NORML statement and link to email President Obama.

[iamthebandfanman]

http://capwiz.com/norml2/issues/alert/?alertid=13012496

[daninthemoon]

1. thanks

[960]

2. What if I agree with Obama. Marijuana is of the devil.

[zulchzulu]

3. Put the bong down

Yeesh... the LAST thing Obama needs to be focusing on right now is addressing the legalization of marijuana.

With the economy in the skids, healthcare out of control, foreclosures skyrocketing, housing prices plummeting, banks faltering, wars going out of control, the environment in turmoil, education in the shitter and everything else in between... and NORML thinks Obama should be talking about legalizing weed? Now? Fucking now?

Besides it being absolute and complete POLITICAL SUICIDE, making it the issue to trot out to the media and the Repigs would be as sensible as demanding everyone drop a couple tabs of Purple Microdot and staring at the sun.

If you want weed, it's around. Ask your neighbor or go to a spot where you can buy a friggin' dimebag. If you don't know where that is, you shouldn't be smoking weed anyway.

See, here's a joint!

[napoleon_in_rags]

11. You kind of defeat your own point.

'Ask your neighbor or go to a spot where you can buy a friggin' dimebag'

That's exactly the point, everybody CAN go ask their neighbors where to buy a dimebag, its not as politically unpopular as it sounds. Secondly, look at the Bush administration, the wall street corruption. We need to get some ACTUAL respect for the law in this country. How can walk around blaming these people for breaking the law, and then turn around saying "changing the law isn't convenient, so just break the law and smoke pot".

[zulchzulu]

14. Bringing up legalizing pot at the precise point would be Repig Gold

I want hemp production legalized. I voted several times for legal medicinal marijuana. It should be legal. It would provide a huge surge in tourism in cities that knew how to "Amsterdamize" and would provide jobs. I get it.

BUT... for Obama to openly be for legalizing marijuana at this precise juncture in his administration with everything else going on would be POLITICAL SUICIDE. You think Clinton's DADT policy was ill-timed in 1993... this would far outdo any of the repercussions that did politically in the 1994 races.

Perhaps Obama will do an executive order in 2012 stopping the Neo-Prohibition Age. I'm sure he's thought of it.

But now? It would be incredibly politically tone-deaf.

[napoleon_in_rags]

17. I'm not saying you're wrong, I actually think Obama agrees with you.

None of us are used to having a smart prez, but what he's saying goes exactly with what you are saying at this point, so I don't think we should worry about that. All I wanted to hear is that whatever you think Obama should be doing, YOU are voting your conscience, if you are for smoking it, you are voting for legalization/decriminalization. I just think its important that we stand up, and make an attempt to make the law follow are consciences: I know many people who smoke weed and aren't criminal in any way, except for that act.

[kristopher]

12. Actually I think he IS working on it.

Since his election the "violence spilling over from Mexico" has become a prominent story line.

We are getting ready to throw another $40+ billion in hardware at the problem AND supply a large human force at a time of economic limitations.

The Secretary of State accepted responsibility for the part demand plays.

It has become universally acknowledged that:
prohibition is an expensive failure that has led to social chaos here and in Mexico;
drug money is the reason for the existence of gang crime here and Mexico;
AND that the heroin market is the major source of funding for terrorism.

We don't have the money to continue to incarcerate people for drug offenses.

The drug laws are simply unjust.

But you are absolutely right that he can't take it on in a head-on fashion.

However, by raising the profile of the negative consequences of Prohibition and
bringing more and more mainstream leaders into the discussion on the side of reason he can create an atmosphere where CONGRESS can address the issue.

All he'd have to do is sign the bill.

Take a look at these references:
http://drugsanddemocracy.org/a-comissao-ingles (the members of the commission are mainstream highlevel Latin American leaders)

http://drugsanddemocracy.org/blog/archives/category/highlights (The first link is their report, the third is an article from "The Economist" (not exactly fringe lefties):

"Prohibition has failed; legalization is the least bad solution
(March 7th-13th 2009)

A HUNDRED years ago a group of foreign diplomats gathered in Shanghai for the first-ever international effort to ban trade in a narcotic drug. On February 26th 1909 they agreed to set up the International Opium Commission – just a few decades agter Britain had fought a war with China to assert its right to peddle the stuff. Many other bans of mood altering drugs have followed. In 1998 the UN General Assembly committed member countries to achieving a “drug-free world” and to “eliminating or significantly reducing” the production of opium, cocaine and cannabis by 2008.


The final two give a large number of UN level studies on the issue:
http://drugsanddemocracy.org/official-documents
http://drugsanddemocracy.org/articles-and-papers

"Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy presents, for public debate, the principal conclusions of the Latin American commission on Drugs and Democracy.

Conceived by ex-presidents Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, César Gaviria of Columbia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, and formed by 17 independent thinkers, the commission evaluated the impact of policies on the “war on drugs” and developed recommendations for more efficient, secure, and humane strategies.

The proposals presented in this Declaration configure a profound change in paradigm in the understanding and means of facing up to the drug problems in Latin America."

Happy reading & contact your congressional reps to endorse action to end prohibition. It failed before and it has failed now. We can't afford such idiocy.

[Cha]

4. I sent it but wrote my own words..

Thank you.

[Uzybone]

5. NORML missed the mark

"If you call, please be respectful and polite. Please leave your name and where you are from. Tell the President:

"I'm one of the tens of millions of Americans who believe that cannabis should be legally regulated like alcohol.

The American public is ready and willing to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults. The time for joking is over.

Please consider apologizing for your dismissive tone, and please consider treating those of us who believe that there are viable alternatives to marijuana prohibition with the respect we deserve."

Instead of asking for more support they are asking for a fucking apology. What is it with everyone wanting apologies nowadays? Should anyone who makes a marijuana joke apologize.

[zulchzulu]

7. Their memo was written by some lawyer who has never smoked a doobie

If you read it, it's obvious that whoever wrote the letter NEVER smoked pot and/or are smoking some ratty shitweed from the 70s.

[Uzybone]

8. A lot of Ron Paul supporters on that site too

I guess if smoking weed is issue number 1,2 and 3 to them then I can see why they'd support Ron Paul the racist homophobe.

I like to partake now and then, but Its way down on my priority list.

[Cha]

9. I wrote my own words and ask

him to consider it in the future because of overcrowded prisons and its benefits medicinally.

And, I thanked him for all he's doing for us.

[MrModerate]

6. Look, I favor marijuana legalization for recreational use . . .

And have for years.

In fact, I'm pretty sure that while its medicinal value is limited (primarily because dosage control is so difficult compared to conventional pharmaceuticals that do the same things), as an intoxicant it's first rate: appealing, effective, easy to produce (even by hobbyists), of low toxicity, and not conducive to violence or dangerous operation of motor vehicles.

So Obama doesn't agree with me -- or the millions of others who feel the time is right for legalization. Too bad. It's not the only thing that I disagree with him on, nor the most important.

But did I think his tone was dismissive? Did I feel that he had disenfranchised those of us who support both him and legalization?

No.

And for that reason, I think the NORML letter campaign is wrong-headed. If NORML had said: "Obama, you're wrong on this one -- and lots of people think so," that would be one thing. Instead, they're saying: "We voted for you, so you OWE us."

I don't think this president operates that way.

[TacticalPeek]

10. Thanks.

:kick:

[Thrill]

13. Faux outrage. About as bad as the GOP and MSM with the 60 minutes interview

.

[theFrankFactor]

15. Now IS the perfect time. A missed opportunity.

And honestly, I don't even smoke the shit. Makes me psychotic.

[Adelante]

16. What a waste

They'd better spend their time doing something positive like supporting Webb's criminal justice reform bill.

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Sens._Webb_Specter_Prison_system_national_0326.html