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Marijuana Questions Again Dominate President Obama’s Online Forum (justsaynow.firedoglake.com)

submitted ago by house1

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[–]Do5e 26 points27 points ago

Just goes to prove that alot of freethinkers are growing up on the Internet.

[–]Spectro87 16 points17 points ago

Which is exactly why censorship is so bad.

[–]npdewey83 2 points3 points ago

But it comes with a free frozen yogurt which I like to call frogurt!

[–]bsonk 1 point2 points ago

The toppings contain potassium benzoate.

[–]Kronik_NinjaLo 1 point2 points ago

That's bad...

[–]KRSFive 1 point2 points ago

BUT PIRACY!!!!

[–]gossumx 22 points23 points ago*

And once again he will dodge answering them for political reasons.

Edit: Ok, I nailed it. And even with so many of the top questions being on marijuana/drug policy. I was originally joking. I've always defended the good intention of your decisions. I defended them even when I didn't agree with your answer. But for this... Fuck You Obama. Go suck a bag of dicks.

[–]Secoshe 8 points9 points ago*

I hope you weren't expecting a sensible discussion.

[–]thebest205 -1 points0 points ago

He'd give an honest answer after the gets re-elected, but he won't touch it till then.

[–]AchillesGRK 9 points10 points ago

Then he isn't getting my sponsorship for it, I'm not going to just assume he will do that when his administrations actions are more anti-marijuana than the Bush administration. He can kiss my ass if he keeps laughing at these questions, my life isn't a joke.

[–]thebest205 0 points1 point ago

Yeah, but it's all in the game, my friend. You never actually thought that politics were about being honest and giving your constituency everything they wanted, did you? If that were the case, Ron Paul would have been elected 4 years ago.

Obama is no idiot-he probably actually shares the same sentiment that most of Reddit does in regards to marijuana legalization. However, he's at a crucial point in his presidency where he can't afford to alienate potential voters by pushing controversial issues like this. He's going to play it safe until he gets elected again, and then we can see where things go from there.

[–]AchillesGRK 5 points6 points ago

If he is going to shun me for their votes, I am not going to vote for him.

[–]thebest205 -1 points0 points ago

Okay. Well the only other viable option you have is Newt Gingrich, who wants to establish a moon base and make drug possession punishable by death. I'm sure his regime would make you much happier.

[–]AchillesGRK 2 points3 points ago

I'm voting for Gary Johnson most likely.

[–]gossumx 0 points1 point ago

I fail to see how that falls into the category of a "viable option".

[–]thebest205 0 points1 point ago

Gingrich is going to be the Republican nominee for president, so it's between him and Obama in that sense. You can vote for a third-party candidate, but you're essentially throwing your vote away in that case. Please down vote me some more though-just because you're a stoner doesn't mean that you have to be ignorant about politics.

[–]thumbgreen -1 points0 points ago

Ha! Newt a viable option? Unless he runs independent he ain't even going to be on the ballot.

Also it doesn't matter what anybody says. The president is incapable of legalizing cannabis on his own. The majority of congress is what we really need.

[–]drbenway 1 point2 points ago

What the president can do is dismantle the DEA and instruct the justice department to stop all marijuana prosecutions. Congress passes laws but needs the executive branch to carry out and enforce them.

[–]thumbgreen 1 point2 points ago

Even though I don't believe I am; for sake of discussion I will say that I am wrong.

What good does it do for the president to dismantle the DEA and order a stop to all marijuana prosecutions if we don't have the majority of congress on our side?

Because even though he did that; all the laws that make marijuana illegal are still in place. So what's to stop him from changing his mind and creating another DEA? What's to stop the next president or the one after that?

What's to stop congress from introducing legislation that mandates the creation of a DEA like organization to enforce drug laws? Sure the president could veto it but on the other hand congress could override that veto.

[–]drbenway 0 points1 point ago

You are correct that anything can be undone/redone, but that is true of anything. I think that you are thinking about this wrong. Think about cities that have made marijuana their lowest priority. Marijuana is still illegal, if you are arrested it is still a crime, but police are instructed that if there is ANYTHING at all other than marijuana going on, to focus on that instead.

The Department of Justice is sort of the same way. Eric Holder could choose to focus all energies on securities fraud and direct all who were working on drug cases to focus on those instead. There are so many crimes that can be enforced, but due to limited resources, not everything can possibly be brought to court. The decision for what to bring to court can be decided practically. Like, the resources needed to prove this case are not worth the expense. Or they can be done for public policy, as in, there are more important things to focus on.

Remember when Attorney General Holder claimed that there would be no prosecutions of medical marijuana patients? This was within constitutional limits. It turned out to not be true, but he could do the same thing with anything else. Just like with medical, he could simply say that it is a state issue, and the individual states can do as they please.

And that is the flaw in my reasoning, I now realize. Even dismantling the DEA and ceasing to prosecute federal marijuana cases, that would have no effect on state prosecutions. Although, in many states marijuana is a pretty low priority anyways.

[–]thumbgreen 0 points1 point ago

No the president cannot. It is his job to ensure that US law is enforced. Dismantling the DEA and ordering a stop to all marijuana prosecutions does not ensure that and just makes it where he can be impeached.

And really, did you stop and think about what you just said. Think about it for a second... Regardless of what US law it is, the thought of the president just picking which laws to enforce and when is goddamn terrifying.

That's not how it is supposed to work. If the president doesn't like the law he has to work with congress to have it stricken from the books and not just ignored to come back and bite us in the ass later.

[–]GodHatesChristians 0 points1 point ago

He could issue an executive order.

[–]drbenway 2 points3 points ago

Try again. The DEA is not the result of congress, but an executive decision. When you hear republican candidates saying they want to dismantle the EPA, DOE, NLRB, if they were president, they could. Likewise, federal prosecutors don't choose to pursue all of their cases.

Remember when Attorney General Holder said that he was not going to pursue any medical marijuana cases? He could have ensured that the DOJ did not prosecute a single one.

Again, no law created the DEA, the executive created it. As such they can dismantle it, too. Likewise, prosecutors have discretion in what they pursue, and they are directed by the Attorney General who is directed by the president. The president can refuse to prosecute whatever law he wants.

[–]Tchdwn2000 0 points1 point ago

This is true but thats bot going to happen with Lamar Smith Mr. Sopa in there, he needs to go.

[–]gossumx 0 points1 point ago

But in this one instance, I'm not asking him to change the world. I'm just asking him to answer the questions voted most important to the viewers of the speech, that he himself said that he would answer. Wasn't that the entire point of this online forum?

[–]thumbgreen 0 points1 point ago

That is irrelevant to what I said. What I said is in regards to people believing the president has the power to legalize marijuana on his own (which is why Ron Paul is so popular here) and has nothing to do with him not answering the question.

[–]NatalieNuggs 7 points8 points ago

YouTube Ignores Cop’s First Place Marijuana Legalization Video Question for Obama Site Finds Time for Questions About Dancing, Late-Night Snacks and Playing Tennis

[–]Khuddle2310 3 points4 points ago

Make this a post. People need to hear about this..

[–]nello1226 4 points5 points ago

It's the TLC in the weed that makes you crazy.

[–]thejehosephat 6 points7 points ago

The Learning Channel?

[–]floydf 1 point2 points ago

Therapeutic Lifestyle Change?

[–]Secoshe 3 points4 points ago

Tender Love'n Care

[–]gossumx 3 points4 points ago

FTA: "This afternoon President Obama will be taking part in a live chat on Google+ called “Your Interview with the President”. Individuals were encouraged to submit and vote for questions. Not surprisingly, the issues of marijuana legalization and medical marijuana overwhelmed all others.

According to the Whitehouse Youtube page, with voting currently closed, 18 of the top 20 most popular question are about marijuana/drug policy"

[–][deleted] ago

[deleted]

[–]Specul8 4 points5 points ago

He didn't even take a single question on cannabis- why am I not surprised? He and the rest of DC is owned by Big Pharma and their lobbyists.

[–]craig131 6 points7 points ago

Well just watched the entire thing and what a surprise, the questions didn't even fucking come up. He just got the same dumbass questions about the economy and student loans that he's answered time and time again.

[–]chef_baboon 4 points5 points ago

I'm shocked that the host didn't even bring it up.. I guess google isn't against censorship after all.

[–]craig131 3 points4 points ago

I know right? It's like somebody went through and choose all the questions that they knew he could easily softball.

[–]pahncrd 6 points7 points ago

He isn't going to escape it. However, once someone more authoritarian (scary right) gets elected, we will be too busy asking about ending the death camps (freedom camps) for political dissidents to worry about pot.

[–]dannydale 1 point2 points ago

Except the potsmokers will probably be the ones filling the Freedom Camps along with Occupy Wall Street, gay people, and whoever else can be adequately pigeonholed as a terrorist.

[–]Code347 2 points3 points ago

I watched this today, and I would equate it to banging my head against the wall for 5 minutes straight, stopping for a second, and then resuming. For a solid 1 1/2 hours.

[–]wapples 1 point2 points ago

Holy... I checked out the hangout and it was pure garbage! I can't believe we were supposed to take that seriously.

[–]autotldr 0 points1 point ago

This is an automatically generated TL;DR, original reduced by 78%.

Once again the issue of marijuana reform has dominated President Obama's attempt to have the public submit questions for an online question and answer event.

Not surprisingly, the issues of marijuana legalization and medical marijuana overwhelmed all others.

So far every attempt by Obama to directly reach out to young voters through some form of online question and answer system has resulted in young adults overwhelming voting to confront the President with questions about our government's marijuana policies.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top four keywords: marijuana#1 question#2 vote#3 President#4

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