| President Obama's Response To YouTube Drug War Questions Posted: 27 Jan 2011 12:23 PM PST  $15.5 billion this year alone, 2/3rds for ineffective law enforcement. President Obama responded to the most popular question (or, the eighty most popular questions) on YouTube.com's "Ask Obama" forum regarding the debate on drug legalization in America. Despite being the most popular question and gaining four times the support of any other non-drug war question, the YouTube moderator didn't ask the question until #15. The President's response is a lot of platitudes about treatment, reducing demand, and reallocating resources, despite the Obama administration's budget that puts twice the resources toward law enforcement than to treatment. At its core, however, it retains the premise that responsible adult marijuana consumers must be persuaded by our government, through drug tests, drug courts, forced rehab, and incarceration, into not consuming cannabis. Mr. President, we're never going to stop smoking marijuana. Never. American demand for cannabis is here to stay. You can let criminals control that market or you can do the sensible thing and begin regulating it. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now | | Mainstream Media Finally Recognizing That Americans Want Marijuana Law Reform Posted: 27 Jan 2011 09:54 AM PST [Update! While President Obama's YouTube remarks may have been predictable, the mainstream media's focus on the popularity of marijuana law reform has been nothing short of extraordinary -- as noted by the growing number of mainstream outlets (CBS, Fox, USA Today, etc.) that have devoted ink to the story. Via today's YouTube forum, the public has made their case to the mainstream media and that ultimately is just as important, if not more important, than making their case to the President.] Regardless of whether or not President Obama addresses the question of marijuana law reform in today's live YouTube 'Ask Obama' Q&A, the American public has made their case to the mainstream media. The top questions Americans want to ask U.S. President Barack Obama on YouTube Thursday deal with legalizing marijuana, a review of the questions indicated. … The YouTube questions Obama will answer will be based on the number of votes each question receives, YouTube said. More than 193,000 people submitted nearly 140,000 questions and cast almost 1.4 million votes by midnight Wednesday, the submission deadline, a United Press International review indicated. This is 10 times last year's 14,000 questions, the first year YouTube hosted an Obama interview. The top 10 questions all involved ending or changing the government's war on drugs, legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana and embracing industrial hemp as a "green" initiative to help farmers, the UPI review found. As NORML's Russ Belville blogged yesterday, marijuana's popularity is not just limited the top 10 questions. In fact, the top 100 most popular questions (See them here.) posed to the President are about marijuana and drug law reform.Regardless of how President Obama responds, the media has their story: The American public is ready to engage in a serious and objective political debate regarding the merits of legalizing the use of cannabis by adults. Is the President? Tune in here at 2:30 est today to find out. | |
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