Young Turks: Marijuana - White House Just Says No to Legalization Petitions

[CherylK]

Run time: 04:00 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-6vrR0gqqg   Posted on YouTube: November 06, 2011 By YouTube Member: TheYoungTurks Views on YouTube: 303   Posted on DU: November 06, 2011 By DU Member: CherylK Views on DU: 5655

 
The Obama White House rejected various petitions to legalize marijuana claiming there are no medical benefits to smoking pot. Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss on The Young Turks.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/31/white-house-explains-anti-legalization-position-marijuana_n_1068081.html

Subscribe to The Young Turks: http://bit.ly/eWuu5i

[Webster Green]

1. No medical benefits?

The White House is full of shit!

[Vincardog]

2. The Corporatists including the Corporatist in chief believe that benefits only exist if they can

accrue to Corporations. Think what legal pot would do the psychological/anxiety drug business.
Not to mention the Cancer industry profits.

[Webster Green]

3. Yeah, I know.

He's lost me on this one. I can no longer support him.

[Vincardog]

4. I have decided to leave the slot blank

[Webster Green]

9. Hard to believe, isn't it?

I've given up on voting. It's a fucking waste of time.

I usually run a CA precinct during elections. I think I'm over that as well. Obama has completely turned me off to politics. Fuck it!

[AlbertCat]

19. I've given up on voting. It's a fucking waste of time.

Bingo!

It's a joke. Not the IDEA of voting, but the actual act -with-results part of the voting thing.

I vote now for whom I think will do the least harm. I feel I can't complain unless I vote.

And what an unsatisfying, empty ritual that has become.

[Lorien]

10. My dad was a shrink, and he didn't recommend pot for anxiety or other

psychological issues. He did, however, feel that it was more effective for pain and less dangerous than prescription pain pills. He worked for a time in the State prison system, doing evaluations of prisoners who were up for parole. He said that one of the most dangerous drugs in circulation today is oxycontin, not pot, because oxycontin can cause severe paranoia and delusions that often lead to criminal actions. But will we see oxycontin outlawed? Of course not.

[Webster Green]

11. No. They make way too much money from oxycontin.

I recently got a prescription for 60 40mg oxycontins per month. My pharmacy wants $500 to fill it. So far, my insurance has refused to pay for it. I'm still trying to get them to pay.

[SteveM]

5. The GOP RW has mastered the Democrats on this issue...

A look at the "Gingrich Revolution" in the early 90s should convince anyone that the passion/hatred the RW has of anyone they conceive of being left, liberal, progressive, middle of road, etc., is founded on a hatred of the counter-culture of the 60s, symbolized by the burning marijuana cigarette. If one reads the history of the shift in Alaskan politics, for example, where pot use was ruled by that state's supreme court as not illegal if done in one's home, you will become aware: The Far Right put a referendum on the ballot making pot illegal again, depending on the influx of oil-field workers from the Southwest lower states (harboring hard-line RW religions and politics) to overwhelm the old "courthouse/libertarian" Republicans which had held sway since statehood. Very fervent. Very committed. Very hateful. And of course, very effective (The GOP, after all, is now the only true political party in the U.S.).

The GOP has successfully cowed-down the Democrats in this culture war, and seek to expand well beyond. They may have difficulty in the future as the number of Far Right citizens declines, while our population increases with the influx of different cultures. But don't expect the Dems to take the lead -- they carry the slop bucket on this one.

Change will come from other players and tactics.

[AlbertCat]

20. The GOP has successfully cowed-down the Democrats in this culture war,

Only on TV. Even people I know watch Fox News while they smoke a doobie.

The GOP has successfully cowed-down the Democrats in this culture war... with the Reagan "greed is good" mantra everyone has fallen for. The Dems "do well" too with such a mind set. Once "greed" was deemed OK....

you see the result.

[SteveM]

26. Couldn't agree more...

I'm suggesting that OWS set a limited, easy-to-understand goal of pulling out of Bank of America because of its insistence on "covering" trillions of dollars of derivatives in the uninsured Merrill Lynch holding by having the American public foot the bill through FDIC. This strategy and tactic would "test out" the effectiveness of on-line social networking as a political tool, and instruct future efforts -- legalization and regulation of drugs being one possible goal. The Koch brothers are developing their own RW network even as I type this; they know what the game will be in the very near future. I'm convinced that folks living in Libya, Egypt and Syria know a LOT more about how to use the "new media" than the average shop-to-you drop and self-absorbed American.

We need to catch up. Fast.

[Devil_Fish]

6. You don't have to smoke it. Brownies, Cookies, Goo Balls, Just to name a few. NT

[Bluenorthwest]

7. The White House is ruled by simple minded faith based fools

That letter was one of the most ignorant pieces of writing I have seen. Hard to imagine voting for that crowd again.

[AlbertCat]

21. The White House is ruled by simple minded faith based fools

I don't think the WH cares one way or the other, really.

They're too busy trying to "change things" without changing anything... "Reform" without changing anything. The Health Care bill is a perfect example.

[ooglymoogly]

8. What must be going off in 0's head?

Hey I did it and got away with it but I catch anybody else doing it and they go to the the big prison boondoggle, from which we all get a cut and if they fuck up in prison, maybe torture, in for profit prison, for life. Its a win, win. For those who have not figured it out yet; these are the actions of a soulless person who is thinking only of himself and what he gets out of it. That in layman terms is a whore and a fluffer.

[Worship Money]

14. He honestly seems to think

That he can't win if he ditches the "faith" and "morality" cards, respectively.

It's sad. I'd be more sympathetic if I thought he actually believed any of the bullshit the WH puts out on the religion and morality fronts.

But I'm sick of the promotion of policies that negatively affect millions of people that HE doesn't even fucking believe in.

[Jim_Shorts]

12. Cenk is behind the curve on this one

The US government has given over 50 licenses to big pharma to grow marijuana. One of the pills they sell is a THC pill, Marinol.

This must be part of that free market Obama keeps telling us about.

[Webster Green]

13. Hmmm...

I would like to see one of these licenses. Sounds a little weird to me.

I'm not doubting that they would love to profit from cannabis, but I haven't heard that they actually are licensed and doing grows.

Marinol is synthetic THC, not plant derived, as I assume you know. It's expensive, and in most cases, not as effective as the real deal.

[Jim_Shorts]

15. Here is some info

http://medicalmarijuana.com/medical-marijuana-news/title.cfm?artID=91

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/06/06/982526/-Medical-Marijuana,-Big-Pharma-Style

I think there is more information on a DEA site somewhere.

[Webster Green]

16. Well....

If you go to your own first link there, they are apologizing for quoting the original article in the East Bay Express, as it is unsubstantiated. Your second link refers to the same East Bay Express article.

From your first link:

"UPDATE: Paul Armentano confirms that the author of the quoted East Bay Express piece has jumped the gun with this pronouncement. There may be 55 companies that want to produce the generic Marinol using naturally-extracted THC, but that would still have to come from Dr. El Sohly’s farm at U. Miss. See the comments section for more explanation. I apologize for the mis-hype."

Like I said....Im not buying it. I've been a cannabis activist since 1966, and I have a pretty good idea of what's going on.

Edited to add: It isn't about creating "Marinol" from pot plants rather than synthesizing it. They will be trying to isolate various cannabinoids and determine which are helpful for certain ailments. They will also be trying to get rid of the ones that get you high. These will be entirely new products, not Marinol.

[Jim_Shorts]

17. Your right, I stand corrected

I was reading a DEA page earlier that said they weren't allowing the smoking of pot for medical reasons because it contained the same harmful ingredients as tobacco but that pills such as Marinol were ok. I thought it was corroborating the licensing story but I'm sure you are right.

Thanks for the correction. Like Benny Hill used to say "learning all the time."

[AlbertCat]

22. weren't allowing the smoking of pot...because it contained the same harmful ingredients as tobacco

Smoke?

There's nicotine in pot? How much?

And don't they allow us to smoke the harmful ingredients in tobacco?


Lame thinking and excuses (as I'm sure you were pointing out)

[Vincardog]

25. I do not believe that POT has any of the unnatural cancer causing chemicals that the tobacco

industry adds to cigarettes. when is the last time you saw a rolling paper with gun powder rings in it?

[Oldenuff]

18. Wheee!!!

It's just so great to have finally elected a President who not only listens to people,but can also think for himself instead of just serving up the standard lies and bullshit.Yep folks...we got it made with this President.Lets elect him again,Ok??

:sarcasm:



And he was all like, "I will open the doors of Government and ask you to be involved in your own Democracy again", that is..until the topic of Cannabis legalization came up...

[Le Taz Hot]

23. There is a direct correlation

between the WH's new commitment to cannibus prohibition and local authorities closing down dispensaries en masse. This is nothing more than the WH giving the local law-and-order bunch legal cover -- all to appease big pharma and the right wing who will never vote for him anyway.

[DreamSmoker]

24. Finally somebody is getting it....

Yes it is all about the control and profit of Cannabis...
The U.S. Government is the Biggest Controller of Cannabis on the Planet Folks..
Its Drug Policies influence All other Countries in the World...

[Blue Owl]

27. No medical benefits that fill the greedy pockets of Big Pharma, that is

n/t