Obama yet again declines the opportunity to discuss the very serious issue of ending marijuana prohi - Polidicks

[quote]WASHINGTON, DC -- President Barack Obama in an online "conversation" with American voters on Monday, failed to answer a barrage of questions about marijuana legalization or the drug war. Although 18 out of 20 of the most popular questions submitted by voters via YouTube were about the drug war or pot, the president in his 45-minute post-State of the Union chat didn't address a single one. "It is disappointing that, yet again, the administration has declined the opportunity to discuss the very serious issue of ending marijuana prohibition," Erik Altieri, spokesman for National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, wrote in an email. "For the ninth time, the White House has solicited the American people for direct input on the issues they cared about and then, when the resulting answers called overwhelmingly for marijuana law reform, President Obama ignores the will of the American people on this burning issue." Google, which moderated the event from 5:30 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., did not immediately respond to a query about why such questions were excluded. YouTube, a division Google, allowed users until Saturday midnight to designate a "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" on questions submitted ahead of Monday's chat. Questions with the most thumbs up were deemed the most popular. While the president did find time to talk about a whole host of less weighty questions, including ones about late-night snacks, dancing and his tennis skills, a response to a top-rated question submitted by Stephen Downing, the retired deputy chief of police in Los Angeles, was conspicuously absent. Dowling's question, which garnered more than 4,500 votes, ranked first in popularity among questions submitted via video and second out of all questions. He asked the president to address a growing voter constituency that wants more changes to drug policy than he has delivered in his first term. "From my 20 years of experience I have come to see our country’s drug policies as a failure and a complete waste of criminal justice resources," Dowling had said in his video. Later commenting on his question's being ignored in Monday night's chat, Downing, a board member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, wrote, "It's worse than silly that YouTube and Google would waste the time of the president and of the American people discussing things like midnight snacks and playing tennis when there is a much more pressing question on the minds of the people who took the time to participate in voting on submissions." "A majority of Americans now support legalizing marijuana to de-fund cartels and gangs, lower incarceration and arrest rates and save scarce public resources, all while generating new much-needed tax revenue," Downing added. "The time to discuss this issue is now. We're tired of this serious public policy crisis being pushed aside or laughed off." This isn't the first time the issue of drug policy has dominated online contests soliciting questions from the president only to be ignored. In last year's "Your Interview with the President" competition, Obama did discuss the issue, however, calling legalization and regulation of marijuana and other drugs "an entirely legitimate topic for debate" and adding that he remained opposed to legalization of medical marijuana. Medical marijuana activists are wondering what happened to the candidate who promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward pot clinics' adhering to state law. "I will be voting in the Republican primary in California, and I will be voting for one of the candidates who supports our position on medical cannabis," said Steve DeAngelo, executive director of California-based Harborside Health Center told The Huffington Post in a recent interview. "I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of other medical cannabis patients join me." "There's a real opening here for Republicans," he said. A White House spokesman, when asked for comment about why no marijuana-related questions were addressed on Monday, noted that the event had been moderated by Google and the president was merely answering questions posed to him.[/quote] [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/obama-marijuana-online-chat_n_1242907.html?ref=mostpopular]Source[/url]. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0IpiATxdR4[/media] Real surprise there.

Well. You see there's a very good reason for this. He can believe whatever he wants and he'll probably enact something near the end of his second term. But for now, mr money sacks over there looks like a nice contributor.

wasnt it pretty much the same the last time this happened?

I don't think this is something he'd like to tackle at the very end of his first, and potentially last term. He want to potentially leave on a good note and this could cause a lot of media backlash and general uproar.

Interesting to see that former head of the LAPD supporting pot. Apparently a lot of former policemen agree, as they see it as a waste of police resources, going after small time users and growers. What can you say about a law when even those who enforce it feel it's wrong?

If you look at the issue very, very closely, people's opinion on the moral implications of legal pot has little to do with it. The federal government is more concerned about how the decision will affect their power.

Seems odd, although it was more than likely due to political reasoning, I think there are ways of going about answering the question without causing a political uproar or looking stupid.

[quote]A White House spokesman, when asked for comment about why no marijuana-related questions were addressed on Monday, noted that [b]the event had been moderated by Google and the president was merely answering questions posed to him.[/b][/quote] sensationalist headlines

I wish there was more than one big candidate talking about the prohibition. It's a serious issue and ignoring it does no good if you're conservative or liberal. If you are pissed about the wars over seas, but not the war on drugs you're a fucking bipolar lunatic.

I hate to bring up meme stuff, but this is spot on. [url]http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/35ulrl/[/url]

[QUOTE=God of Ashes;34472716]sensationalist headlines[/QUOTE] two words 1. yeah 2. right as if the office of the president of the united states would let a search engine company affect how Obama looks on the internet without laying down any kind of rules

I'm sure weed all like to hear what he has to say about the war on drugs and how colossal a failure it's been

making pot completely legal isn't the most important issue he faces. People still smoke it in their leisure so who cares. Besides if he made any positive comment about drug taking then the respect people would have for him would decrease substantially.

[QUOTE=AK'z;34472842]making pot completely legal isn't the most important issue he faces. People still smoke it in their leisure so who cares. Besides if he made any positive comment about drug taking then the respect people would have for him would decrease substantially.[/QUOTE] well if so many people are asking him about it, it's clearly an important issue to THEM, and as the people he represents isn't whats important to them more important than whats important to him? and i think an issue that concerns billions of wasted dollars on the prison system & wasted use of funds & manpower for police departments and the countless lives ruined makes it quite an important issue no matter what

[QUOTE=Lachz0r;34472863]well if so many people are asking him about it,[/QUOTE] [I]People[/I] on Youtube you mean?

[QUOTE=Sector 7;34472773]two words 1. yeah 2. right as if the office of the president of the united states would let a search engine company affect how Obama looks on the internet without laying down any kind of rules[/QUOTE] i'm pretty sure google has gone beyond that of a "search engine company"

[QUOTE=AK'z;34472886][I]People[/I] on Youtube you mean?[/QUOTE] well ok i admit youtubers are pretty bad but i'd still class them as human

Obama has to be very careful with what he says, and what he talks about.

[QUOTE=Lachz0r;34472898]well ok i admit youtubers are pretty bad but i'd still class them as human[/QUOTE] Yeah. They're humans alright. Technically speaking of course.

[QUOTE=AK'z;34472886][I]People[/I] on Youtube you mean?[/QUOTE] More than half the population has admitted to trying it, and more than half support it being decriminalized substantially/legalized, it's more than just people on youtube.

If Obama wins this election he will most likely do something to decriminalize or at least remove it from a schedule I drug. Now hes playing it safe for the election. He's openly admitted to smoking weed, im sure he knows how harmless it is with all of the new studies coming out showing its lack of addictive-ness, its non damaging to the lungs, etc. Even the UK has made major moves toward decriminalization so i bet the US will follow. The problem is Romney is very against marijuana and if he gets elected, we're fucked.

I remember the online question he got about it a few years back and he's like HAW HAW STONERS Maybe if lots of people are asking the question it's a serious issue to a lot of voters and you should get over your fucking stupid stereotypical views and deal with it you awful excuse for an executive.

[QUOTE=Cpn Crunch21;34473055]If Obama wins this election he will most likely do something to decriminalize or at least remove it from a schedule I drug. Now hes playing it safe for the election. He's openly admitted to smoking weed, im sure he knows how harmless it is with all of the new studies coming out showing its lack of addictive-ness, its non damaging to the lungs, etc. Even the UK has made major moves toward decriminalization so i bet the US will follow. The problem is Romney is very against marijuana and if he gets elected, we're fucked.[/QUOTE] wow i wish i could be as optimistic as you "even though he's done nothing and made no effort towards legalization in his first term, he'll probably do it in his second one!! obama 2012~!!!"

While we're on the topic of stoners, why do 90% of them always fail classes in school. It has to have some sort of social effects.

[QUOTE=RichyZ;34473182][citation needed] most stoners i know are the smarter ones in class, generally more well-behaved, and are very nice then you have the hard-ass straight edge people who fail every class see what i did there?[/QUOTE] Just a observation. Most stoners I know never go to class :v: When they do go to class they doodle or eat cheetos.

[QUOTE=jip;34473160]While we're on the topic of stoners, why do 90% of them always fail classes in school. It has to have some sort of social effects.[/QUOTE] No.

[QUOTE=RichyZ;34473202]and most i know excel in class, anecdotal evidence is bs[/QUOTE] Eh just a observation from first hand experience. I don't need to proof anything because I never said it was fact and just a observation.

[QUOTE=SpaceGhost;34473007]More than half the population has admitted to trying it, and more than half support it being decriminalized substantially/legalized, it's more than just people on youtube.[/QUOTE] Fair enough, people would be happier. But from a realistic point of view, a head of state making positive comments about drug taking doesn't go down well with a population.

[QUOTE=jip;34473195]Just a observation. Most stoners I know never go to class :v: When they do go to class they doodle or eat cheetos.[/QUOTE] Oh wow I guess all people that smoke weed doodle and eat cheetos then.

[QUOTE=Banhfunbags;34473247]Oh wow I guess all people that smoke weed doodle and eat cheetos then.[/QUOTE] I smoke weed, I doodle and eat cheetos. But I'm not a stoner.