Marijuana Legalization Issue on Obama's Desk Thanks to White House's Online Petition Program

• hey fuck you "Marijuana is good" darwin micheal-jean dumont says

• yea and a vote for the GOP makes even less scencs

• Steven, Nixon isn't President anymore... Weed isn't that scary. Clearly you've chosen a subjective response and I'd encourage you to reconsider the facts of the matter. Weed is going to be legalized one day whether you want it or not. Welcome to the new world of objectivity! 

•  I'm not sure.... I think it depends on what would happen to the American economy..If by making it legal for medical purposes could also let hemp be grown again, this country could be making all kinds of things for the textile industry. Also hempoline, you can convert your current car for i believe under 1000 dollars to run on something we grow and not pull out of our earth.. I think the person who does finally do it will be hailed a hero to the country. With the taxes they could collect off the medical alone is enough to help run government programs without more money from china, these are things we should be getting behind all of us. Unfortunately Judson Wallace is right.

• Just would like to know How President Obama stands on legalizing medical marijuana..before it is time to vote for a President this year.. I am a democrat..

• ha ha ha. what i do? smile or cry? 

• hmmmm he would be the most awesome fuckin president of all time in my book and besides he's already done a better job then bush (both) so why not make a stand and legalize the plant....but u do make a valid point.  I think we should have a weed season lets say all summer marijuanna is legalized u know like hunting season. just a thought i came up wit 2 seconds ago

• shut up bitch

• amen

• Ron is right. You are just too ignorant to say anything about the legalization of marijuana. However, Starr is right as well. This entire debate about the legalization is pathetic. Marijuana should be, hands down, legalized. Weed is not a harmful drug like tobacco and alcohol. The reason why it is so controversial is not because it is a "drug", it's because of the other industries like paper, fabrics, even other medicines. However regulated sales would create a revenue that would sky-rocket. And yes, it should very well be for "greedy" and "irresponsible" adults because they are ADULTS. Capable of making their own decisions. That is what the American people want. That is what our freedom is based upon.

• The only thing Obama can do is announce that he is for the legalization of marijuana. Everything else is up to congress. First the bill must be proposed. Then the house and senate must agree on a revised form of the bill. Then it is up to Obama to sign the bill.

• who is this guy? what he want? he he. I am joking man

• They didn't stop alcohol they won't be able to stop marijuana, tax it the same as alcohol

• obama will do something.

• "He" has financial interest?  I think not; but defintly, the big pharmacetical companies; the Alcahol industry and the tobacco industry must surely oppose it;  It would hurt all of their financial interests; unless they got on the bandwagon, and went along with it.  The Gov't cannot continue to ignore, what the majority of the people want; unless they like the uprisings; the protests; and the ire of the people.  NOW LETS FACE FACTS;  MARIJUANA HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE LESS HARMFULL THEN EITHER ALCAHOL OR TOBACCO.   WHY CANT WE, THE PEOPLE, ENJOY ITS EVERY USE.

• Mr. O' Bama; dont you want to be the most popular president in history; by legalizing marijuana?  The majority of the people want it; and want you, back in office; but......you have got to listen to the american public opinion:  WE WANT MARIJUANA LEGALIZED.  It is taxing our law enforcement offices; our people; our prison systems; and for what: a god given plant that has so many benifits, (and none, that I know of), and...it isno more a gateway drug then tobacco, or alcahol.  In fact, it is less harmfull to the body; and our system, then either of these killer drugs.  Keep them, if the people want them; but...give us our marijuana, not only for medical use; but for all people to enjoy, as they do cigerettes, and their martini's.  Wake up!!

• Legalize it..If you don't like it...don't be around it...

• the world would be a much better place if everyone would just get high

• I smoke pot, I also don't judge people on what substances they may drink, inhale ect. But I can judge from your argument that you are a complete moron. Btw I've been smoking for the past 4 years and it has never caused me to have an accident, now alcohol on the other hand which I do not drink it has caused many of my friends to crash and unfortunately some to lose their lives. There is literally NO reason why pot shouldn't be legalized.

• What a dick!

• I am a hospice clinical social worker, and noticed you need some education on your inability to see beyond your own cocoon. I have held the hand of many as they lay dying. Some at peace, surrounded by family.......some alone, twitching with terminal restlessness. With no agenda, I speak of what I have witnessed to you........ that marijuana eased the nausea, pain, anxiety, sadness and suffering of the souls I helped care for. And that those who were denied it did not pass on as peacefully. I hope you still don't think we are all losers.....

• Marijuana prohibition makes no sense and is utterly absurd as long as cigarettes and alcohol are legal.  Even the founding fathers used hemp; hell they probably were toking it up when writing the Declaration.

• After many years of bar tending, serving in restaurants, cocktail waitressing, and socializing at parties, I found myself needing a drink often just to live daily life in Orange County. Socializing was one thing but I found myself drinking alone at home. That's when I knew I was an alcoholic. I went to AA meetings to curb the use of alcohol and finally eliminated it from my life completely in 2001. That process took 20 years. I also returned to college and after a few semesters found that a rare form of degenerative liver disease and scar tissue had  encompassed my liver. I had a biopsy and the  new guinea pig drug that the Government was experimenting with to cleanse livers was available to me through my medical insurance. Although the disease did not progress my liver did not repair itself either. So I live day to day with swelling, pain, and discomfort. To make matters worse I lived with my parents for a few years next to a doppler satellite that had enough Gamma Rays coming out of it to kill cells that generate and multiply during cancer, the only problem is the new cells that replenish the old were also killed by this apparatus. Now I reside elsewhere and the Government decided to put yet another 200 foot tower to enable cell phones to work. Now I get enough RF's daily to dry out mucous membranes and deter any new cells except the cancer cells that we all have. SInce the Government has the power to legalize alcohol, opiates and other derivitives that are used to manufacture different pain alleviators why not legalize marijuana? It's harmless and helps with pain. The alcoholic person is impaired by motor skills and the lack of judgement. The opiated person is non cooperative but painless.  SInce the Government controls what the people ingest, what they drink, how they think and monopolize what new age towers go onto our neighboring soil where in the Constitution does it say that we are free to choose our path? where is  Government when you reside around dangerous EMF'S, RF'S and Gamma Rays? I believe that people will ignore the latest attack on marijuana embargoing and do what they have done for years go underground with sales. The Government will lose millions/billions of dollars if they force the self medicated people underground. The truth is pot was on the ballot in 1972 when I voted for my first time as an 18 year old citizen of the U.S. I did not smoke it for 25 plus years until my cancer got so bad that day to day life was impossible without it. If you want more alcoholics on the road just ban pot. If you want more demonstrations and costly medical insurance bills just ban pot. And if you want your mental institutions filled up with stressed out people just ban pot. Choices that we make! Vicky

• END IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! END Marijuana prohibition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• END IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! END Marijuana prohibition !!!!!!!!!

• Marijuana prohibition!!!!!!!!!!!

• Marijuana prohibition!!!!!!!!!!!

• why must you call people that smoke marijuana "stupid Stoners" or "Dope Smokers" like you are better than them or that they are not worthy of living. That's what I don't get about people in this society today. Everyone wants to act better than everybody else. Do you not think for a minute that most of us out here know just as much as you on the issue of hemp and marijuana? We study it all the time because we are trying to get people to understand there are more pros than cons for legalizing marijuana,  but we get a bad name because we joke around and have fun when we are high. See you people that call names and talk down to us just don't understand that if you would try it instead of sitting around critisizing us for using it you also would understand the benefits of marijuana. You wouldn't have to take all them pills to make you happy instead you could just fire 1 up and relax and quit being an uptight douche bag that wants to sit around and judge other people for what they enjoy.

• Touché

• good point.  But another point most seem to have missed, Obama cannot just wave his magic pen and legalize this all by himself.

• Obama can't legalize it. Think about it. He's the first black president. What kind of ammo would the GOP have if the first black president is also the president who legalizes Marijuana? I think Obama wants to do it, but when asked about it previously, he laughed, because he knows this.

• They didn't stop alcohol they won't be able to stop marijuana, tax it the same as alcohol...

• loooooosers, all of you!

• So what your saying is politicians should consider their reputation before doing the right thing, even if it took them years to figure out that it was right?

• So....obama will do something akin to killing and serving pot heads? How does this make sense to you? Are you high?

• its adout time

• it's already supplied to the public, just in an illegal way. I think it is bullshit that my money and everyone elses money goes to paying for some lazy drug dealers cell phone bill or mcdonalds burger, why not tax it and make sure that money goes to building the community. your opinion will keep innocent people in jail!!!

• I think it should be decriminalized, there is too many people that go to jail for petty minor possession of marijuana charges. It effects peoples future with jobs and education. Something so petty should be looked at as a traffic citation not a criminal offense. If one is trafficking marijuana then that should be looked at as a criminal offense. Maybe legalization is a bit far...

• how do u feel about alcohol??? compare the two there should be no debate peroid.

• I screaming from Wilington NC, "legalize it now"! Obama i voted for you the first but i sure as hell wont vote you in again if you dont wake up and do the right thing. free  NORTH CAROLINA and all the other states!  

• the Constitution is of the United States was written on hemp paper.

• Iv'e been smoeking for 36 years and the laws have made me have to watch all the time to see if there is a cop around or a new person in the croud who might be a CI or agent.With the legalization of marijuana I wont have to lok over my shoulder any more and be able to enjoy my medacine,yes I said medacine! If there is anything better for you than Pot to help keep you calm,hunger urges,pain relief and even rest when you are unable to sleep then bring it on.How ever there has not been anything out there but harmful pills to do any of this. So I for one am for the legalization of Marijuana for it helps me in all these ways.Now if a lot of these Politicians will get there heads out of there asses and come to the truth of this then we will have that Legalization,so please e-mail your congressman,Rep,Senater and Governer and let them know you want this to be legal even if it is for just the Medical use,it would make a differance.Good Luck to all and God Bless us.

• LONG LIVE r/trees !

• really, so someone who uses cannabis recreationally is a stupid stoner.  so you've never had a drink of alcohol?  a far more dangerous mind altering substance?

• FUCKING LEGALIZE IT ALREADY. JUST FUCKING DO IT DAMMIT /rant

• Big deal.The question is should we have a drug war at all.And the answer is a resounding no.The U.S.taxpayer has already been bilked out of one trillion dollars on enforcement alone,not to mention the costs of unnnecessary incarceration and the terrible loss of individual freedom,as well as the social suffering which has ensued.Let's put  a bill to abolish the "patriot Act "on his desk and find out if we have a Country.Or maybe we should just elect Ron Paul and dispense with the nonsense.

• One reason legalization is going to be diffcult is because the business interest that run private prisons will lose lots of "customers". Fewer drug arrest will mean big losses. I've heard that some of these prison charge states up to 40,000 per year per prisoner. They will lobby hard to keep the status quo.

• They will not ignore it. In fact - I would not doubt Obama to use this as a potential popularity boost before the elections in 2012. It would bring in a lot of money from tax revenue and votes from patients across the country who have little options left. Curious to see how this pans out.

• Great story.  I hope the president acts quickly on what ever he decides. If they legalize pot the jails won't be as over-crowded as they are and people won't have to worry about breaking the law any more.  And the tax benefits will be huge windfall for the states as well as the federal government.

• Why not, "As someone who, by his own admission, is familiar firsthand with marijauna, cocaine, and alcohol", and as someone who has repeatedly claimed to be against laws which  disproportionately low income and minorities, could you please explain why you as president, will should not wholeheartedly back this effort?"

• I myself am I Republican and I believe fully that Marijuana should be legalized. I have no problem going public about it and I look forward to the day that patients can receive medicinal marijuana (or recreational marijuana for that matter) if they so choose. If you don't like it, don't smoke it.

• Wrong

• Please learn how to form coherent sentences and ideas, or just don't say anything

• In my opinion this trivial debate on Marijuana is just pathetic.  Most likely the people that voted for it were or are using marijuana whether it's legalized or not. This is just " getting away with murder ". Just think of all the health effects that will occur with supplying this to the public? The issue will spread among everyone and it will be to late to stop it. But with whatever technology you used to discover that marijuana slows down the causes or effects of some diseases I can't help but decide that it should stay a medical treatment and not just for people who are greedy and irresponsible adults that neglect their powers for such simple... Luxuries that may last a little more then thirty minutes.

• There is a case right now going on in Long Beach where judge Sheldon is completly ignoring CA Law and not allowing it to be used in the Joe Grumbine/Joe Byron case.   They were raided by 120 gun toting SWAT (military style) for running a fully compliant dispensary.   Stop the insanity and the war on legal MJ and support Joe Grumbine (google joe grumbine for more info.)  NO ONE SHOULD GO THE JAIL FOR A PLANT!

• depende de cada quien si quiere consumirla o no, cada quien es responsable de sus actos, pero en opininon personal creo que no deben legalizarla

• It just needs to be legalized, plain & simple.

• I like the White House petition site, have visited it often and weighed in on the all the issues that matter to me, but I fear that this opportunity to opine won't actually effect the changes we the people need and want.  My cynical sense of it is that the site was created to give the incumbent pres a feel for public opinion so he can say what we want to hear when he campaigns. His promises last time enthused and encouraged a voting block of people like myself who felt he was hearing us like we'd never been heard before. It is a bitter disillusionment, his breaking of so many promises to the people who got out the vote for his last campaign. Apologists say critics are being racist, but no, I was thrilled to see a man of mixed heritage achieving the presidency of the USA at long last, reflecting our deepest democratic principles, and I had nothing but admiration for what I believed were his personal principles. Perhaps he is helpless to resist the momentum of all the evils he was elected to combat, but I remember, for an incredible moment in time, believing we had a president who would soon bring the troops back from those stupid wars, end the war on drugs, free the sacred medicine, save the environment, make the government transparent and accountable for wrongdoings, champion for human rights, close Guantanamo, etc etc. Promises promises. You may say I was dreaming, and to be sure, I was hopeful,  but I do believe it is time to wake up.

• some bad habits are the product of a sleepy old world and it is upto the rulers and society how to eliminate those things in order make a world of their own wishes  

• You're an ass. Every "dope smoker" out there who actually does have an opinion about the political existence of marijuana already knows all this. Its people like you that lack the ability to see the distinction between the definitions of medical marijuana and industrial hemp that allow this foolish prohibition to continue. Dope smoker or not, cannabis is cannabis. Its all illegal. Legalize one, you must logically legalize the other; and THAT is the reason they will not legalize it. P.S.- I dare you to do some research and find out how many of your heroes and and influential elders you claim didn't grow cannabis for "smokey treats" were avid marijuana smokers as well as cultivators (I.e., Benjamin Franklin is recorded in the library of congress as having created the first bong-check, its true). Bet you wouldn't have enough fingers or toes to count on.

• I don't get why the hate for only the GOP when the Democrats are just as against you.  There are a number of libertarians and some Republican candidates that are fully for drug legalization, along with the reduction of many other silly regulations and laws.

• This whole argument is wrong. Stupid stoners. It is not about the drug. It is not about getting high leagalizing it or taxing it. There is only one reason it is illegal and TheNoize is the only one who gets it. It is about the industrial production. Ethanol does not work as a fuel it is a lose lose proposition, But hemp seed oil does. Hemp can be all that oil becomes. That is a problem for all those involved in oil production and Dupont that still I believe holds patents on oil based polymers. Hemp is plastic, fuel, food, clothing, paper, and animal feed. Just to start. Hemp grown in a fallow field harvested and roots tilled under actually improves the fields soil quality. The fibers are actually far stronger than cotton, and make a better softer material than the best linen or a more rugged material than denim. We would not have worn out knees nearly as early. The paper is far more archival and cheaper to make than wood pulp, but that was against the Hurst paper mills and they owned the news papers. Look deeper you dope smokers. There is a reason that this was the oldest harvested human crop other than smokey treats. Read the "Emperor Wears No Clothes" you can learn much from it.

• His normal reply will be and has been that the pharmaceutical industry needs to manage and provide to patients.  He has scoffed at the legalization movement, despite the fact that most of the advocates voted for him thinking that we were moving forward on this. If he continues with this charade again this time around, he may very well not gain a second term.

• You'd be surprised. A lot of Republicans actually do believe it should be legal, they are just weary of going 'public' about it. Actually, less government interference in personal liberty and state voter sovereignty is a more 'conservative' viewpoint than many of us realize. The move to legalization needs to not limit itself to just a political party or strictly to tokers. This is a much bigger issue than that.

• Wow, Deja vu...

• He's not just "status quo", but rather he has increased the War on Drugs to levels never before seen in the history of our country! AND he lies about it...says he'll stop the raids on medical marijuana clinics, but then turns around and busts 'em. A toker voting for Obama is like a chicken voting for Col. Sanders. 

• Obama did this as cover.  He promised liberalization of drug laws because the current system is way too expensive and patently ridiculous.   Trillions of dollars to ban a plant, this from a dying empire?   He needs to do it, now he can blame it on the people.    Re-legalize God's plant.

• lol, it will enver happen dude. real-privacy.no.tc

• hes going to ignore it he has too many financial interests from those that benefit from its current status (ie pharmaceuticals, oil, law enforcement)

• Even if Obama was to lean for legalization at this point, would it really make him a viable candidate for 2012??? Or would it do the opposite??? First of all, he would be criticized for flip flopping on such a volatile topic in politics today. Second, it would only open the door for the next candidate to be completely pro legalization and run with it simply for the fact that they did not oppose legalization in the first place. I have never been a firm supporter of Obama but for him to be a viable candidate for 2012 would be simply to open the topic for discussion. Turn away from the "no medical value" excuse since American states have medical marijuana laws on the books.

• Republicans (except for Libertarians like Ron Paul) don't support legalization of anything. You won't take away any votes from Republicans by legalizing Marijuana.

• I think marijuana should be legal in all states. It is a Natural Plant that can be used for medical reasons. Though it souls only be for People who suffer with health and sleeping Problems. I think that the People who smoke marijuana for what so ever sickness they may have,Should be provided with a medical card. That has there name and serial number as Verification for Medical Marijuana. Where as there would be a fee in receiving a Medical Marijuana Card. To those People who are not diagnosed with server Medical Issues or Sickness. Not to say that there isn't no facilities or states that do that,but there isn't as much as there should be.

• "... reelection against ravenous a pack of GOP hopefuls that makes Dick Cheney look like a hippie."well ... almost  :)

• I don't know if Obama realizes how many votes he could gain from this and take away from republicans.

• Gd that is an awesome picture of the President! But seriously, he didn't remove Michelle Leonhart from the DEA. That's sign enough that he's status quo to me.

• Makes sense to legalize weed for healthy people too! I'm sick of sending in my paper work every year, paying a few hundred bucks, and still having to worry about my door getting busted in just because some dink cop doesn't agree with the MMJ law here in NV. Hey, it would be easier traveling with my meds and maybe, just maybe, I could stop being "Mr. you grow farmer" and go to a store and buy the crap! But it will be interesting to see Barry squirms out of this one. If he'd just get some guts he'd pick up 6-8 million votes over this issue and perhaps that is why he's asking this question again? Naw! 

• the British Govt have been doing this for years - If anything they don't like is proposed, they simply ignore it!

TotalComments: 77