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Marijuana legalization No. 1 at Obama's Change.gov

The first edition of President-elect Barack Obama's "Open for Questions" at change.gov has come to a close. His transition team will answer questions submitted by users that receive the most votes.

The question voted to #1 is:

"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

16 of the top 50 questions were drug-policy related (mostly marijuana).

Obama's transition team has promised in a blog entry to answer these questions in the next couple of days.

Posted By dreamdust at 2008-12-12 10:58:50 permalink | comments
Tags: marijuana cannabis drug war legalization activism obama
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ahmet. : 2010-08-18 10:12:52
biz türklerde 20 yýl qerinizden gelelim sizin siz esrarý serbest býrakmak üzeresiniz bizde burda bir cigaralýk içn karakolda dayak yiyelim böyle adaletmi olur yaa obama türkiyeyede el atsýn medical esrar konusunda Türkiyede özgürleþsin artýk
Anonymous. : 2010-05-25 01:30:31
Do not legalize marijuana. It is fine how it is. I you want to smoke go get a cannibus card. If you are user 18 you wouldn't be able to smoke anyway. No one wants to pay taxes on their stuff and it will just be more people to chase down for tax evasion. The business will no longer be lucrotive for new small dealers if it is legalized. It is fine how it is. Don't change a good thing
bryser 2010days. : 2010-04-25 13:35:23
the only way the economy can settl could be by legalizing that drug
bryser 2010the day my moms lealized i aint playin. : 2010-04-25 13:31:48
the days hav gone by an i still see people gettin escorted for drugs at their own hous the result of legalizing a certain drug can make things good or worse if the economy is really that low than try the legalization their could be oppertunities to change it if it starts gettin worse but now days people dont think about these things but at the sam time they do caus peopl still dominat not legallizin that drug so the tim has com the law is waitin the clok is runin an the jobs in som parts of our country are limited so the question shouldnt be should that drug be legalized it should be do people really need jobs in som parts of our country
mike.. : 2009-03-04 11:01:58
i really agree with chris's statment here because our economy really deservse atention
Simon. : 2009-01-29 13:45:54
Harry J. Anslinger: The root of all evil.
kev501. : 2009-01-15 15:47:38
CNBC will be premiering Marijuana Inc. Inside America’s Pot Industry on Thursday, January 22nd at 9p ET / 10p PT. The marijuana trade has long been one of the country’s leading black market industries. What factors continue to help this taboo business thrive and how is the government profiting as a result? Join Trish Regan as she explores this growing industry and how it has expanded into a major business with its own sophisticated network of growers, workers, and quasi-legal retail outlets, in the form of medical marijuana dispensaries.

Web extras are coming soon to [link]

Thanks

sativa. : 2008-12-19 01:03:07
It is very disappointing that he totally brushed off that question. It is even more disappointing that in the beginning of the campaign he was making promises about ending the raids on MM Dispensaries and now he just seems like any other politician dodging the question as if it were a shoe and not even giving an intelligent answer.
Our voice has to be heard.Everybody that wants Marijuana legalized should just go to Washington in herds and protest while sparking it up. And if we have to be taken in handcuffs and in herds they wont be able to arrest all of us! In herds I tell you! And blow smoke in all of those cops and contact high the shit out of Washington.(takes bong hit) We should all do this just like in the 60's . It doesn't matter to me anymore what Obama wants or what the fat chief of police wants or what the czar wants it is about what we want people it is our right to smoke and that right was taken from us. This is not the end of this. This is just the beginning. There is a Real Million Marijuana March on DC - July 4th 2009 Everyone that truly feels passionate about ending the marijuana prohibiton laws should go to this event. [link]
garnered. : 2008-12-18 05:38:39
Good luck with better/more humane cannabis laws. The alcohol and tobacco lobby has Capitol Hill in a headlock. Those two industries are also responsible for Partnership For A Drug-Free America. Go figure. I hope they all die slowly and painfully.
ryan. : 2008-12-18 00:52:37
just goes to show how well-informed mr. obama is. i don't think the injustice of criminalizing marijuana will ever be fixed.
emu. : 2008-12-16 15:09:34
It's very interesting to note how lengthy his responses were for all the other questions he answered but put up a 'I don't want to touch it' wall with marijuana. I'll leave you with a quote from his book:

"And if the high didn't solve whatever it was that was getting you down, it could at least help you laugh at the world's ongoing folly and see through all the hypocrisy and bullshit and cheap moralism."

Source: Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama, p. 87 Aug 1, 1996

z. : 2008-12-16 09:59:18
what do we have to do now?
ask the exact same question in the next round. and the one after. and again.
Victor. : 2008-12-15 22:53:25
This makes me very sad. Barack, back in 2004 you told the people that the War on Drugs was a fiasco. That it didn't (and still doesn't) work.

Legalization or Decriminalization is the answer.

I hope you listen to the people, Barack. This is how you do it, For the People, We the People etc. etc. Then please listen to what 32 % of the voters on the last Open Question poll had to say.

Thank you!

yk. : 2008-12-15 20:57:07
And sadly, A: President-elect Obama is not in favor of the legalization of marijuana.
.. : 2008-12-15 13:11:29
fat chance
bryan. : 2008-12-13 16:14:20
I have a new blog setup at [link] if anyone wants to join in I would appreciate it
thedecider. : 2008-12-13 13:26:19
We should also use Hemp for all it's worth, which is a lot. It can be used as fuel too.
Dustin. : 2008-12-13 11:37:05
This is one of the most important things in our country don't put marajuana users in jail! Its simple it is much less harmless than tobaco ,alcohol and even coffee. It really gets me when I think about it legalize it. It could really stimulate the economy tax it, put a age limit on it and this country would be alot more crime free.
Duhhhh. : 2008-12-13 02:03:29
James Blunt doesn't write his own songs...
Gp. : 2008-12-12 17:42:38
Peyote, but if god created man and man and gave him the ability to kill, rape, torture, create heroin, or write music as badly as James Blunt then by your logic everything should be legal.

But it's a moot point. There is no evidence of god, and no religion should have sway on US government. If you want a theocracy, you're in the wrong place.

Dody Bush. : 2008-12-12 17:09:53
This is the BEST question to date. In the depths of such a horrendous recession, we could literally pull our country back to a sustainable life style and legalize one of mother nature's funnest and most healthy weeds. I see no reason to make it illegal. In fact, I think making it illegal makes it MORE dangerous, because street dealers can lace it with unknown or unsafe substances. If it were legal, we would build industry and everyone would know that they had 100% cannabis cigarettes, not laced with any other more dangerous drugs.
Peyote Sky. : 2008-12-12 15:20:25
No government on earth has a right to declare any person, place or thing that God created as "Illegal" ~ www.myspace.com/peyoteskyband Basically man is at war against creation which is a war they cannot win ~ They seek to saw off the very limb they sit on ~ Peyote ~
omgoleus : 2008-12-12 14:21:39
otakucode, take a deep breath and calm down. The government should regulate marijuana sales, not the existence of marijuana, just like with tobacco. If you want to buy some seeds and grow some tobacco plants, more power to you and no one is going to give you trouble for it. But if you are a huge, greedy corporation with no interest in anything other than profit, then by God yes the government should keep an eye on your business to make sure it's not exploitative. That's why we regulate the tobacco industry, and it's naive to think a corporate marijuana industry would be any different. But the plants themselves would be allowed to flourish as God intended under such a scheme. So just relax!

otakucode. : 2008-12-12 13:39:38
This is disgusting. The government has no right to regulate marijuana. It has no right to tax marijuana. It has no right to put age limits on marijuana. Marijuana was made illegal in order to persecute Mexicans in a bigoted attempt to protect "white culture." It was never made illegal because it is harmful to the health, because it has been proven to NOT be harmful to the health of its users. It contains the most powerful anti-cancer compound known to man. It is NOT a harmful substance.

Why would you consent to extreme taxation and regulation? Because you're used to it with other substances? What does that matter? Tobacco and alcohol are both very harmful to the health of the citizenry. Marijuana is not. Unless they can show some sort of scientific, peer-reviewed evidence that marijuana causes some form of harm, why should we allow them to regulate marijuana any more than they regulate coffee or pudding? Stop and THINK before you just bend over and let the slimy bastards in Washington steal even more power and money from the poor and middle class to prop up the superclass.

Chris. : 2008-12-12 12:48:22
This really is a very important question. We can use this untapped (and safe) resource to really give the economy a noticeable boost. Creating millions of jobs, eliminating or reducing by a GREAT number the amount of people in the prison system, while at the same time reducing the number of illegal sellers/growers. The billions of dollars from regulation is liquid gold in our hurting economy, as well as giving people a legal (and safer) way to enjoy themselves rather than alcohol. The time has come to rethink how we function now and realize that we functioned as a country better when cannabis was not outlawed and we didn't have to spend billions on the war on drugs and propaganda to make your average person believe that cannabis is no better than any hardcore drugs, which should indeed still be illegal.

The comments posted here do not reflect the views of the owners of this site.

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