Posted on 01/10/2009 1:17:51 PM PST by IbJensen
Esquire magazine recently reported that representatives from Barack Obama's administration team admit the president-elect will give strong consideration to decriminalizing marijuana by the end of his tenure in office.
Those remarks follow comments issued last summer by Rep. Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), who introduced H.R. 5843 -- an act to remove federal penalties for the use of marijuana by "responsible adults." According to CNN, the liberal lawmaker "doesn't think it's the government's business to tell you how to spend your leisure time."
Lending the Esquire article additional credence is an interview with Obama, recorded in January 2004, during which the then-U.S. Senate candidate expressed interest in decriminalizing the personal use of pot. (See YouTube video)
As someone who is very much aware of how this drug has harmed so many people from my generation, I adamantly disagree with this "floating" proposal. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency lists marijuana as "a Schedule 1 controlled substance, meaning it has a high potential for abuse."
It's irresponsible for members of the incoming administration to float this idea and to send such a message to millions of young Americans -- although I'm sure many supporters of medical marijuana use would disagree. But I think they should reconsider. Currently more than 50 head shops in San Francisco act as fronts for marijuana distribution in that city. According to The O'Reilly Factor, these shops not only attract petty crime but other non-desirable activity as well.
Anyone who knows anything about drug abuse knows that marijuana has been a "gateway" drug for many of those who use and abuse hard narcotics. Many people are first exposed to that dark world through a few puffs of a supposedly "innocent" marijuana cigarette.
Marijuana desensitizes people -- and its everyday use makes people lazy and unproductive. And it's addictive! I have personally seen this substance harm friends from school days past. Perhaps that's why I am so upset that consideration would be given to decriminalizing its use.
Still, Congressman Frank garnered support from seven other Democratic House members in sponsoring his legislation. Included in that group was Rep. Barbara Lee from California's District 9 (Berkeley and Oakland). By voicing her support, Lee -- a member of the House Black Caucus -- made light of the recreational use of a drug that is destroying the lives of hundreds of her own constituents.
If Lee wants to act responsibly and do something constructive, she should target the drug dealers in her district who are irreparably damaging the lives of untold numbers of people. Ironically, though, Congresswoman Lee's tact is to say that present drug enforcement laws are "inhumane" and "immoral."
Similarly, if president-elect Obama wants to act responsibly, he should immediately retract this reckless proposal being "floated" by his advisors.
Decriminalizing pot will be the most important accomplishment to which this bozo can point.
I regularly do.
How do you feel about legalizing cocaine and heroin?
Some make bombs at home while others kidnap and imprison victims in their homes before they kill and eat them.
I can live with that, looking at the wreckage of our economy and the soon to be failed $1T war in Iraq from our last president... If all this Obama guy does is decriminalize pot then we are good to go.
“If something as inherently evil as abortion can be legalized by the liberal pansies then surely pot growing and smoking can be legalized.”
The difference is that abortion is never a victimless crime. If you want to sit in your home and grow and smoke pot, and you don’t get in a car and drive under the influence, why should anyone try and stop you? We tried to outlaw liquor and it was the same dismal failure as our laws against pot. Anyone can get pot so clearly the laws against it have not done anything to curb its use.
I thought this was a thread about smoking pot. If you want to discuss the minds of lunatics....please start a new thread.
I feel that comparing cocaine and heroin to marijuana is like comparing RPGs to pea shooters.
If Obama ends the so called misguided war on drugs which has done much to limit our personal freedoms...good for him. This would be an accomplishment in my opinion.
Just think, if a complete fraud wasn't elected you wouldn't have anything to celebrate.
Ah, there's the rub isn't it?
Dummies like to light up and smoke while they're driving their cars.
Wish away.
This is only a bone thrown to the potheads and other assorted druggies. The heavy lifting that was started by El Presidente Bush will be continued under this fraud until decent Americans will be puking their guts out in frustration over what to do about it.
The trend is toward legalization. New Mexico just legalized medical pot, Massachusetts just decriminalized possession. California just legalized growing co-op’s. There is much study on Alzheimer’s & pot, in the next eight Obama years we will see decriminalization which is really equal to legalization and all states will legalize medical pot, count on it.
All states controlled by left-wing imbeciles.
When you refer to studies on Alzheimer conditions and pot, does your research indicates that pot eliminates the condition or does it exacerbate it?
Perhaps youthful sucking on cannabis causes Alzeimer's disease further down life's path.
What do I know. I'm only a doctor.
yeah, you are correct...I expect nothing worthwhile to come out of the Obama administration...the rest of your post makes no sense...I think the war on drugs is a bust. It gave the government a way to take property without due process, allowed searches and wiretapping against Americans which hitherto had been illegal and it is a complete failure. I hope pot is decriminalized...I tend to be libertarian in that I am tired of the government running my life. I don’t smoke pot nor do I drink much ( a beer while watching a football game maybe).
"If you use or sell drugs the penalty is death.'
That would stop the scourge in its tracks and we could reduce the size of our massive police forces.
We'd probably lose a lot of politicians.
“Dummies like to light up and smoke while they’re driving their cars.”
And they can do it just as easily if it’s illegal.
A howling success, eh? Then why did Singapore and Iran have such severe heroin problems when compared to the Netherlands:
"Iran has executed more than 10,000 narcotics traffickers in the last decade;"
--www.payvand.com/news/04/mar/1012.htm
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"Iran has the highest proportion of heroin addicts in the world and a growing Aids problem."
--news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3791889.stm
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"The GOS [Government of Singapore] nonetheless is concerned about the increase in addiction rates and recidivism among drug offenders who have undergone treatment. There are currently about 9,000 addicts undergoing rehabilitation in Singapore treatment centers, the same number as in 1995."
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html
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The Netherlands-- "Demand Reduction. The Netherlands has extensive demand reduction programs and lowthreshold medical services for addicts, who are also offered drug rehabilitation programs. Authorities believe such programs reach about 7080 percent of the country's 25,000 harddrug users. [my note: in a total population of 15.1 million]
--http://www.state.gov/www/global/narcotics_law/1996_narc_report/index.html
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Using a population of 3 million for Singapore in 1996, that works out to an addiction rate of about 0.30%. Using the State Dept. figures for the Netherlands, and a population of 15.1 million, the addiction rate was about 0.17%. Nearly double!
Also note that the Singapore figure only takes into account the addicts under treatment, whereas the figure for Holland is the estimate of the total number of addicts.
Any thoughts?
Doc, do us all a favor and heel yourself. Good boy.
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