OBAMA'S MANY VIEWS ON MARIJUANA

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PAUL KRASSNER - During a debate in the Democratic presidential primaries
campaign, MSNBC moderator Tim Russert, the claymation journalist, asked
the candidates who opposed decriminalization of marijuana to raise their
hands.

Barack Obama hesitantly raised his hand halfway before quickly lowering
it again. However, in January 2004, when Obama was running for the
Senate, he told Illinois college students that he supported eliminating
criminal penalties for marijuana use or possession. "I think the war on
drugs has been a failure, and I think we need to rethink and
decriminalize our marijuana laws," he said during a debate at
Northwestern University.  "But I'm not somebody who believes in
legalization of marijuana."

Was Obama now having a time-travel debate with himself? When the
Washington Times confronted Obama with that statement on a video of the
2004 debate, his campaign offered two explanations in less than 24
hours. First, a spokesperson said that Obama had "always" supported
decriminalizing marijuana, that he misunderstood the question when he
raised his hand, and reiterated Obama's opposition to full legalization,
adding that an Obama administration would "review drug sentences to see
where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the blind and
counterproductive sentencing to non-violent offenders."

But, after the Times posted the video on its website, the Obama campaign
made a fast U-turn and declared that he does not support eliminating
criminal penalties for marijuana possession and use--thereby rejecting
both decriminalization and legalization. 

What exactly is the difference? The definitions, according to Pot
Culture: The A-Z Guide to Stoner Language & Life by Shirley Halperin and
Steve Bloom, with a foreword by Tommy Chong: "Decriminalization: When
laws governing marijuana are changed to reduce the penalties for
possession of small quantities (usually below an ounce) to non-criminal
status. The first state to decriminalize was Oregon in 1973, followed by
California, New York, Ohio, Nebraska, Minnesota, Colorado, Mississippi,
Alaska, North Carolina and Maine."

"Legalization: The complete repeal of marijuana prohibition and removal
of all criminal penalties for its use, sale, transport and cultivation.
The Netherlands is the only country in the world with such a policy."

Ron Fisher at NORML told me, "Decriminalization is the elimination of
criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana, usually by replacing
them with a fine (similar to a speeding ticket).  Full legalization is a
more complex issue that involves U.S. treaties, as well as the law. 
Legalization would be characterized by taxation and regulation of
marijuana. 

This is NORML's ultimate goal, but we work for decrim in the meantime
for the sake of the 830,000 Americans arrested on cannabis charges each
year." And, according to medical marijuana activist Lanny Swerdlow,
"Whether Senator Obama has changed his position or not, if he obtains
the Democratic nomination for president, then marijuana
decriminalization will certainly become an issue in the campaign--maybe
a major issue. I'm sure the Republicans will use Obama's videotaped
statement supporting decriminalization and will try to paint him as soft
on crime, sending the wrong message to children and all the baggage that
goes with it.  In this day and age, I think that could very well
backfire as I really believe that most Americans are not aware, let
alone support, ensnaring 830,000 citizens in the criminal justice system
for marijuana-prohibition violations at a cost to taxpayers of between
10 and 20 billion dollars a year."

Indeed, a CNN/Time-Warner poll shows that 76% of Americans agree with
Obama's original position, not to mention the 48 million who smoked pot
in 2007.

http://paulkrassner.com/

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