Esquire: Will Obama legalize it?
posted at 9:00 pm on December 23, 2008 by Allahpundit
I’m guessing no. But as with gay marriage, he’s sent enough mixed signals on the subject that his disciples can plausibly tell themselves that he secretly agrees with them and is prepared to act on it when the time is right, but has to lie low for just a bit longer until he’s in a better position politically.
Some of Obama’s biggest financial donors are friends of the legalization movement, St. Pierre notes. “Frankly, George Soros, Peter Lewis, and John Sperling — this triumvirate of billionaires — if those three men, who put up $50 to $60 million to get Democrats and Obama elected, can’t pick up the phone and actually get a one-to-one meeting on where this drug policy is going, then maybe it’s true that when you give money, you don’t expect favors.”…
“I’m hoping that what the administration will do,” [Obama bundler Marsha Rosenbaum] says, “is something this country hasn’t done since 1971, which is to undertake a presidential commission to look at drug policy, convene a group of blue-ribbon experts to look at the issue, and make recommendations.”
But ultimately, Rosenbaum remains confident that those recommendations would call for an end to the drug war. “Once everything settles down in the second term, we have a shot at seeing some real reform.”
I hope it happens, mainly because if Obama’s feeling confident enough to risk this sort of culture war in his second term, it would mean he’d have been so fantastically successful in fixing the economy and detoxifying Pakistan and Iran, among other things, that he had political capital to burn. He had no appetite for the issue during the campaign: When the Washington Times uncovered video in January of him telling an audience in 2004 that he wanted to decriminalize pot, his spokesman turned on a dime and said he wouldn’t support eliminating penalties (but might reconsider jail for first-time offenders). In fact, NORML looked at the odds of an administration rethink on weed just a few weeks ago and found it unlikely given that The One’s surrounded by drug warriors, Biden and Rahm Emanuel most prominently among them. The only way I can imagine them doing it is if Obama moved so far to the center or center-right — perhaps due to foreign-policy exigencies — that he simply had to give the left something to get them off his back. Although that raises the question of under what circumstances he’d ever have to worry about placating the left. They’re not going to hand the White House back to the GOP in 2012, and with all the spending he’ll be doing, they’ll have plenty to keep them happy. Then again, never underestimate the pecular priorities of Obama cultists.
Blowback
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If he does. I’m outta here. It’ll be a last straw event for me as an American.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 9:03 PM
He’ll legalize hashish, but ban alcohol. Hala halalalalal!
keep the change on December 23, 2008 at 9:10 PM
The national distribution of soma to the proles will make the remaining Marxist programs palatable, I suppose.
What a loser,
onlineanalyst on December 23, 2008 at 9:11 PM
He should decriminalize marijuana but keep up the drug war on the hard stuff. I would not even object to legalizing it and taxing it like alcohol but the only problem with that is its way to easy to grow as it is a weed after all.
goat on December 23, 2008 at 9:12 PM
Tommy Chong for Drug Czar.
fogw on December 23, 2008 at 9:13 PM
we’ll be up in smoke
I wish all dopers were like cheech and chong…instead they’re usually witless and boring…
you should only do drugs that are GOOD FOR YA….(ask barry bonds)
better living through chemicals!!!
right4life on December 23, 2008 at 9:13 PM
What better way to fill the domestic security forces than to legalize, not just pot, but every illicit drug out there?
Do away with the black market, have a lot of previous gang bangers out of work, and sign them up for the Domestic Army.
And have a large portion of the population stoned off their gourd to boot. As long as they vote “right” who cares?
A brave new world with soma and everything.
BowHuntingTexas on December 23, 2008 at 9:14 PM
“We’re doing a bad job…don’t want to legalize it…but need to do a better job.”
Yeah, he’ll be a great chief executive.
blink on December 23, 2008 at 9:14 PM
Besides as it stands today its not like its hard to find if thats what you want to do. It would also free up law enforcement assets to go after the hard stuff that does real damage like crack cocaine and methamphetamine.
goat on December 23, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Sorry. Didn’t see your post before I posted or I would have quoted you to begin with.
BowHuntingTexas on December 23, 2008 at 9:16 PM
Hey, legalize it. My kids won’t be doing it, at least not while they live under my roof. And by the time they’re 18, they’ll be too busy getting better jobs and making more money than stoners to notice or care.
Spc Steve on December 23, 2008 at 9:17 PM
skeptical he will, more likely he will ensure the Feds never cross wires with local government that decides to legalize. A decidedly states rights position if you will.
rob verdi on December 23, 2008 at 9:20 PM
Pot will never be legalized, because the drug companies can’t make any money off of it.
Del Dolemonte on December 23, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Nothing Barry is gonna do will shock me.
Now if MSM reports the facts on Barry,
christene on December 23, 2008 at 9:21 PM
Yes.
Obama’s domestic policies will be rooted in idealogy. It’s part of the utopian village we will endure. Organized anarchy.
katy on December 23, 2008 at 9:23 PM
Oh please, just legalize pot and be done with it. Who cares? Here in California, we grow it in pots on the patio and no one notices or cares.
Go after meth, heroin, and crack. Those are drugs that destroy peoples’ lives. I work in the social service bidness, and I have seen the destruction these drugs have wrought on inner city communities.
Pot does none of this. And no, it is NOT a “gateway” drug to anything.
Booze does a ton more damage than pot could ever do.
sdillard on December 23, 2008 at 9:24 PM
Just a thought…For the next 4 or 8 years wouldn’t it be better to lose ourselves in a fog????? I hate to be around a stoner but maybe just this once….kidding.
rich801 on December 23, 2008 at 9:25 PM
My best friend is waiting for the day that pot is legal and tobacco illegal. Not because he has any interest in either, but just for the symbolic end cap on absurdity.
Count to 10 on December 23, 2008 at 9:26 PM
there are those on the left that would be oppossed to it and those on the right in favor.
one major practical point, if you do it you have to pardon alot of people in prison right now. Many of them are criminals that have committed alot of other crimes but Pot is what they nailed them on.
jp on December 23, 2008 at 9:33 PM
If pot was legal, expect the left to cap the size of the farms as a way to keep it like local and Organic man. You see if a big company mass produced pot and charged less it would be considered an evil exploitation by the hegemony to keep its citizens befuddled and dulled into submission.
rob verdi on December 23, 2008 at 9:34 PM
OBAMA WILL SAY “FREE SOMA FOR EVERYONE!”
AND THEN MR SAVAGE WILL PROTEST!
you know the rest…..
TheMightyQuinn on December 23, 2008 at 9:34 PM
count to 10,
good point.
rob verdi on December 23, 2008 at 9:34 PM
He doesn’t have the guts, even though it would potentially be a serious new source of tax income for the government, as opposed to the outflow of money fighting marijuana imports and dealers. It makes too much sense for his administration to tackle. They’ll be busy figuring out the next round of bailouts.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 9:35 PM
If you legalize one, why not just all? Why prolong the inevitable? Americans are weak and will succumb.
By most countries standards, we will have died as an infant.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 9:35 PM
Straw vote for HA. Who thinks he should?
Hawkdriver – No!
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 9:37 PM
I hope so, but I don’t think he’ll have the opportunity because I’ve heard it would be held over until his second term, which he isn’t likely to get unless he abandons most of his campaign promises and promotes a strong swing back toward capitalism.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 9:38 PM
Why? Are you going to start smoking grass and succumb to reefer madness? :)
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 9:39 PM
Far out man.
RMCS_USN on December 23, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Most countries don’t go 200 years without some kind of revolution, bloodless or otherwise. I’d like to think of it as a midlife crisis. You know, finding that you have basically come to the end of your childhood plans, and are wondering what the point of it all is.
Count to 10 on December 23, 2008 at 9:40 PM
Absolutely. That would mean you’d be like an American 75 or more years ago, when marijuana was legal. How horrible. Better get Alec Baldwin and Bawbwa, since they’re making the same plans, last I heard.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 9:41 PM
Well that’s not a problem for me…
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 9:41 PM
That wouldn’t be good to do! Then it might not be as potent when grown illegal!
/sarc
sheebe on December 23, 2008 at 9:42 PM
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 9:42 PM
Nope. I’ll just prefer not to hang around and watch the last objective of the left that’s required to finish this country come to pass. A country of stoners won’t care if they have no free speech, no weapons, no freedoms. You all can wallow in it if you want.
You really think the drug legalization movement is at all independent of the socialist/marxist movement?
Please!
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 9:44 PM
Obama: Lie low or on the down low, depending on the constituents.
Mr_Magoo on December 23, 2008 at 9:47 PM
Madison, I’ve read and respected your postings without ever making fun of them. This is one thing I’m serious about. You can get your yukes off if you want, but I see no good coming of this.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Certainly MJ is more psychoactive than tobacco, but tobacco is far more dangerous.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 9:48 PM
Legalize all of them. Make pot as available as cigs. Make the hard stuff available with a prescription and available only at pharmacies. Make sure that each scrip comes with a clean needle as well as a brochure on how to get off the stuff when you choose.
You will defund street gangs and the drug warlords and terrorists in foreign countries and save way more lives than will be lost through increased drug use.
Tax the hell out of it and finance health care with the proceeds.
Really, if someone wants to poison himself what legal right do you have to stop him? alcohol and cigs are allowed, why not the rest of it?
The law should dictate what you do to other people, not what you do to yourself.
redshirt on December 23, 2008 at 9:49 PM
After rereading his ‘defense’ policy in the Byron York article at NR, he’d better.
Beagle on December 23, 2008 at 9:50 PM
Hate to burst your bubble, but unless pot is being cultivated on massive collective plantations by warty, babushka-wearing, beet-eating peasants according to a Five Year Plan … well, then legalization is the antithesis of Big Government.
Cuffy Meigs on December 23, 2008 at 9:51 PM
I don’t see why not. I care about all of those things. And since when did freedom and the pursuit of happiness become left wing?
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 9:51 PM
I can definitely see good coming from it. Like much more effective utilization of Law Enforcement resources. It makes no sense to have Marijuana illegal, but to have alcohol and tobacco legal.
firepilot on December 23, 2008 at 9:52 PM
Especially considering that for most of the history of the US, MJ was legal, and that some of the biggest overreaching of the federal government, is in going after things like that. If the DEA catches you with what they think is too much cash, they take it from you, and you have to prove it is legally gained. DEA does not quite believe in innocent until proven guilty.
I did not vote for Obama, but man, the irony if the Obama administration legalized it, and took a big step towards a more libertarian less intrusive government, you know the kind that Republicans used to talk about, before the Social conservatives and Bushes 41/43 had their own versions of Democrat programs.
firepilot on December 23, 2008 at 9:55 PM
I say legalize pot but make stuff like meth, crack and smack a mandatory death penalty for dealers.
TheSitRep on December 23, 2008 at 9:56 PM
Obama hates freedom so I seriously doubt this will happen.
I know, consenting adults having control over what goes in their body, how preposterous!
libertytexan on December 23, 2008 at 9:57 PM
America’s drug policies have been an abysmal failure. When you look at htis from a truly logical perspective (not one of emotion), the legalization of marijuana makes sense. Either that, or make alcohol illegal. Keeping laws as they currently stand is contradictory. I don’t smoke tobacco or pot, but if we legalize pot, clean it up and tax the hell out of it (like we do cigarettes and booze), we could perhaps pay a few more bills and reduce a little crime along the way.
cannonball on December 23, 2008 at 9:59 PM
Really? Do you know many domestic violence cases are the result of substance abuse?
How many more highway fatalities will law enforcement officers and EMTs will it take to handle the increase in “legal” substance DUIs?
Boating accidents, overdoses of “legal” recreational drugs, God if you all think legalizing drugs is the panacea of civilized society, maybe we really are doomed.
You’re just a different category of useful idiots.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:01 PM
Yes and tax it because we need the revenue.
getalife on December 23, 2008 at 10:02 PM
I’m with you.
The number of stoners here is disturbing.
Count to 10 on December 23, 2008 at 10:03 PM
Another words,Obama is HOPEING that CHANGE might happen!
Good lord,this needs to be put through the Liberal
DE-SPEAK-A-LATOR to get a proper meaning of what Obama
said!
And more promises to get elected!
canopfor on December 23, 2008 at 10:04 PM
I think legalizing Pot would have the opposite effect of a gateway drug. A lot of kids smoke weed because it’s illegal. Make it legal and all the fun will go out of it the minute some old Granny legally lights up her bowl at the bus stop. Pot gets “Bingo” status-end of attraction. For Pot anyway.
Guardian on December 23, 2008 at 10:04 PM
How many more law enforcement officers and EMTs will it take to handle the increase in “legal” substance DUIs?
(No, I haven’t been taking any myself)
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:05 PM
I take it just as seriously as you. However, the point stands. I snark a lot, yes. However, did the country collapse when Prohibition fell? Nope. Considering that alcohol has roughly the same effects on a user that marijuana does, I don’t really see the problem. Again, it would result in massive price drops due to there no longer being big money in smuggling pot, which would affect both drug lords and drug dealers…the government would be able to tax the product, thereby creating not only a new legal business market but putting more money into the treasury…it would be regulated, which would mean that no longer would laced products be making their way to first-timers or young people and endangering them…and all the while, the chunk of cash that the DEA uses going after pot would either no longer be needed or would be redirected towards going after the true hard drugs.
And the downside?
Some people get high, most of whom are getting high already. It’s not exactly like it’s hard to get. Users no longer fill up the jails for this trivial offense, court costs no longer prosecute users, police no longer waste time collaring users…oh, and this is coming from someone who has never used it, and has no plans to. It’s just good sense.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:05 PM
fixt.
Cuffy Meigs on December 23, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Finally a silver lining to this guy taking over.
/sarc
Y-not on December 23, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Oh freaking please, like lowering the age of alcohol will stop underage drinking.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:06 PM
Thanks, fixed it myself. :-)
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Making these arguments is in aid of arguing in favor of the re-institution of prohibition of alcohol, which is insane. It was tried, and it failed. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of…all together now class…INSANITY!
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:07 PM
Just remember,Slick willy,smoked mary-jane,but
he didn’t inhale!
canopfor on December 23, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Do other Conservatives really feel this way?
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:09 PM
We have a country of drunks. So complain about the current state.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:09 PM
Precisely… lol
libertytexan on December 23, 2008 at 10:09 PM
If we legalize stealing, we won’t have to chase bank robbers around the country.
Big Orange on December 23, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Well, law enforcement will have more resources available because they won’t be spending their time busting people for possession or dealing with violent street gangs.
DUI is already against the law.
By your argument, however, why should alcohol still be legal? Ban it and DUI’s disappear, right?
redshirt on December 23, 2008 at 10:10 PM
At least one did…you might have heard of him.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Yes—Alcohol.
MJ isn’t a factor in domestic abuse.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:11 PM
Like, uh, wow, Dude, for sure.
davidk on December 23, 2008 at 10:12 PM
Yes. My freedom ends when it starts rubbing up against yours. You shouldn’t care what I choose to do as a free adult as long as it doesn’t infringe on your own rights. The minute it does (domestic abuse, DUI, boat accidents, etc.) then throw the freaking book at the offending party. Until then, leave them alone.
Cuffy Meigs on December 23, 2008 at 10:13 PM
I’m not a proponent of smoking MJ and driving, but it doesn’t slow your senses like alcohol does. The concern I would have is that somebody could be distracted by their thoughts and not paying enough attention to their driving… you know, like cell phone drivers.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:13 PM
Not all drinking is done to get buzzed. There’s only one point to toking up. Shooting up, or letting Meth make your teeth fall out.
I’ve got an older brother that can’t even keep my younger brother and my name straight. Can’t remember our Mom name or what year she died. He a loser and a bum. Only drug he’s ever done is pot. So don’t tell me it’s some freaking innocent recreational past time no worse than booze.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:15 PM
I’m wondering,how many deaths or traffic accidents
have been attributed to marjauina?,
or texting by cell phone?,
or smoking pot and texting by cell phone?
canopfor on December 23, 2008 at 10:15 PM
You can’t OD on MJ, and that’s the original topic. Personally I would legalize MJ but decriminalize the harder drugs and treat it medically.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:16 PM
You have personal experience. That’s fine. James Brady has personal experience. Does that make him correct on gun control? You need to look at this from a larger perspective than one isolated case in your family.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:17 PM
I don’t think marijuana should be legalized. I think our society has become over-medicated enough as it is, frankly. When my mom died (lengthy illness with cancer), both my dad and my sister wound up on prescription anti-depressants (instead of the therapy they needed) — it was like dealing with zombies.
Y-not on December 23, 2008 at 10:17 PM
Yup, real funny. I corrected it, right?
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:18 PM
We’re everywhere.
And notice how the stoners here as well as many that aren’t are also proponents of free speech, weapons and freedom?
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:19 PM
Sorry, I was a away for a bit and am still catching up on the thread…
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:20 PM
Do you have a link to a study verifying that?
Marijuana most definitely distorts the senses. I’d really be surprised if it didn’t affect reflexes.
Y-not on December 23, 2008 at 10:20 PM
Not a stoner. Never even tried it.
However, according to Mister Buckley, whom I linked to earlier, the Netherlands has roughly the same percentage of users that we do, even though it’s legal. So, actually, it’s not disturbing, it’s normal. Do you have words to say about the number of drinkers or cigarette smokers we have?
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:21 PM
I don’t need to do anything. I have all the evidence I need. Bright man that used to be my older brother smokes pot and is a freaking idiot that can’t hold a job now. That’s just my personal experience. Watch a single episode of “Cops”. Lots of folks have people in their family like that.
I defy one person to state unequivocally that pot can’t be habit forming.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:22 PM
Here’s one.
For what it’s worth, I recall an episode of Mythbusters where they tested driving skills while drunk versus while on the cell phone.
Guess which was more distracting.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:23 PM
Yeah, great. You were maybe a away toking. So do I need to be watching your grammar too. Or were you just typing a comment real fast? Like everyone?
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:26 PM
I found a nice summary at the National Institutes of Health on the mechanism of action of marijuana. It can slow reflexes.
Y-not on December 23, 2008 at 10:27 PM
Okay, now you’re personally attacking people because they hold a different position than you. If you can’t argue the issue without basing it all on the fact that one of your family members, out of the estimated 100 million people in the country who have tried marijuana, is addicted, then you shouldn’t be seriously trying to debate the issue.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:28 PM
I wouldn’t be so fast to use the Dutch as your shining example of a legalized utopia.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:29 PM
I probably wouldn’t mind, if the general populace wasn’t already so ignorant and foolish in the first place.
But to let them have something that makes them even more foolish AND stinks up the whole neighborhood… No thanks.
LegendHasIt on December 23, 2008 at 10:30 PM
Read up Madison and don’t jump to conclusions. He was ribbing me for a goofy worded comment first.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:30 PM
I looked at the study, but I can’t tell if it was in a peer-reviewed journal.
Check out the NIH link I provided.
Y-not on December 23, 2008 at 10:30 PM
I doubt that a liberal would be able to effect much change in drug laws. Reform, which I agree is sorely needed, is more likely under a conservative/libertarian administration.
Bugler on December 23, 2008 at 10:32 PM
I have a brother in law that has been unable to keep a job for 6 years because of his drinking. I have seen him curse at his wife (my sister) as well as his daughters (my nieces). He is so obnoxious a drunk that my family no longer attends family functions if he is there.
I personally know 2 people who have lost loved ones at the hands of drunk drivers.
Pot may be habit forming, but I have never seen a mean stoner.
Please tell my why booze should still be legal.
redshirt on December 23, 2008 at 10:33 PM
Blog commenting is habit forming and adversely affects my productivity. They oughta pass a law…
Cuffy Meigs on December 23, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Stirring up the yahoos as a fine art.
benny shakar on December 23, 2008 at 10:36 PM
Any chemical that is abused will lead to negative effects. Alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, marijuana, etc. The few times I tried it in college (ages ago) I found that I liked it. No hangover. No physical effects that I was aware of. As a musician I have many friends that use and abuse; only those that abuse suffer the obvious symptoms such as lethargy or poor short term memory. The same can be said for booze.
I wonder how many criminals are in our prisons for minor pot offenses. I wonder how the drug war would change if pot became legal. ALcohol offers the same effect but has laws around it (who can buy, who can serve, etc.). Why not do the same for pot?
cannonball on December 23, 2008 at 10:37 PM
Cuffy Meigs
+1
Goody2Shoes on December 23, 2008 at 10:39 PM
:-) Smart-butt!
Yep, and my brigade lost a young NCO on leave in Alabama just last night to a drunken driver. It’s no better. But legalizing other drugs won’t help your family or our NCO.
hawkdriver on December 23, 2008 at 10:39 PM
Didn’t you hear, comrade? Pot is a Marxist plot. Now excuse me while I down this Stoli shot. Na Zdorovie!
Cuffy Meigs on December 23, 2008 at 10:40 PM
I read it over, but it doesn’t specifically state the extent to which reflexes are lowered. Being that the study I provided showed no real impairment on driving, I would like to see more actual field testing done with this. Reflex tests are fine, but unless testing with actual life conditions upon which reflexes are dependent, it doesn’t provide much.
MadisonConservative on December 23, 2008 at 10:41 PM
I think America is over medicated with pharmaceuticals as well. But MJ isn’t a pharmaceutical. It’s a beautiful plant that grows like a weed which has survived a decades long attempt to eradicate it. Its symbiotic relationship with mankind means it’s survival is virtually guaranteed. Even its other uses have lifted it to a prominent position in human history, such as hundreds or thousands of years of rope making.
FloatingRock on December 23, 2008 at 10:41 PM
Good. The fact that we’re throwing people in prison for selling or using marijuana is ridiculous.
therightwinger on December 23, 2008 at 10:41 PM
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