Another Chance to Ask Obama About Legalization

President Obama will be doing a live interview on YouTube this Thursday and, yet again, he wants us to vote on which questions we want answered. I've lost count of how many online voting contests we've been through at this point, but it's a pretty safe bet that questions related to legalizing marijuana and ending the drug war will get the most votes. That's what always happens with these things and if you just sort the page by popularity, you'll see it's about to happen again.
Honestly, it blows me away that the White House is still putting on these sorts of forums, knowing as we all do that questions about legalizing drugs will win and that, in all likelihood, the President won't answer them. Of course, the whole thing is just a big publicity stunt, but it's premised entirely on the concept that people get to vote on what issues they want the President to talk about. That's the hook, and ignoring it makes the whole exercise seem a bit ridiculous.
But you never know. Maybe this time will be different. Maybe after the hype surrounding Prop 19, the President finally has something intelligent to say about marijuana laws. Maybe that's the whole reason they're doing one of these things again, because they must certainly know by now that this question is going to dominate the forum. Maybe Obama will finally expand on the rude and inadequate response he gave us almost two years ago.
Let's not hold our breath, but I do think it's worth clicking over there and voting for the top questions to help keep them in front. Regardless of what the President does or does not say about our issue, he's creating yet another exhibit in the potency and popularity of the movement for drug policy reform. We're winning the debate on the web, and the longer that continues, the harder it becomes for anyone in our political culture to look the other way.
I went on and voted last
I went on and voted last night. The first 120 questions, sorted by popularity, were about legalization, and not a single other question in-between. That was 24 pages into the comments before I gave up going down the list any further. How can he avoid this question?
He'll find a way
the lying coward. I tried to vote for a question, but even tho I was logged in to YouTube, it told me I had to log in with my Google account, I don't believe I have EVER had a Google account and I'm not about to create one just to vote on a question that man will never even acknowledge, let alone answer.
It blows me away that that
It blows me away that that blows you away. Drugs provide a nice wedge issue. We're getting closer, but we're still a ways away from sane drug laws.
:P
I love meth...
Obama could become the most
Obama could become the most popular President in the history of the USA (with the people) if he reformed marijuana laws. ANYTHING could have huge effects on his popularity and support base.
The most logical and safe thing for him to do is create some sort of Federal Medical Marijuana protection act that recognizes state laws. Future marijuana legalization could be modeled after states like CA and CO. That way the government has it both ways. The DEA stays in business to deal with real criminals once marijuana goes larger mainstream; and they stop arresting people who use it as long as they register with the state and are under supervision of a doctor in a highly regulated dispensary system. Sounds like tobacco and alcohol could benefit from these reforms too.
Come on Obama you can easily be America's hero!
keep dreaming. he will never
keep dreaming. he will never turn around. he'll get angrily voted out of office and replaced with yet another idiot. watch, it'll happen.
Anything less than
FULL legalization for everyone age 18 and older, will be of little use to the people, or our political and law enforcement systems.
Oh come on.
What an absurd statement! Legalization will not be accomplished all at once; the laws change bit by bit, but only when we remain vigilant and flexible. When we make the perfect the enemy of the good, we shoot ourselves in the foot.
Let's meet the well-funded forces against us with focused, practical and positive strategies. Just because we use cannabis, we don't have to be distracted and paranoid.
release of people imprisioned for simple posession of pot
would there not be a sizeable savings to the states and federal government if all prisoners held captive in american prisons for simple posession of cannabis were released from their incarceration? You are looking for ways to lower the outstanding growth of the deficit, would this not be a start at curbing it's growth?
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