but I still scored 131. That's higher than our present president's score. If I was high on pot, and was asked to help rob a store for money for another bag, right after answering, "are you crazy?", I'd say, "I'm too high, we'd get caught, no way!". And, if you ever smoked pot, you'd agree that those would be text book answers, if a text book was ever written about pot, other than, "A Child's Garden of Grass".

They declared war, not us.

there is only one thing this government understands, and that is violence. it is their favorite tool.

The choice is simple, either stand up and be willing to engauge in this countries most favorite tool, or sit you ass down on the back of the bus and keep your mouth shut like a good little slaves.

I say pass the ammo and priase the lord.

I posted the following feedback, using the form at http://change.gov/page/s/askfeedback.

This feedback concerns the response given to the top-rated question in the first session of this 'Open for Questions' feature. The question and response were as follows:

--

Q: "Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?" S. Man, Denton

A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

--

I find this answer to be unacceptably lacking in detail. The response in no way addressed the substance of the question. It made no attempt to justify or explain the President-elect's supposed position. I think we deserve a more substantial answer to the top-rated question. I'm sure the topic of drug policy will be raised again, and I hope that better answers are forthcoming.

I support the legalization of marijuana. If the President-elect does not, he should explain why not, so that we can engage in a dialog about the issue. Simply saying 'no' is not sufficient.

It is very disappointing that he totally brushed off that question. It is even more disappointing that in the beginning of the campaign he was making promises about ending the raids on MM Dispensaries and now he just seems like any other politician dodging the question as if it were a shoe and not even giving an intelligent answer.
Our voice has to be heard.Everybody that wants Marijuana legalized should just go to Washington in herds and protest while sparking it up. And if we have to be taken in handcuffs and in herds they wont be able to arrest all of us! In herds I tell you! And blow smoke in all of those cops and contact high the shit out of Washington.(takes bong hit) We should all do this just like in the 60's . It doesn't matter to me anymore what Obama wants or what the fat chief of police wants or what the czar wants it is about what we want people it is our right to smoke and that right was taken from us. This is not the end of this. This is just the beginning. There is a Real Million Marijuana March on DC - July 4th 2009 Everyone that truly feels passionate about ending the marijuana prohibiton laws should go to this event. http://current.com/items/89509842/the_real_million_marijuana_march_on_dc...

If Obama's just worried about political controversy why doesn't he just set up a scientific commission to make a recommendation and say he'll go with the recommendation because science, not politics should determine public policy. If the scientists decide we should legalize then Obama can pass off the responsibility to them.

Do people know who the constituencies are that lobby against decriminalization? They have names and faces.

Is there active work with the medical profession? They should be our allies in this, and offer credibility...

I wish to elaborate a bit more on the Fear Factor, and perhaps present a plan of action. I hope this thread is still alive.

The Fear Factor---that is, what keeps the number of US citizens in support of legalized, or at least decriminalized marijuana, from reaching even higher numbers that the 30-40% "unbiased" surveys obtain, is not merely the fear of going to jail. I know or have known professors, teachers, lawyers, medical doctors, psychiatrists, policemen, politicians, and more, who don't really fear the jail time itself. What they are afraid of is getting arrested and having their name in the newspaper, losing their legitimately earned homes and possessions, being labeled a dope addict, having to go to classes mandated by law that do nothing more than line the pockets of further government agencies and clueless psycho-babblers. Asking leading questions, setting up hypotheticals, watching how they act, I discover these folks by establishing common ground.

This being the case, very few people are going to come to stopthedrugwar.com if they have any interest in keeping the stuff illegal. Similarly, only few of us bother to visit the ANTI stop the drug-war sites and chant our mantra. I say today, we can win this thing, if we get to play them on a fair field.

Now, how do we do it? Well, stopthedrugwar.com, and all the rest of us that are FOR this cause, need to band together like allies in the war that this has now truly become. I do not mean violence or wasting effort on t-shirt selling and bumper stickers. I mean coming together for the sake of the higher good. The video I posted earlier (I will be posting a new one, below) has many of these organizations listed in the credits, and I am sure the good people here at SDW know many more. Now, what is the plan, once we all unite?

Well, the only fair playing field I can imagine, if the only place we can play, is the courts. This is after all a legal issue. The purpose of the union of all these organizations is to pool our resources, and I don't just mean money, to mount a legal challenge to marijuana's inclusion in the Narcotics Acts. I am no attorney but this may be called Judicial Review. I know at least two judges on the Supreme Court (trying to reach here being the goal) sympathetic to the cause, three others objective enough to be convinced in the light of good evidence, which we have. We just need a forum to present this evidence.

Now one more thing, and I apologize for the length in getting this idea out. It has been said to me by some in the movement that we cannot afford such a huge challenge, monetarily. For this problem, we need to tell the attorneys who would be involved that if you take this case, you will be part of what will be known as the biggest human rights victory in 50 years; you will be given more media exposure than you have ever dreamed (we will make sure); and you will be probably set for life, one way or another (Oprah show? Letterman? Book deal? Movie rights?) when it is all said and done...if this is your motivation.

And all this being said, we will need this Constitutional Law team (we need interstate law expertise too, a big problem) motivated, and we will pay as well, which will be much easier as a group. Nobody is asking for pro bone here. I would bet my shirt that when this thing gets rolling, and so goes past the lower courts and preliminaries, it will gain momentum exponentially, and occupy the full attention of all the media should that hearing with the Court become accomplished. But first, we need UNITY in this movement...and a little more fire from us smokers. If we drank alcohol this issue would have been over years ago, because alcohol makes you aggressive....

Anyway check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSUxGmoxKoo&feature=channel

Peace,

AC

I'm a 22 y/o war in iraq naval vet and current college student. What can i do to help? We must change this. Iam not a criminal. Pot smokers are not criminals! [email protected] help me help you.

All i can say is that it is tiring being called a bad person or a criminal because i smoke pot and have for 14 years and im all for this movement if thats what it takes im on your side and if it doesnt work i will keep trying till the day i die.

Thank you peeps for fighting this cause.

You're not just fighting it for yourselfs. European governments will definetly be very influenced by your struggle as well as our own, and hopefully marijuana will be legal worldwide someday.
Keep sharing the knowledge on the issue and keep the subject open. As long as your consumption is taboo, it will not be accepted by the uninformed general public.

So keep it up and keep it loud. Were starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

However, if you can provide evidence that shows how prohibiting government regulation over the marijuana market is bad for children (like junior and high school students), then you will win any tax and regulate initiative. Sarah James