I think it's pretty amazing... Obama built his candidacy by getting people involved, I love that he is continuing that after the election.

The #1 question with a lead of over a thousand:

This is so disappointing and just shows what a niche the internet is. Anytime you wonder why nobody takes internet petitions seriously here's exhibit A. Nope, we don't care about the recession, or people losing their homes, or 2 wars going on in the middle east, we want to be able to buy dime-bags at the 7-11.

Well, that's been an issue for many people for sometime now. It is important to them. Why can't they voice their concerns, however bogus they may seem to others?

US drug policy is an utter failure and has resulted in a population explosion in the prison system. Both US drug policy enforcement and the continued expansion of the prison system to lock up nonviolent offenders whose crime is personal drug use drain taxpayer dollars with no measurable benefit to society. We're in a recession and need tax revenue to rebuild a lot of broken systems. Drug policy reform is one of many things that could be looked at to accomplish this goal.

OK I'll admit the US Drug Policy is a ridiculous joke and just when you think you've seen the final punchline another comes along. From the initial ban of pot because some tobacco plantation owners convinced the government that marijuana made white women sleep with Asians to Nixon campaigning on a 'tough on crime' platform and realizing after wards that basically only drugs and counterfeiting fall under federal jurisdiction to the post 9-11 'pot funds terrorists' campaign to Tommy Chong doing time for selling a bong through the mail and dozens of examples in between.

The sooner it's completely overhauled the better.

Plus, Obama's going to be speaking about the economy and the Middle East. Getting him to speak up on the War on Drugs is more of an accomplishment.

Yes, pot should be legal.

No, it's not really the biggest thing on our plate right now.

Yes, I'm pretty sure we all know what Obama's going to say. Medical marijuana should be legal, but he'll be against completely legalizing it; whether or not he actually wants to, this is just not the time to come out with that plan.

I'm actually quite worried about his potential drug policy. Joe Biden's a real hawk on the Drug War, and I'm worried he might influence Obama in that direction. That'd be a shame, because Obama will be our third president in a row who's smoked pot in his earlier years, so he should know better.

Anyway, my hope is that he'll be more sensible than that. If he just stops the federal raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, that'd be a great leap forward.

Aside from the legalization issue, do you believe that overhauling a demonstrably failed program that requires us to spend almost 70 billon dollars a year of taxpayer dollars on prohibition (not to mention the hundreds of millions a year states must spend to lock up non-violent drug offenders) is something that should be brought up in the current economic climate?



::sidenote:: I don't smoke pot, and I wouldn't even if it were legal, I just don't see how current US drug policy doesn't factor into our current economic mess.

Oh, it absolutely applies.

But Obama would be a fool to come out in support of marijuana right now. He might as well send a video of himself playing Apples To Apples with Bill Ayers to Rush Limbaugh.

Right now, he needs to appeal to everyone - including those who didn't vote for him. He could very well rob himself of his honeymoon period if he came out saying that pot is legal - and let's not forget that the Dems are hardly united on this topic. He'd likely alienate a large number of his own party.

EDIT:
Hey, that's interesting. There are slashes by all of my apostrophes. ' ' ' ' ' Wonder if that'll last.

I was thinking last night that Stephen Colbert could a lot of online support behind the question of what place he will be offered in the new administration. I bet he could get Truthiness Czar.

I certainly think it's unreasonable to expect that he'll come out in favor of outright legalization. However, what he could do is come out with a policy that favors treatment and harm reduction over prosecution and incarceration.