Community | November 23, 2009 | 22 comments

Support for legalizing marijuana grows rapidly around U.S.

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112201986.html

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Approval for medical use expands alongside criticism of prohibition - The same day they rejected a gay marriage ballot measure, residents of Maine voted overwhelmingly to allow the sale of medical marijuana over the counter at state-licensed dispensaries.

Later in the month, the American Medical Association reversed a longtime position and urged the federal government to remove marijuana from Schedule One of the Controlled Substances Act, which equates it with heroin and cocaine.

A few days later, advocates for easing marijuana laws left their biannual strategy conference with plans to press ahead on all fronts -- state law, ballot measures, and court -- in a movement that for the first time in decades appeared to be gaining ground.

"This issue is breaking out in a remarkably rapid way now," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Public opinion is changing very, very rapidly."

The shift is widely described as generational. A Gallup poll in October found 44 percent of Americans favor full legalization of marijuana -- a rise of 13 points since 2000. Gallup said that if public support continues growing at a rate of 1 to 2 percent per year, "the majority of Americans could favor legalization of the drug in as little as four years."

A 53 percent majority already does so in the West, according to the survey. The finding heartens advocates collecting signatures to put the question of legalization before California voters in a 2010 initiative.

At last week's International Drug Reform Conference, activists gamed specific proposals for taxing and regulating pot along the lines of cigarettes and alcohol, as a bill pending in the California Legislature would do. The measure is not expected to pass, but in urging its serious debate, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) gave credence to a potential revenue source that the state's tax chief said could raise $1.3 billion in the recession, which advocates describe as a boon.

There were also tips on lobbying state legislatures, where measures decriminalizing possession of small amounts have passed in 14 states. Activists predict half of states will have laws allowing possession for medical purposes in the near future.

Interest in medical marijuana and easing other marijuana laws picked up markedly about 18 months ago, but advocates say the biggest surge came with the election of Barack Obama, the third straight president to acknowledge having smoked marijuana, and the first to regard it with anything like nonchalance.

"As a kid, I inhaled," Barack Obama famously said on the campaign. "That was the whole point."

In office, Obama made good on a promise to halt federal prosecutions of medical marijuana use where permitted by state law. That has recalibrated the federal attitude, which had been consistently hostile to marijuana since the early 1970s, when President Richard Nixon cast aside the recommendations of a presidential commission arguing against lumping pot with hard drugs.

Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said he was astonished recently to be invited to contribute thoughts to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Obama's drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, was police chief in Seattle, where voters officially made enforcement of marijuana laws the lowest priority.

"I've been thrown out of the ONDCP many times," St. Pierre said. "Never invited to actually participate."

Anti-drug advocates counter with surveys showing high school students nationwide already are more likely to smoke marijuana than tobacco -- and that the five states with the highest rate of adolescent pot use permit medical marijuana.

"We are in the prevention business, CON'T>"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/22/AR2009112201986....
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22 comments // Support for legalizing marijuana grows rapidly around U.S.

  • adam0324
    • 0
      adam0324  

    • Just legalize it the drug is alread used by so many Americans, i personally think it should be are own choice what we put in our bodies.

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • I think 'cannabis smokers' did go to the polls. Barack Obama won with a margin too large to steal. I think people were speaking, I just think President Obama and the rest are not willing to 'use' their 'so-called' political capital to 'speak' for many of the ones who helped elect them. Once they get into office, fear keeps them from 'really' changing things.

      "The war on drugs has been an utter failure. We need to rethink and decriminalize our nation's marijuana laws." -Barack Obama, January 2004

      "I inhaled frequently. That was the point." - Barack Obama, U.S. President

      I'm sure he does not believe the 'reefer madness'. He knows! He has met with many cannabis smokers. He knows! I 'hope' he has the courage to 'change' the madness and reclassify cannabis. Cannabis should not be Schedule I, equal to heroin. That's past 'madness', that's crazy. I think he could increase his political capital by being honest, or at least promoting science over 'madness'!

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  

    • but alas when it comes time to vote where are the pot smokers? on thier couches deep in thought eating fistfulls of cereal not at the polls

    • 2 years ago
  • Conniepae
    • 0
      Conniepae  

    • I don't think death is their issue with cannabis hemp. It is a political tool used by politicians, who are afforded the luxury of lying and distorting, without accountability. The 'war on cannabis' started with Richard Nixon and he did it with forethought. He chose to ignore the facts and start the war anyway.
      http://current.com/items/90366137_its-time-right-the-wrongs-of-richard-nixon-the...
      For scientific support, he appointed former Republican Pennsylvania Governor Ray Shafer to head a National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. He told Gov. Shafer to treat marijuana just like heroin despite the "obvious differences between marijuana and other drugs."3 He was even more direct withchief of staff Bob Haldeman. "I want a Goddamn strong statement about marijuana...that just tears the ass out of them."4

      Ronald Reagan was also afforded the luxury of a lie. He stated: "I now have absolute proof that smoking even one marijuana cigarette is equal in brain damage to being on Bikini Island during an H-bomb blast" - Ronald Reagan
      No one held him accountable, they just 'moved along'. No one wanted to be the one to challenge the war mongers who were spinning fear to win 'their' war.

      Many, many Americans smoke cannabis. Their challenging the war mongers could expose them to the world and threaten their future. It's easier to stay in the closet. But, do they really want to 'feel like' a criminal, for a crime 'built on madness'? Their parents and even their children are being misled. Lies and distortion should not be used to fight a war on American soil. Politics and government should be based on 'fact'. NO ONE should be afforded the luxury of a lie.

    • 2 years ago
  • evtezcan
    • 0
      evtezcan  

    • There isn't any reason that it shouldn't have been legalized by now! It's 2009 and the proof that it is not bad is all there!

      I'm not saying that alcohol should be banned (because I do love my alcohol!), but if it had to be between marijuana and alcohol - well, the obvious answer is clear.

      Alcohol deaths - Approximately 100,000*
      Marijuana deaths - 0

      *This number is the total of alcohol-related deaths. As for alcohol deaths by overdose, I'm not sure of the number.

    • 2 years ago
  • sgordy1
  • NIkoN
    • 0
      NIkoN  

    • the majority of prisoners are jailed for possesion if you dissagree with weed and anyone associated with it then why do you gladly pay higher taxes to jail these "f#ckin stoners" yes some of them are in jail for distributing large ammounts, and i dont agree with children abusing the drug but most of the offenders use for personal reasons. the medical reasons are much more serious: post traumatic stress. chronic pain, cancer, aids, eppilepsy, irritable boul, the list goes on and on. but a broken arm or something temporary like that i believe requires strong speculation. oxicontin and morphine are incredibly addictive and doctors give them out like candy. marijuana is only slightly psycologicly addictive.as for alchoholism (a term widley used by medicine) is hereditary and verry dangerous to overcome. once you throw up from drinking too much you have alcohol poisoning, organic marijuana dosnt have that effect, with my experience alcohol is a serious drug and weed is seriously awesome

    • 2 years ago
  • isnamthere
  • sgordy1
  • Ares
    • 0
      Ares  

    • I think the penalty for illegal drug use should be death, just so I don't have to hear stoners complain about it fucking 24 hours a day.

    • 2 years ago
  • bailey78
  • NIkoN
  • isnamthere
    • 0
      isnamthere  

    • I think the American people realize that we do not need to throw away even more money that we don't have by pursuing and incarcerating pot smokers.

    • 2 years ago
  • Maeveeo
    • 0
      Maeveeo  

    • How can so many people get it wrong all these years , even Nixon got it wrong & lied just like Bush did & so many went with it & started drinking booze more than ever ,,,,,,
      SEE HOW MANY DIED BECAUSE IF IT , See what happens when you don't tell the truth & tell people lies !!!!! And this drug ( booze ) is still legal ! & people are still dying even with the signs don't drink & drive , i guess you have to end up in the Hospital to understand or someone you know has to die for you to get it !
      WEED DOES NOT DO THIS !

    • 2 years ago
  • freecrack
    • 0
      freecrack  
    • Maeveeo:

      how many kids every year experiment with opiate derived pills instead of pot.addictions and overdoses increase cuz these pills are legal while pot will get them arrested.fuck the alcohol argument its the vicodin and oxycodone that are killing kids as a result of marijuanas illegality

    • 2 years ago
  • adickto10
  • NIkoN
    • 0
      NIkoN  
    • adickto10:

      were trying to as fast as we can but bongs and joints can only burn so much, would you say that to a cancer, aids or peralasis patient. the only down side of using marijuana correctly is laziness. when u have no appetite because of chemo or chronic pain and conventional pharmesutical narcotics cause you to take more unneccisary drugs pot is the safest alternative. and if ur worried about a patients reaction time affecting theyre driving, dont because were not alloud to drive under the influence, i like obama too but even hes conciderate of the sick and dieing. go ahead and burn it yourself and then tell me whos making the moral decision

    • 2 years ago
  • HellastOne
  • Conniepae
  • medHead
  • PressCore
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