Marijuana Users Not High Priority for President Obama

  • Thread starter DoobieDuck
  • Start date
  • Tagged users None
DoobieDuck

DoobieDuck

Premium Member
Supporter
425
243
Something just being released this morning and will show on ABC News 20/20 tonight. Good to see he is addressing the issue…cheers..DD

Marijuana Users Not High Priority for President Obama

From: ABC News http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS...sers-high-priority-drug-war/story?id=17946783


By DEVIN DWYER (@devindwyer)

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2012





President Obama says recreational users of marijuana in states that have legalized the substance should not be a "top priority" of federal law enforcement officials prosecuting the war on drugs.

"We've got bigger fish to fry," Obama said of pot users in Colorado and Washington during an exclusive interview with ABC News' Barbara Walters.

"It would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined that it's legal," he said, invoking the same approach taken toward users of medicinal marijuana in 18 states where it's legal.

More of Barbara Walters' exclusive first joint, post-election interview with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama airs tonight on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET on ABC stations.

Obama's comments on marijuana are his first following Colorado and Washington voters' approval of Nov. 7 ballot measures that legalize the recreational use and sale of pot in defiance of federal law.

Marijuana, or cannabis, remains classified under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I narcotic whose cultivation, distribution, possession and use are criminal acts. It's in the same category as heroin, LSD and "Ecstasy," all deemed to have high potential for abuse.
Obama told Walters he does not – "at this point" – support widespread legalization of marijuana. But he cited shifting public opinion and limited government resources as reasons to find a middle ground on punishing use of the drug.

"This is a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law," Obama said. "I head up the executive branch; we're supposed to be carrying out laws. And so what we're going to need to have is a conversation about, How do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that say that it's legal?"

The president said he has asked Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to examine the legal questions surrounding conflicting state and federal laws on drugs.

"There are a number of issues that have to be considered, among them the impact that drug usage has on young people, [and] we have treaty obligations with nations outside the United States," Holder said Wednesday of the review underway.

As a politician, Obama has always opposed legalizing marijuana and downplayed his personal history with the substance.

Obama wrote in his 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," that he would smoke pot regularly with his high school buddies who formed a "club of disaffection." The group was known as the "Choom Gang," says Obama biographer David Maraniss.

"There are a bunch of things I did that I regret when I was a kid," Obama told Walters. "My attitude is, substance abuse generally is not good for our kids, not good for our society.

"I want to discourage drug use," he added.

While the administration has not prioritized prosecutions of marijuana users and small-scale distributors in states where it's legal, it has not ceased prosecutions altogether. The Justice Department has continued raids on pot providers – including in states where they are legal – in an approach that experts say is more aggressive than Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.

"I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it's against federal law," Obama told "Rolling Stone" in an interview earlier this year.

Page 2 of 2

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2012





It "is a murky area," Obama told the magazine, "where you have large-scale, commercial operations that may supply medical marijuana users, but in some cases may also be supplying recreational users. In that situation, we put the Justice Department in a very difficult place if we're telling them, 'This is supposed to be against the law, but we want you to turn the other way.' That's not something we're going to do."

Obama and the Office of National Drug Control Policy say the negative impacts of widespread marijuana legalization loom large.

Legalization would lower the price of "weed," thereby fueling its use and triggering more widespread negative health effects and subsequent costs of care, the administration says in its official policy position. Officials also say legalization would do little to curb drug violence or eliminate cartels.

"When you're talking about drug kingpins, folks involved in violence, people who are peddling hard drugs to our kids and our neighborhoods that are devastated, there is no doubt we need to go after those folks hard," said Obama.
"It makes sense for us to look at how we can make sure that our kids are discouraged from using drugs and engaging in substance abuse generally," he said. "There's more work we can do on the public health side and the treatment side."

More of Barbara Walters' exclusive first joint, post-election interview with President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama airs tonight on "20/20" at 10 p.m. ET on ABC stations.

Colorado and Washington are the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana, presenting a fresh challenge for the Obama Justice Department to navigate in a second term.

While public opinion has shifted toward legalization over the past few years, Americans remain divided about the personal use of pot.

Fifty percent of American adults oppose legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use, while 48 percent would support such a measure, according to a November ABC News/Washington Post poll. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, a Democrat who personally opposed legalization, on Monday formally approved the voter-backed amendment to the state constitution legalizing recreational use of marijuana.

The measure will allow individuals to possess one ounce of pot and up to six marijuana plants and licensed stores to sell marijuana starting next year.

Washington State last week officially became the first to allow recreational use of marijuana when a voter-approved ballot measure took effect.

In both states, pot use remains illegal in public. Eighteen states have approved the use of marijuana for medicinal use with a doctor's order. Federal law still prohibits all use and sale of marijuana.

ABC News' Jason Ryan contributed to this report.
 
baba G

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty
5,290
313
You notice they say recreational smokers, they haven't been going after recreational smokers for sometime...they got all these legal growers to follow, they don't need to waste their time with the recreational stoner. Remember the Obama administration said before that Cannabis wasn't their main agenda but when you look at the amount of statistics it's hard to believe it's on the backburner...lol

How does Nevada have horror houses, is that not against federal law....
 
baba G

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty
5,290
313
If Obama truly believes that substance abuse is bad for children than he certainly has more to do than worry about big time growers, the pharma and sugar corps are the biggest drug pushers of all time!!!!
 
baba G

baba G

bean sprouts are tasty
5,290
313
Just one last note...we have way bigger societal problems like our abuse of pharma drugs and eating habits that kill us before much else can...cannabis is so low on the relative harm scale. But you notice they keep saying it's not good for kids, well neither is our public school system, maybe we should pay it some attention. over n out
 
sanvanalona

sanvanalona

1,878
263
Yeah baba I see what you are saying, but this is the silver lining though. In every other state recreational use is illegal and most of the time when prosecuted its prosecuted by city, county, or state and obviously not federal but, this is saying that anyone who wants to smoke in WA or CO have absolutely nothing to worry about now! This is great and will make for a milestone in cannabis legalization one day....just like prop 215! This is really good news, really good!
 
E

Empire

117
63
I guess everyone forgot how he said the exact same thing word for word 4 years ago about legal medical states. The last 4 years has been the worst its ever been with federal raids. Obama is a puppet and a liar. He has no control over government agencies like many think he does. He is a front man, thats all.

If your dumb enough to believe his words i feel sorry for you. Legal state dispensaries are getting raided every single day. And guess what, the state and local sheriffs are there helping them raid. And this is all after obama promised to leave state legal dispensaries alone.

U speak of prop 215. Well its been almost 20 years since it passed and we are far worse off then we were even 5-6 years ago. So i have no idea how this could be considered a good thing. I consider it a warning that he will do the same thing he always does. Lie.
 
sanvanalona

sanvanalona

1,878
263
Colorado has been spared of the raids, and I am from Montana we got fucked with worse than any other state.......they shut the entire program down. There are many differences going on here, the major one is that Obama is not up for reelection in four years. His first four years were very much guarded and looking towards reelection, this time he is not. I personally believe that there were people within the dea and other federal agencies who were more or less acting "rogue" and knew they could because of the parameters that Obama was in, and now shit has changed!

Next, this is not about the commercialization or retail mmj or mj stores, but simply a time to be happy that people can smoke herb legally in WA and CO and that is great!

Change is slow moving train.
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

4,686
263
Colorado has been spared of the raids, and I am from Montana we got fucked with worse than any other state.......they shut the entire program down. There are many differences going on here, the major one is that Obama is not up for reelection in four years. His first four years were very much guarded and looking towards reelection, this time he is not. I personally believe that there were people within the dea and other federal agencies who were more or less acting "rogue" and knew they could because of the parameters that Obama was in, and now shit has changed!

Next, this is not about the commercialization or retail mmj or mj stores, but simply a time to be happy that people can smoke herb legally in WA and CO and that is great!

Change is slow moving train.

Do you honestly beleive that "rogue individuals"just went ahead and did whatever they wanted without any fear of repercussion?Im sorry but That is laughable to me and on top of that it doesnt even matter if it happened that way because ultimately and i have heard President Obama himself say this over and over that HE is responsible for anything that someone who works for him does.
I hope he finds the strength to just do the right thing and support what the people in those two states that lawfully voted in legalized marijuana did and that has to include a legal way to obtain it,Whether that means growing it yourself or buying it from a legal source.I agree hes in a sticky position but hey the people spoke and for him to not uphold their vote would be treasonous IMO,majority rules ya know?That is why hes our president right now.
 
sanvanalona

sanvanalona

1,878
263
Yeah I do think that there were rogue individuals left over from previous administrations that could of potentially caused a political uproar from the right had President Obama fired them. I am optimistic sure, but nevertheless this is a great day for herb smokers everywhere. IMO
 
Bluzboy

Bluzboy

1,126
163
In Nevada, there are brothel and call girl business owners that have 80 or more hookers working for them on their payrolls. That is considered a class X felony and would be prosecuted as a serious "organized crime" felony in any other State in the union, but in Nevada, its been going on "unmolested" in anyway by the Feds for over 60 years and there has never been a raid by FBI, ATF, DEA, IRS, or any other Federal entity on any brothel business or legal sex trade in Nevada other than the IRS and FBI going after Heidi Fleiss a few years back on tax evasion involving Fleiss' prior call girl business Fleiss ran in Hollywood. The Feds did not charge her on running the same kind of business, a brothel, in Nevada or tax evasion on her sex trade business' located there. So the Feds do not prosecute what they are required by federal law to prosecute. They prosecute what gets they(Feds) feel like and what gets them the best press politically to get more money/bigger budgets from taxpayers and the Congress.
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

4,686
263
Yeah I do think that there were rogue individuals left over from previous administrations that could of potentially caused a political uproar from the right had President Obama fired them. I am optimistic sure, but nevertheless this is a great day for herb smokers everywhere. IMO
So its bush's fault?LOL.
 
sanvanalona

sanvanalona

1,878
263
So its bush's fault?LOL.
No I am not saying that at all. President Obama definitely dropped the ball, but it may just be a great political maneuver if he in facts does allow these states to legalize and is able to do so without worry of reelection.
 
outwest

outwest

Premium Gardener
Supporter
4,629
263
You notice they say recreational smokers, they haven't been going after recreational smokers for sometime...they got all these legal growers to follow, they don't need to waste their time with the recreational stoner. Remember the Obama administration said before that Cannabis wasn't their main agenda but when you look at the amount of statistics it's hard to believe it's on the backburner...lol

How does Nevada have horror houses, is that not against federal law....


Clearly! Tell us what's gonna happen to cultivators not users!

outwest
 
fishwhistle

fishwhistle

4,686
263
No I am not saying that at all. President Obama definitely dropped the ball, but it may just be a great political maneuver if he in facts does allow these states to legalize and is able to do so without worry of reelection.

The people by a majority vote allowed the legalization NOT the president,his job now is to enforce the will of the people or at least stop any federal intervention of it.I dont know what he will do in colorado or washington but i DO know what he has been doing in california,basically they said ok your medical but you cant grow it or sell it or we will raid you with a swat team and stick loaded ar15's in your loved ones faces in front of your neighbors and send you to prison.Well where is it going to come from then?they know perfectly well what they are doing,they are circumventing the law.I dont live in colorado or washington but i have a vested interest because i know my state will be next in line if things work out there.Actions speak louder than words and his actions have been 180 degrees off from his words in my state so far.
 
sanvanalona

sanvanalona

1,878
263
The people by a majority vote allowed the legalization NOT the president,his job now is to enforce the will of the people or at least stop any federal intervention of it.I dont know what he will do in colorado or washington but i DO know what he has been doing in california,basically they said ok your medical but you cant grow it or sell it or we will raid you with a swat team and stick loaded ar15's in your loved ones faces in front of your neighbors and send you to prison.Well where is it going to come from then?they know perfectly well what they are doing,they are circumventing the law.I dont live in colorado or washington but i have a vested interest because i know my state will be next in line if things work out there.Actions speak louder than words and his actions have been 180 degrees off from his words in my state so far.
Yeah I am from Montana but live in Cali and I agree about his actions in the last term. But honestly, words do mean something when we have never had a sitting president come out this much for marijuana ever, Carter was maybe close but that is it.
 
azmmjadvocates

azmmjadvocates

442
43
No I am not saying that at all. President Obama definitely dropped the ball, but it may just be a great political maneuver if he in facts does allow these states to legalize and is able to do so without worry of reelection.
IF Obama wanted to He could say all State laws on marijuanna are void and I'm sure that politicians like here in Arizona and Montana would just love to hear that.

It's un deniable we have came a long way!!!! LOL one day we will be completely legal and all the growers will dry up due to legislation like alcohol, the IRS will start arresting growers "sharing" just like moonshine.

Obama has no authority to keep a rogue federal officer citing law that has been signed into law by a previous President. If he stumbles across your grow ( unbeknownst by obama lol) he will call his jack booted (largely republican) buddies for backup, destroy your shit.. What Obama does have the authority to do tell holder not to TARGET us. This year something will be done I believe. So if NATO is making comments against us, Obama says what?????

Going back and listening to what Obama really said about legalization doesn't ever pass the quote test for me when people quote his support for legalization..


So living in a state with a County Attorney who is fighting us "tooth and nail" lol.. I'm glad he heard the President say that, I'm glad he heard a judge tell him Arizona law is not prevented from making it's own law.. So I agree, it's a good day. I'm not one to believe that when prohibition of alcohol was ending and getting a sympathetic ear in the white house that raids, arrests and shakedowns still didn't happen,, they did.
 
Darth Fader

Darth Fader

1,195
163
I guess everyone forgot how he said the exact same thing word for word 4 years ago about legal medical states. The last 4 years has been the worst its ever been with federal raids. Obama is a puppet and a liar. He has no control over government agencies like many think he does. He is a front man, thats all.

If your dumb enough to believe his words i feel sorry for you. Legal state dispensaries are getting raided every single day. And guess what, the state and local sheriffs are there helping them raid. And this is all after obama promised to leave state legal dispensaries alone.

U speak of prop 215. Well its been almost 20 years since it passed and we are far worse off then we were even 5-6 years ago. So i have no idea how this could be considered a good thing. I consider it a warning that he will do the same thing he always does. Lie.

Yep. In Rolling Stone he "clarifies" that he said he 'wouldn't go after medical USERS' but never said he wouldn't go after growers or distributers. Same weak non-commital doublespeak here. In short time he'll probably be saying "I never said we wouldn't go after growers and distributers in legal states, we just said we wouldn't go after recreational USERS. Fool me once, shame on you.

The only reason he's letting this slide IMO is because Prohibition is clearly in it's death throes. Public opinion has shifted dramatically and it would be a giant political mistake to spend all that political capital to fight it just to die on that hill. Prohibition is ending whether he likes it or not.
 
squiggly

squiggly

3,277
263
Yep. In Rolling Stone he "clarifies" that he said he 'wouldn't go after medical USERS' but never said he wouldn't go after growers or distributers. Same weak non-commital doublespeak here. In short time he'll probably be saying "I never said we wouldn't go after growers and distributers in legal states, we just said we wouldn't go after recreational USERS. Fool me once, shame on you.

The only reason he's letting this slide IMO is because Prohibition is clearly in it's death throes. Public opinion has shifted dramatically and it would be a giant political mistake to spend all that political capital to fight it just to die on that hill. Prohibition is ending whether he likes it or not.

He did make clear that he would not go after distributors who have only distributed to patients who are legally prescribed the drug.

In every case brought forward during Obama's administration thus far (where anything has been unsealed), it has been revealed that a "sting" operation was carried out by the DEA such that it was determined marijuana was being provided to individuals who were not legally allowed to have the drug.


In other words--the people who have been charged brought it on themselves, they not only broke the law, they did something which EVERYONE knew not to do (provide MJ to a non-patient).


We can play dumb, sure--but that'd be dumb of us. Let's not pretend like we don't know what happened here.


As for the prostitution argument, so far as I know (and I just did some quick research to make sure and found nothing to the contrary)--it's not nor has it ever been Federally illegal.



I'm glad this was brought up in the article, and that Obama addressed it--a HUGE HUGE stumbling block for this movement, are the treaties that the US FORCED many nations to sign which seek to block drug proliferation.

We could experience some SEVERE backlash from the international community if we change our federal law concerning MJ. We have lost much of leverage we had when we forced them into signing these initially.
 
Bluzboy

Bluzboy

1,126
163
Yeah I am from Montana but live in Cali and I agree about his actions in the last term. But honestly, words do mean something when we have never had a sitting president come out this much for marijuana ever, Carter was maybe close but that is it.
I am from Phillipsburg, grew up there till I got drafted in 1970, which is just south west of Missoula as you know Sanvanlona. Have a lot of family there and love the State sincerely, butttt yeahhhhh, the MMJ program in Montana is severely messed up to the nth degree by a lot of "square heads" living up there with some of the "square heads" being indigenous, but a lot more of those "square heads" have been imported recently from other States over the last 2 decades that have shaken and stunk up the politics and the general atmosphere in Montana. Metaphorically Montana has gone from "Big Sky Country" to "Big Sky Country For Small Minds from Other States" .
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom