Today's topic on Black Talk Radio: Why Obama Really Might Decriminalize Marijuana

[CatWoman]

I was just listening to Warren Ballentine's show, and that's the topic du jour.

You can tune in to Warren's show at: http://www.1025atlanta.com/home.asp

The stoner community is clamoring to say it: "Yes we cannabis!" Turns out, with several drug-war veterans close to the president-elect's ear, insiders think reform could come in Obama's second term -- or sooner.

By John H. Richardson

Famously, Franklin Delano Roosevelt saved the United States banking system during the first seven days of his first term.

And what did he do on the eighth day? "I think this would be a good time for beer," he said.

Congress had already repealed Prohibition, pending ratification from the states. But the people needed a lift, and legalizing beer would create a million jobs. And lo, booze was back. Two days after the bill passed, Milwaukee brewers hired six hundred people and paid their first $10 million in taxes. Soon the auto industry was tooling up the first $12 million worth of delivery trucks, and brewers were pouring tens of millions into new plants.

"Roosevelt's move to legalize beer had the effect he intended," says Adam Cohen, author of Nothing To Fear, a thrilling new history of FDR's first hundred days. "It was, one journalist observed, 'like a stick of dynamite into a log jam.'"

Many in the marijuana world are now hoping for something similar from Barack Obama. After all, the president-elect said in 2004 that the war on drugs had been "an utter failure" and that America should decriminalize pot:

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/obama-marijuana-legalization-122308

[JuniperLea]

1. "Yes we cannabis!"

Love it!

Even if it wasn't a fairly benign recreational stoner drug far less harmful to people than alcohol, I'd like to see it legalized for the jobs, taxation, and availability to people who want it for medicinal purposes.

[olkaz]

2. Alright, where is the invevitable poster saying legalization will fix the economy?

/taps foot

[jmowreader]

16. I'll do it. Someone has to.

Legalization will fix the economy.

If legalization DOESN'T fix the economy, it will at least let the nonviolent pot offenders out so we can have enough room to house all the Bush administration officials.

[opihimoimoi]

3. Where hath all the MAUI WOWEE Gone?? So too are al the KONA GOLD..where is Purple HAZE these daze?

:smoke: Free us to Cannibus

[anigbrowl]

8. Look around for a strain called 'blueberry'...

It's not very common, but I have no hesitation in calling it the Best Weed Ever. And I used to live in Amsterdam as well as California, so I've sampled many varieties. For research. It has a bluish-purple tinge, not too strong, and it smells of well, blueberries. Last time I came across it was ~4 years ago (I don't grow my own and haven't smoked much in the last few years), but I still remember how nice it tasted. I'd only smoke it out of a pipe, it'd be a waste to make joints out of it.

[opihimoimoi]

11. Thanks for updates....its been years since reading High Times or some Weed Mag

:smoke:

[ellisonz]

14. West Coast.

The great basement hippies of the Northwest are getting near to mastering production...it gets much better than Blueberry...

DEA:hide:

[TheKentuckian]

4. Its not going to fix the economy

but stop pretending it has to be a zero revenue game in response to a hyperbolic statement. It would certainly help.

[CatWoman]

10. are you talking to me?

[firedupdem]

5. I kinda like sneaking around to smoke my weed...

:smoke:

just kidding....;)

[Uzybone]

6. Not gonna happen

the 1st black president in the US will NOT be the one decriminalize marijuana. He may (and should) effectively decriminalize it by de-fanging the drug enforcement idiots who see not difference between gun wielding drug dealer and 68 year old man with cancer. But I doubt we will see marijuana decriminalization in the next 10 years.

[Romulox]

7. Joe Biden and Eric Holder are unrepentant Drug Warriors. Obama is against decriminalization

and has surrounded himself with like-minded people.

The Drug War will continue apace.

[maxsolomon]

9. you're right, but we can HOPE

:sarcasm:

[styersc]

12. Obama will defend pot smokers but stand with anti-gay bigots????

Odd political calculation.

[noamnety]

13. lol, they are wrong - it's no longer politically advantageous for him.

He was for decriminalization until he was against it.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/2/2/182546/1998

(He's for whatever gets him the most votes at any given moment - we call this reaching out. It's a genius strategy, trust me.)

[biopowertoday]

15. Obama's comment from here says to me he will NOT legalize it:

http://www.esquire.com/the-side/richardson-report/obama-marijuana-legalization-122308


............In July, Obama told Rolling Stone that he believed in "shifting the paradigm" to a public-health approach: "I would start with nonviolent, first-time drug offenders. The notion that we are imposing felonies on them or sending them to prison, where they are getting advanced degrees in criminality, instead of thinking about ways like drug courts that can get them back on track in their lives -- it's expensive, it's counterproductive, and it doesn't make sense."

[Hansel]

17. Decriminalizing is probably listed among plans for cutting the budget

Pulling back on law enforcement efforts and not putting non-violent offenders in prison would save billions compared to simply providing counseling, education and jobs programs. They need to refocus their efforts on counseling while limiting enforcement to only the most addictive and dangerous drugs, and to crimes resulting from drug use or distribution.

I'm guessing there would be a significant reduction in petty crime and some violent crime both by addressing issues through counseling and by not driving up the cost of marijuana through counter-production law enforcement efforts.

The one thing that would be counter-productive to this effort though would be to stick with this idea that they will give pot smokers a one-time only get-out-of-jail free card. Why would they kick the habit any faster than a person who is an alcoholic? The laws should not specifically address using pot alone, but rather, like alcohol, the laws need to address crimes committed or damage caused as a result of using.

[robcon]

18. How the hell could Obama do that?

Wouldn't it require Congress to pass a bill legalizing marijuana and present it on his desk for signature?

What's the chances of that? Zero? 0.000001%?

[polichick]

19. Time to stop the hypocrisy - Congress wouldn't last a day without alcohol.

[Forkboy]

20. .....

[AtomicKitten]

21. He's legislated parity in sentencing on drug crimes in Illinois.

A good precedent I think to what he might do on the national stage.

[robcon]

22. Obama is against the legalization of marijuana.

On his transition site, the most frequent question asked is "will he legalize marijuana?"

His site, change.gov, responds "President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.
-Transition Team, Washington, D.C."