Obama On Decriminalizing Marijuana

you tube ^ | 1-21-04 | FromTheObamaArchive

[OL Hickory]

Obama talking about decriminalizing drugs

[OL Hickory]

Now I know why the college kids voted for him

[Secret Agent Man]

One way to decrease all the blacks being arrested and going to jail. Wonder how the drug dealers are going to take this once Merck or Pfizer can sell a safer form of these drugs.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

“Recriminalize”, Barry?

[Mojave]

Leftists love legalized dope.

[Fichori]

Well, if Zero helps them rot their brains out the rest of the way, they should keep voting for him...

[KoRn]

This could be the only issue I agree with him on.

[explodingspleen]

Wonder how the drug dealers are going to take this once Merck or Pfizer can sell a safer form of these drugs.

I'd advise keeping your guns cocked and loaded, because I imagine participants in the underground economy are going to be looking for alternate revenue streams.

[Red6]

But ban cigarettes!

[Red6]

It should never be the position of a government to condone or advocate unhealthy or self destructive behavior.

The cops won't kick down your door if you grow a little and smoke it. But like other unhealthy habits or behaviors, it should stay in the closet where it belongs.

[orlop9]

The cops won't kick down your door if you grow a little and smoke it.

yeah, right

[CommieCutter]

This could be the only issue I agree with him on.

---

Same here. Alcohol is more dangerous IMO.

[Eccl 10:2]

This could be the only issue I agree with him on.

Not to mention this is a huge source of revenue for GovCo. Plus, it would result in a sizable decrease in law enforcement and prison expenditures.

[Red6]

There are ten of thousands that grow weed at home. No one cares. Bigger fish to fry, to cost/resource intense to go after small guys, to intrusive to go after people; most law enforcement is not concerned about some dude growing his two plants. If no one knows, the cops don't have a reason to come. Most states, and the federal governments Attorney General Guidelines are written such that intrusion is minimized and privacy maximized. Distribute and sell it, grow large quantities and have huge parties or brag about it to everyone, and people will care. This is common sense, most employers will no longer check after passing the initial hiring test unless you give them probable cause. I bet many of those cases where some dude gets busted for growing weed at home is actually a case where something else brought the cops to his home (domestic disputes, involvement in other crimes etc), or he's just an idiot distributing, etc. The cops don't look that hard, not for that. (IMHO)

However, the government should not “condone” unhealthy and dysfunctional behavior, and that's what this is.

[JennysCool]

Not just the college kids. There is still a huge bloc of voters — millions of them — who cast their ballots for the person most likely to decriminalize drugs.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Yeah, Obie is just carrying on one of his college hobbies.

[microgood]

However, the government should not “condone” unhealthy and dysfunctional behavior, and that's what this is.

The problem with government outlawing everything that is unhealthy and disfunctional is that society does not necessarily agree what that is. So what we get is that whoever is running things decides that. People being what they are, they will have prejudices or special interests involved. In fact, that is why pot was originally outlawed.

In addition, the government allows all sorts of behaviour some would consider unhealthy and dysfunctional, like gambling, eating food that is bad for you, etc. In fact, the main reason they ended prohibition was that they needed the tax revenue from alcohol.

[orlop9]

However, the government should not “condone” unhealthy and dysfunctional behavior, and that's what this is.

It is my experience that govt's usually attempt to tax "unhealthy and dysfunctional behaviors", the difference with pot is that they cannot collect if people DO grow their own.

[nobama08]

The government condones gambling and that isn’t healthy. Governments condone homosexuality and that isn’t healthy. Pot is the least of our worries.

[nobama999]

As much as I hate to agree with Obama on anything, I gotta say I favor decriminalizing pot.

Here’s why:

- too much of our police resources are spent making arrests for it

- organized crime is making money off it

- kids are more inclined to try it for the thrill if they know it’s an illegal act to smoke it

- allow focus to go more on the REALLY damaging stuff, like coke and meth

I know pot is damaging, but not nearly as bad as a lot of the crap out there. If it was decriminalized I think fewer kids would use it...there’d be more of a conversation about it and it’s negative effects.

And the f’n money we spend trying to enforce pot laws pisses me off.

[wolfcreek]

I agree. One thing I hope he manages to get done.