Why Mr. Obama?

When I first heard about Obama's online town hall I knew that some of the most popular question(s) would be related to the legalization of marijuana as it had been on the change.gov website when Obama called for ordinary citizens to voice their opinions and concerns. I was correct in this assumption but the sheer number of questions surprised even me.

Let's break it down:
A search of the questions for the phrase 'marijuana' returns 2,138 results.
Drugs, 2,233.
That's only 2% of the 104,000+ questions submitted to the website.
However...

• Under the category of 'Health Care Reform' questions related to the topic are the second and ninth most popular.

• Under 'Green Jobs and Energy' decriminalization are the 1st and 2nd biggest issues.

• 'Financial Stability's' first 4 questions all say legalize marijuana in one way or another.

• In 'Jobs' ending the war on drugs is the first and third most popular concern.

• Finally, under the heading 'Budget' the first 7 (#'s 1-7) most voted on questions for the president were related to the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana.7!

34% of the top 50 questions in these 5 categories were all basically asking the same thing. Does President Obama support the legalization and taxation of cannabis to not only save money but to make it? This speaks volumes about the scope of this issue, how much it effects, and how many people it relates to.

When the actual event came around I was sure at least one version of this questions would be brought forward. I was deeply disturbed when it wasn't. The topic would not have been acknowledged at all had Obama not stopped questioner Jared Bernstein to comment on the issue. And the comment was basically a big "fuck you very much". It felt like he was Bill O'Rielly insulting Jon Stewarts auidence.



He laughed off the question with his audience in the White House's East Room like it was some kind of a joke. After stating he thought it was "not a good strategy to grow [the] economy," the audience applauded him. I couldn't help but think "Did that really just happen?" I have always been and will continue to be a supporter of Obama but this is just not what I would expect from him. He's a self confessed (former) pot smoker yet he seems to show no sympathy towards the cause. How would he feel about the issue if he had been caught with some reefer? The racist laws he's (seemingly) trying to protect most certainly would have seen him receive, at the very least a large fine had he been caught with the drug; however he more likely would have received jail time. I can't see him making cracks about the "online audience" had this happened to him.

Why is this what people decide to applaud him on anyways? He's talking about sweeping health care reform and education reform, all of which are more worthy of applause than a dismissive comment about marijuana. These people, including Obama, need to do a little bit of research. The calls for decriminalization in recent days have been getting louder and more numerous. It seems to be the only thing that makes sense in many more ways than one. This is the quickest fix to solving the problem along the US-Mexico border because it would cripple the drug cartels that are the source of all the violence there. Demand for dirty Mexican weed falls significantly if home-grown Cali pot is made easily and readily accessible. Legalization would free up an IMMENSE amount of resource in the police force and in the prison system. It costs over a billion an estimated 33 billion dollars (source) a year to continue this fight. It would create hundreds of millions (more than a billion?) dollars a year in taxes alone. That's already, at the very least, an additional 1.5 33.5 billion (with a b) dollars annually for the government to play with. Wouldn't that be nice to have to overhaul health care or pay down the debt? Not to mention the jobs that would be created to grow and supply this plant which can be used as a recreational substance, a medicinal drug, or as a manufacturing product. It grows as fast as weeds (there's a reason it's got the nickname) and has almost limitless potential to create everything from paper to (good) hand cream. The amount of new business' that could open is an unpredictably large number. The city of Los Angeles alone currently has 180 medical marijuana dispensaries. Imagine this on a nationwide scale. The weed friendly cafe's and clubs, head shops and candy stores that would open in every town of every county in every state is unimaginable.

I also support this decision as a Canadian. If Obama legalizes weed, Canada would not be far behind, I'm sure. We almost had it before the Conservatives took over, and once they're out of office the only thing holding us back will be the fact that the U.S. wouldn't like it. For all the other reasons I cited above would be a good reason to legalize weed her in Canada. Canadians smoke more weed than any other country in the whole world and it's a miracle it's not already legalized. An estimated 44.5% of Canadians over the age of 15 have smoked pot (just ahead of the US with 42.4%), so this means even more tax dollars per capita. A shift away from the policies of yesteryear would do wonders for our economy and our provide much needed police officers across the country.

I will close with this: One expert estimated that weed, if legalized, would cost as much as tea costs gram per gram. Tea costs 0.5 cents/gram. (I read this in an old article in Macleans magazine).

Thanks for reading.

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