Late Friday, the White House answered the top-vote-getting petition and seven other marijuana petitions in one response (Friday afternoon is traditionally considered a good time to “dump the trash” — put out a bunch of stuff they have to release but don’t want to have noticed much, just before the weekend.)
LEAP has already responded
Late Friday night the White House issued a typical evasive rejection of the several marijuana legalization petitions that collected more signatures than any other issue on its “We the People” website. Even though recent polls show that more voters support marijuana legalization than approve of President Obama’s job performance, the White House categorically dismissed the notion of reforming any laws, focusing its response on the possible harms of marijuana use instead of addressing the many harms of prohibition detailed in the petitions. […]
“It’s maddening that the administration wants to continue failed prohibition polices that do nothing to reduce drug use and succeed only in funneling billions of dollars into the pockets of the cartels and gangs that control the illegal market,” said Franklin, who serves as executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of cops, judges and prosecutors who support legalizing and regulating drugs. “If the president and his advisers think they’re being politically savvy by shying away from much-needed change to our drug policies, they’re wrong. The recent Gallup poll shows that more Americans support legalizing marijuana than support continuing prohibition, so the administration is clearly out of step with the people it claims to represent. President Obama needs to remember his campaign pledge not to waste scarce resources interfering with state marijuana laws and his earlier statement about the ‘utter failure’ of the drug war.”
Five of the top 10 petitions on the “We the People” site are about some aspect of marijuana or drug policy reform. The eight marijuana petitions that the White House’s Friday rejection was intended to address have collectively garnered more than 150,00 signatures.
Good job by LEAP.
Again, nothing surprising in the pathetic petition “answer” by Gil Kerlikowske.
According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health- the world’s largest source of drug abuse research – marijuana use is associated with addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment. We know from an array of treatment admission information and Federal data that marijuana use is a significant source for voluntary drug treatment admissions and visits to emergency rooms. Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has almost tripled over the past 20 years, raising serious concerns about what this means for public health – especially among young people who use the drug because research shows their brains continue to develop well into their 20’s. Simply put, it is not a benign drug.
And then he talked about the “balanced” approach, which is his nonsense mantra to deflect any criticism.
Again, this is nothing more than we expected. Nobody expected that we would put in a petition and the government would stop in their tracks and say “Oh, my. I never realized that. We need to stop this injustice immediately.”
It’s all about having one more option to promote a national discussion (as LEAP has nicely contributed with their release).
Thanks, Pete!
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Rats, I guess I posted my suggestion in the wrong comments.
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Well I checked and petitions are still being accepted. Why waste time on petty issues when the problem isn’t public policy, it’s the people making public policy?
I’d really appreciate some constructive suggestions. No, I don’t expect it to happen but gosh, we have the opportunity to directly communicate with Mr. Obama about just how big of an asshole we think he is. OK, what are some synonyms for total asshole that are appropriate for polite company. Red rosy rectum doesn’t work, that got me thrown out of a Staples when I thought it might pass muster.
(Say DC, can I get you to reconsider the notion that passive aggressive people are timid by nature? Some of us think that it’s an excellent device for making our feelings know. Call someone an asshole directly and they’ve certainly heard it before. Ask an asshole, “hey, I’ve always wondered what it must be like to be an asshole, could you give me the insider’s point of view” and it gets through their skull to their brain.)
Sorry Duncan, but if you were a ‘real man’ you’d march right down to the whitehouse, drag Obama out onto the lawn by his ears and whup him like a puppy that just crapped the rug.
I’ll write…wait…can you get letters in Guantanamo?
P.S. That’s aggressive, not passive aggressive. Passive aggressive is when you want to call someone an asshole, and instead, you pee on their toothbrush.
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Hey, that’s supposed to be a secret!
Why not another petition asking for a response from the correct office regarding rescheduling cannabis? The We The People site says that the petition will be sent to the proper policy makers and the response will be made from there and according to the CSA rescheduling power is granted to the President of these United States not the ONDCP. The whole goal here was so that Obama would not have to release a statement himself or say anything on a web or tv broadcast against cannabis legalization so he can try to blame everyone else for the crackdowns on cannabis and play the role as our “Hero…if re-elected.” next year and then most likely pull the same stunts for four more years. I feel the most beneficial thing we can do is force him to personally take a stand regarding this issue. His press secretary tried to get him disassociated from the medical marijuana crack down by the IRS, ATF and DEA because he realizes the danger of pissing off his youth base. We need to force him to make a stand in one direction or another or he will do anything he can to wiggle out of any responsibility on this subject. till after he is re-elected.
Or why not a petition that cites all the studies on the Norml blog regarding the ONDCP response proving that all of the “scientific” data cited in the response has been disproven or is irrelavent and then request a response that takes into account “what current science tells us about marijuana, not decade old studies or studies that prove cannabis is as addictive as coffee.”
Or why not a petition that requests an open scientific debate between the ONDCP and drug law reformers, since this is “A perfectly legitimate topic to debate.”
Sorry if there are any spelling errors. I am at work and the spell check isn’t working.
SHIT!! Jules you’re a frikkin’ genius!
Make him own it! Your first idea gets my enthusiastic “thumbs up!”
Thanks but I cannot take all the credit for that gem. I had completely forgot that the rescheduling power is deligated from the office of the president until I read this great post from Just Say Now
http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2011/10/25/obama-doesnt-need-to-wait-on-medical-marijuana/
and then reading the response from the ONDCP director got me thinking “why is this not coming from the office of the president when he is the one given the power by the CSA to reschedule drugs?” and that is when it all clicked. I’d love to sign the petition when you get it written, post a link up and I’ll share it everywhere I am able.
Thanks everyone for all the hard work. I truly feel we are at the point where the question is not if but how soon will cannabis be re-legalized and that is going to be the first of many milestone nails in the coffin of prohibition!
Jules, I’m not sure I’m the one to write it, past attempts of mine at that sort of thing have ended in well, not disaster exactly, but not what you might call success…
My problem is that if it can be said in one sentence, I will say it in five.
Jules, if that is true then Ron Paul (when he becomes president, with our help) can absolutely end the federal war on drugs, immediately. Tho a petition (if Obama would not only answer it but actually act on the petition) would get the job done sooner, as the earliest Ron Paul could do it would be 1/21/13 (the day after inauguration).
dc, I have the same problem, I’m much too verbose (one reason I use my actual nickname — my grandpa gave it to me when I was an infant — as a username, it fits my speaking and writing style, perfectly) and I have a hard time editing my own work (someone else’s? no prob!)
DarkCycle: I’ll try to write one up soon, between school, my son and work I’m being kept pretty busy right now but I should have some time tomorrow. I have been told, by mostly ex girlfriends, I have the same elongation problem. My last one refereed to it as “Word Raping People.” I’d do it at work but they blocked the site, but ironically not this site.
Windy: I love both Ron Paul and Gary Johnson and register myself republican just to be able to vote in the primaries for one of them, usually Johnson because he has the best chance of actually being elected. I would vote for either of them if they made it to the national election but unfortunately it is highly unlikely that either will. Obama is aware that the choices for next year are going to be a hypocrite/liar (himself) v.s. a republican who is either a clone of him (Romney) or a whack job (just about everyone else). Most every political commentator has been emphasizing that Obama’s numbers may be down but they aren’t lower then any of the other options so he most likely thinks no matter what he does he will get re-elected any way so why pander to the “cannabis law reform hippies” when he can avoid the topic and win any way? I hate to say this but our focus must be on forcing him to work for this election regarding drug laws and not on attempting to get Ron Paul or Gary Johnson election. Johnson actually acknowledged that his running and his tour are more about making people aware of what he believes is broken in America and that there are other options besides the status quo then it is about actually trying to get elected. We need to follow in suit, we need to focus on the goal we can accomplish in the next 365 days. Force this topic into mainstream, force Obama to acknowledge and comment on it, with 50% of America supporting this the time is perfect now and we shouldn’t have to wait four more years to get this coffin nailed shut.
Jules, I’ll help you if I can. Let me know, I’ll send you to my facebook page, I maintain one specifically for my activism under an assumed name (although it’s become something of a hassle maintaining two facebook pages).
Technically, Gil K. IS the person responsible – to speak for the President on ‘such matters’…
It’s in the ONDCP’s creation act – it’s right in there near the ‘Drug Czar Required to Lie’ section.
And its Gil’s job to do just what he did = (“taking such actions as necessary to oppose any attempt to legalize the use” of certain controlled substances – such as marijuana),
SO that the President doesn’t have to actually make yet another statement that He & his whole WH Staff KNOWS if horribly unpopular among his Democrat liberal left/center-left base! And many “Independents” as well.
I’m really beginning to wonder if David Plouffe knows what Gil is doing to the re-election campaign with this response?
I’m thinking it maybe ‘Joe Biden – (one of the) O.G. Drug Warrior(s)’ – who’s *ahem* c#ck-blocking us in regard to this popular appeal for reform/repeal of MJ Prohibition?
This bugged me from the 1st day he was announced as Obama’s running-mate for VP in 2008, Joe’s personal webpage highlighted “drug courts” as one of his ‘pet projects’, and I worried. (= apparently with good reason) – Now, I’m just ticked off & resentful.
Someone should lean over & whisper into the ear of V.P. Biden that – “THIS ISSUE is a Big Fucking Deal!”
(And to whomever else thinks this is a smart position for the Democratic Incumbent to take), Especially when MANY people’s first introduction in 2007-2008 to Barrack Obama was his = “Yes, Frequently, that was the point!” reply to the standard “Did you inhale?” Question = on basically all the Talk/Interview & Late-Night Shows…
IDK – if they realize this was in fact responsible for (at least) some portion of his massive popularity either???
See… we Hoped he’d be pragmatic and make this common sense Change not right away – But, The day he signed the Executive Order to reverse the ban on Stem-cell Research and the one for “Scientific Integrity” in his administration = we thought that was a signal of sanity – regarding 40 years of Marijuana Prohibition coming to and end.
Although many said it probably wouldn’t be done in his 1st term, – Basically, the ‘first black President’ just can’t walk in, take off his jacket and proceed to immediately legalize weed – the day after he’s inaugurated… the Bigots & outright Racists would have to big off a ‘political field-day’ with that – Sadly, He may not get a 2nd term at this rate!
He (we) may have to repeal the 1998 act that created the ONDCP & Office of the Drug Czar before we can do anything further about this issue?
All the Libertarians and the Far-Right crazies want to ‘eliminate the Dept. of Education’ – among several others… & (call me crazy) But, I think the ONDCP should go on the chopping block before the Dept. of Education!
what a LIAR. he probably knows it too. either that or he’s one of these liars that has himself convinced through denial of the truth.
As the author wrote, none of the concerns of the petitions were addressed in the response. There is currently another petition – to take the petitions seriously. I strongly suggest that everyone sign it, at least we can then hear the white house babble about how they are taking the petitions seriously. Yeah right.
We should also petition the white house to respond individually to each petition. One canned response to seven petitions is an outrageous affront to the people that worked hard to get those petitions up for review. To dismiss months of a person’s time in over a cup of coffee is so typical of a government employee. No wonder people are upset. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a union hater, or a crazy nutcase. BUT THIS DISGUSTS ME. Even if I don’t agree with someone, I would respect them with an adequate response if they put the effort forth to make something like this happen.
link?
I wouldn’t have expected anything differently from the Whitehouse, but since they are supposed to represent the people and so many are pushing for their rights for reform and given Obahma’s previous statements..I had hope. Of course it all comes back down to money. If the statement they issused was about cigarettes or alcohol that would have been a profound understatement, yet they are legal. If you read the side effects of something simple as a asprin, you would see that there is more detrimental side effects to that one little pill than there are to cannibus. Marijuana never made anyones stomach bleed, etc. I’ve never heard of any adult going to the emergency room from smoking too much pot. Those claims are ridiculous. Obahma’s brother must be appaled. It comes down to the fact that it is simply not in the best interest of OUR government to reform these laws. The massive amount of people and their experiences with this natural herb speaks clearly. It is in the governments best interst to keep it illegal, that’s what they should have said. A little honesty and truth from the people that are supposed to be representing us is too much to ask. It’s okay if they all want to sit up there and socialize while they get soused and stagger around drunk. They choose to continue to make ordinary citizens into criminals and split families up by sending them to jail because it is so profitable to them to keep it illegal. Most people can treat themselves with herbs without the traditional prescriptions, which are laden with side effects..even death or stroke, heart attack even…I feel like a slave in this country. I’m not happy with our representatives or their biased policies. Smoke cigarettes, all you want…go into any store and get them. Puff all night long if you want. Lung cancer, empesemia, copd…heck that’s not side effects.. Drink yourself into a stuper of oblivian..go out and kill someone or watch as your stomach bust open from cirosis of the liver…That’s okay. Watch as people bury their child or their other loved one because of a drunk driver…but lord forbid if you want people to be able to choose a natural medicine that stops siezures, helps dying people be able to eat and get through chemo, and fights tumor growth. There’s no money in it for DC.
Vote R O N P A U L if you value the constitution and want your country back.
Ron Paul is OK on cannabis, but his other positions on things like abortion are off the tracks. Don’t be a one issue voter….you’ll not like the country if Rethuglians are running things.
So you believe the men who founded our country were “off the tracks”, too? Ron Paul obeys the Constitution in everything he does in office, and he expects all of the rest of the federal government to do the same, I’d like to know what the hell is wrong or “off the tracks” with that! Ron Paul is very similar in thought and action to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.
Ron Paul has refused to receive the lucrative congressional pension, this is something no other member of congress has ever done.
He also returns the unused portion of his congressional office’s budget to the treasury EACH YEAR, something else no other member of congress does.
He’s honest and thrifty with taxpayers’ monies, something no other member of congress can claim.
I love this comment from http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/10/29/ron-paul-wins-both-tallies-at-gop-pres-straw-poll-in-iowa/ by Carlin123:
“The Media and political pundits will ignore it until it can no longer be ignored. [Ron Paul] is boring because there is no flip-flopping no lying no political theater, just the cold hard truth and the light to lead us out of the hole we’ve put ourselves in. An underdog, a real American, and the only man I’ll vote for. Ron Paul.”
Ron Paul is the ONLY candidate who is squeaky clean, and the ONLY one whose voting record matches his Constitutional principles, 100% of the time. With Ron Paul, the voters can be 100% assured that they will get a president who will never compromise those Constitutional principles, because his record proves he never has. This is something no voter alive today has ever experienced.
One more reason to deny any INCUMBANT a position at the slop trough! Vote them out and make them work for a living. We not only have to uphold our agenda but we also need to be instrumental in culling the herd.
Work? You know where there’s WORK?!
You’re either one who waits for someone to give them work or you make your own. I’ve always gone with the latter. And with the net, there’s all sorts of things to do…for yourself. If you’re in a big city, you might check with the IATSE union. They build and tear down local events. They always have openings for extras. That was always my fall-back rent-getter in CA. Get outside of the box!
I’m retired (mostly), Ez. I were just kiddin’. I’m in the process of starting a business I don’t really even want to run….
Work was never a problem for me either (though getting paid for it sometimes turns into one).
Here is a less PC response to Gil Kerlikowske’s boldface lies:
http://cannabiswarrior.com/2011/10/29/stfu-white-house-response-does-not-meet-smell-test/
50% of Americans want it legalized and 46% want to lock them up for it.
Why don’t both groups lock each other up in 2 week shifts.
Then we could all be prisoners and guards in a huge corporate prison that gets paid by the fed gov’t and we all get to suck off the govt teat equally.
I think we need to start voting congress out of DC,,all of them until we get our country back.
Until States rights under dual mandate is taken seriously, just like wealth going to the top 1%, Political power will go to the top 1% of Politicians(Federal level).
At some point, Federal mandates taking presedence on each state and each states decisions will have come to a head. Till that time, nothing the State does will be taken seriously by the Fed. The Fed has become Facisim, Facism has to be challenged. There is no Duality. States have become nothing but Political servants to the Fed.
Looking forward to the day when, MMJ or unprocessed cheese or any of the hundreds of Federal mandates start a war, for States rights to Govern within the State.
Every day another Federal Law is passed.. and most are already on the books at state level….why do 535 Federal employees believe they have jurisdiction, within the State? Job security.
The Obama White House, like any White House, isn’t a set of Human beings that can be appealed to, or reasoned with.
It is a Giant robot brain, that is indifferent to our wants and needs, insofar as it doesn’t help the Robot exert control over us through our selfish desires.
Marijuana is an enemy of the Robot, and trying to reason with the Robot with regards to Marijuana is therefore pointless. Its a Robot.
Knock Knock, whos there? A Robot. Obama isn’t home.
Peace
“Cannabists vote NO OBAMA in 2012”
And “cannabists” can be change to whatever floats your boat. I like the ring of “stoners” but vipers, tokers, potheads, heads, etc all work.
Droop Doggie Dogg done did it now… isn’t it amazing? The harder they try the dumber they look and Droopy is chief of dumb…
Props to LEAP for jumping right on it.
Ya know… it just makes a whole lot of sense in my mind that a coalition of orgs (LEAP, SSDP, NORML, ASA, MPP, DPA, DS, MAPS, et al) needs to do something – together.
And Gil gets no more free rides. Anytime he makes a public appearance he meets a protest. Protestors confronting gummint powercrats (like Gil) have almost guaranteed media value. Throw a pot leaf on it and you can make reporters drool…
Folks, we have a year to do something… and that something needs to be reallly good.
American Society For Addiction Medicine: Don’t Legalize Marijuana
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/29/american-society-for-addiction-medicine-marijuana_n_1065275.html
These are the people running the rehab centers that will lose the judicial ordered rehab of marijuana users if it is legalized. And this is Keven Sabet’s new job,,helping rehab organizations create propaganda.
Funny how all he can do is create bullshit,,maybe he should go into the fertilizer field.
Since many of our service men and women are of this age group, it would seem they should have legal recourse against a government that admits knowledge of their “undeveloped” state yet still sends them into the carnage of battle.
please support my petition,
i think it’s worded well and addresses the whitehouse’s response to the earlier cannabis petitions.
they only give you 800 characters so i had to trim but i think it covers important talking points.
please check it out and vote and share it everywhere!!
http://wh.gov/bOl
Sorry, Help. How is that a good idea? What possible good can it do for the legalization effort to start a petition to prohibit already legal substances? It won’t make them look like hypocrites(any more than that halfassed response to the seven legalization petitions did already). And it won’t make the petition effort look like any more of a sham. If it reaches the number, then what? they just respond with the “alcohol and tobacco are a part of our culture” claptrap. Wastes time and effort to no end. Sorry, Help yourself.
Maybe you’re missing the sarcasm & exposure of the hypocrisy.
No, I’m not.
Sarcasm isn’t going to change policy and hypocrisy is their M.O. That petition wastes time, and diverts attention. And believe it or not, there is STILL a small cadre of dedicated prohibitionists who want to do just what your petition asks for.
It also sends the entire wrong message. If a petition to ban alcohol and tobacco gets traction, it makes the current awful situation look moderate by comparison. I don’t think that’s the intent, is it? You’re also handing the drug czar an easy piece of propaganda. People will bring up the petition to legalize, he counters with the petition for more bans. All these petitions have the same required number of signatures and hence the same weight.
I’m sorry, that is a CLEAR incidence of the failure to think things through.
What else can we expect from prohibitionist pigs but grunts? At least the dissed petitions make the opposition look utterly malevolent; an advantage for reformers.
Taking the advice of Washington insiders like Joe Biden and others on drug issues is a really big mistake for Obama, if that’s what has happened to him since 2008. Status quo Washington BS appears to underlie all of Obama’s political problems right now.
There is one thing remaining that Obama himself might do to change the game plan without voicing the taboo word ‘legalization’. He could do what Richard Nixon had the guts to do twice while in office. Reorganize all the drug enforcement agencies.
Nixon eliminated the BNDD et al, ostensibly because the agencies were thoroughly corrupt. Of course, today, due to the Nixon tapes, we all know the reorganization was really a front for Nixon to give more power to a government agency charged with oppressing minorities and the left. However, reorganization to encompass everything within the DEA disrupted the workings of drug enforcement in ways that really pissed the prohibitionists off. Complaints of prohibitus interruptus made the news. No doubt the network of underground cash and shady political alliances had to be reworked and transformed. The struggle to restore corruption and inefficiency to normal levels took several years.
Reformers would therefore have approximately a two-year window under this reform, and we’re way overdue for a reorganization. Bureaucratic reorganization is what Obama can and needs to do right now. Yes we can! Say it’s for budget cutting purposes. Reorganize the drug agencies in ways that shake the rotten fruit from the trees. Destabilize the tyranny. Render the agencies amazed and confused while reformers work in public harmony to eliminate the networking and ideologies that spawned the most corrupt and socially destructive group of law enforcement parasites in American history.
It is time for us to start using the correct spelling of Gil’s last name; KerLIEkowske.
droopy dog
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I guess I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth but goddammit, these people are nucking futz.
Re-legalization of cannabis; it’s not just for the clinically sane anymore.
…and the dominoes continue to fall.
They work on Sundays?
Careful, the article quotes our good friend Kevin Sabet in the part I didn’t include. He certainly does know how to get his name in the media. I guess being unemployed gives him a lot of time to think up very impressive sounding bullshit.
I wonder if any of these clowns are aware that the only way to amend or repeal California’s Compassionate Use Act is by a citizen generated ballot initiative? All these people who want to change the law and I’m still not seeing a few million dollars and over half a million valid signatures forthcoming. The farther away from Election Day 1996 the more I realize just what a work of total genius the CUA represents.
I’ve lost the will to vote for him. That’s the last straw of spinelessness for me.
OT, but oh so not OT:
Activists to shut down 73rd Precinct in Brownsville Tues Nov 1, 4pm
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2011/10/116775.shtml
pass it on please…
and for you psychedelicized types:
Drug hallucinations look real in the brain
Pingback: White House response to NORML’s “We the People†marijuana legalization petition – Hawaii News Daily | ganjatimes.com
Yeah that article that Clay Linked to at Huffington Post about in part of article it states about states losing there rehab orders and how Marijuana is addicting Please just get the FUCK over it life is short so what some or many of the world is high on something once in a while and yeah many are just highly functioning addicts that whats pisses off these Frakers to see so many productive folks have a great high old time and some making loads of money so of course they want it illegal to keep you in chain of Prisons-rehab,parole-lawyers fees over-time for Cops The Drug industrial Racket no more no less.
What can Bambi do to redeem his good name from this response? a) He may use the bully pulpit to ask the Frank Paul bill out of committee, and b) put on the super-committee table the bloated ONDCP DEA outlays, instead of SS Medicaid, and Medicare.
It’s for the children.We can’t tell kids drugs are okay.”cause that’s what legalizion says.hey kids i’m marijuana and im now legal.so im safe.come puff me. and then he’ll come out with his new flavor of weed and crack combo blunts,yeah great. think of the kids.so the majorty need to understand that just because you favor legalizion.doesnt mean i’m gonna care.it’s what suits the goverments welfare better,, smell the ignorance in me
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Well everyone knows that smoking tobacco is safe, wholesome and fun because it hasn’t been criminalized for adult use.
Good to see you back wiggle dude. As a matter of fact it was just yesterday I found myself wondering why you had abandoned us. Please keep coming back. It jerks if you jerk it!
Wiggles! Welcome back my harelipped friend! I was wondering if you’d stumbled into the door section of the local Home Depot and couldn’t find your way back out…
Fox News UK’s Don Ronson reporting from the front line at the Occupy London Stock Exchange protest and meeting the proto-fascist hippy-sludge head on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxX-41fK-k0&feature=player_embedded#t=277s
Hey everyone, Mark Kleiman has weighed in on Gil’s reply to our “We the People” petition. Join the conversation!
http://www.samefacts.com/2011/10/drug-policy/admirable-obama-administration-statement-on-marijuana-legalization/
just from the title in the URL, I’ll skip it.
admirable? Oh my…
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Blah! If I read Kleiman and Sabet both within a 24 hour time period my head would most certainly explode. What kind of message would it send the children if they see a man’s head explode?
Oh gawd, Kleimann is such a tool.
Think I will change the air in my tires,,or something.
Here’s a petition to fire him.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/replace-gil-kerlikowske/Lbk7p73H
I’m lazy so I’m just pasting the reply I made on STDW about this petiton instead of writing a whole new one:
Getting rid of Gil won’t help, they’ll just appoint another goon to take his place.
The problem is with the government, particularly the Executive branch — president, VP, justice dept., and especially the ONDCP and the quasi-legal mandate for whomever holds the office of drug czar to act exactly as Gil has.
It is time to demand the ONDCP and DEA both be defunded and disbanded and the CSA trash-canned, and don’t bother with trying to do it by petition, obviously those petitions are useless, Obama’s administration has shown us just how useless with their response to the “legalize” petitions.
It is time for Americans to sue their government, a huge class action lawsuit claiming a violation of the unalienable right to ownership one’s own body and to choose one’s own lifestyle.
It is time to force the government to stop acting like it owns each and every one of us, from the crown of our heads right down to our toenails, and including controlling every penny we earn and every substance we ingest.
Ah yes, the “balanced approach” rhetoric — because if locking non-violent people in government cages for exercising control over their own bodies is only a part of what you do, that makes it ok.
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I thought that the balanced approach meant that they only incarcerate people of color.
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I just became aware that for their 2011 list that Louisville, Colorado was named best city in which to reside by CNN-Money.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2011/snapshots/PL0846355.html
Somehow having a thriving medicinal cannabis supply chain operating in that city didn’t make the world implode, go to hell in a hand basket, or welcome child molesters to the community.
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/ci_17238262
tags:
#1
best place to live
United States of America
medicinal cannabis vendors
who’da thunk it?
Looks like it’s time for more action. Seems petitions are useless today. So now the question is “What now?”.
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We all meet in Arlington VA, join hands while encircling and levitate the Pentagon. This time we do the math and make sure enough people show up. You can’t levitate a Pentagon without completely encircling it.
Here’s the technical specs:
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltahg1Ys5W1qzozj1.jpg
Here we see hippies disarming the soldiers. Flower power indeed:
http://www.american-buddha.com/a-acid21.jpg
I didn’t realize before today that the Yippies had applied for and were issued a permit to do that. I guess they didn’t want to get arrested for levitating without a permit.
Hoffman was the king of all grand standers. He made P.T.Barnum look like a piker.
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Nah, P.T. Barnum would have figured a way to make at least a minority of the public believe that he’d succeeded. He would also have made sure he had enough people, or if he didn’t when the time came he would simply baffle the public with bullshit and blamed it on the government.
Does anybody know if the industrial hemp petition was lumped in with the response to the several marijuana petitions?
No, those were all legalization, industrial use wasn’t there.
There are at least two new petitions on the White House site calling for the removal of Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske.
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/replace-gil-kerlikowske/Lbk7p73H
https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/petition/publicly-request-resignation-gil-kerlikowske/KVxx6PK1
Those petitions are just silly. The Drug Czar is just doing his job. That is, to oppose legalization of all Schedule 1 controlled substances. It is in no way part of his job description “to develop modern, sensible drug policies, and lead our nation into a brighter, more honest, and less corrupt future.” He is just a spokesperson for feds who’s only required to support their drug policy. Which he’s doing very well. In other words, don’t shoot the messenger. The fact that what he’s doing is reprehensible is another matter entirely.
We need to insist that his Duties as head of the ONDCP be changed = in one of the first ONDCP renewal-acts there was a target date for reaching a literal “Drug Free America”…
I know = that was totally crazy, right?
(And FWIW – they didn’t even come remotely close.)
Then later on, they re-vamped it and pushed the date forward several years, that didn’t happen either.
So they changed their “goal to a reduced % of drug use among youth & blah-blah-blah = whatever… IIRC, reaching that ‘target goal’ – yeah, that didn’t happen either.
The President talked about “going through the Budget Line by line and eliminating failed & wasteful programs” in his first State of the Union Address – And the ONDCP sure as hell qualifies as FAILED!
And, In fact he’d previously stated this = plain as day – about 5 years prior to that SotU Address…
Funny thing = during that same speech, Obama also said “just saying no – maybe be – good short term politics but it’s not good leadership”…
To be FAIR, he was talking about Republican Obstructionism in Congress – all the Filibusters in the Senate and whatnot. But, That doesn’t make he statement any less of a “Truism” = in that it’s essentially true regardless of context (almost always), and I found it Ironic that he chose those words… As they also apply to the context of drug prohibition – just as well – if not more-so…
Personally, I thought it was a sub-contextual message to the unhappy base (I’m still believe that was implied – & that he KNEW some of us would feel that it was implied) – I wonder if he was truly UNAWARE of the “legalization is a no-no word” clause of the ONDCP creation Act of 1988 (that’s not the full title of the act but that’s what it did), before he got into office?
That would be my question to him – if I has the chance to ask him a question away from the cameras = I doubt he would answer it publicly – not at this point.
@Tony Aroma…
I beg to differ (but only a matter of degree)…
When a man/woman takes a job that requires them to lie in defense of policy (especially when a policy devolves into an assault on the citizens or a distinct class of citizens), repeatedly and with bad lies at that, they have no room to complain when they get poop flung on ’em… think Nuremberg, Goering…
And no, I don’t equate cannabis prohibition/the WOD as the equivalent of the holocaust. But again, it’s a matter of degree… such a government created attack policy need not be of holocaust proportion to be reviled and opposed.
The white house response to the thousands who signed the petitions was dismal. Help me get a real response from them:
http://wh.gov/b34
Jesus said to do unto others as we would have them to do unto us. None of us would want our child or grandchild thrown in jail with the sexual predators over marijuana. None of us would want to see an older family member’s home confiscated and sold by the police for growing a couple of marijuana plants for their aches and pains. It’s time to stop putting our own family members in jail over marijuana.
If ordinary Americans could grow a little marijuana in their own back yards, it would be about as valuable as home-grown tomatoes. Let’s put the criminals out of business and get them out of our neighborhoods. Let’s let ordinary Americans grow a little marijuana in their own back yards.
Here’s one way that was REALLY WORKING before the DEA targeted it in October: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/2011/07/the-pot-republic-one-sheriffs-quietly-radical-experiment.html
The current proposal before Congress, bill HR 2306, will allow states to decide how they will regulate marijuana. You can email your Congressperson and Senators at http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to discuss HR 2306.
And a big THANK YOU to the courageous, freedom loving legislators, governors, and countless others who are working so hard to bring this through! You’re doing a great patriotic service for all of America!
I’m beginning to think that they won’t dismantle the Black Market for drugs, not because they don’t want to, but because that is the last remaining functional segment of the entire world economy.
No other presidential cantidate i know of has ever activly pursued the pro-pot vote and then turned around and attacked the people who helped him get elected.He conned us,then he screwed us,and now he’s laughing at us for falling for his con.
.
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Potheads for Obama chant “Thank you sir, may I have another?” while Barry demands that they reveal their paternal ancestry.
What a farce.. you know how they say people can’t smell their own breath?
Just this week our President, who prides himself on photo ops of himself with a big frothy beer, having one beer summit aftar another, sent his drug policy hendhman out to tell everyone that his administration intends to keep ramping up tossing our kids in prison for cannabis because smoking it is bad for them,
I’m so desperately sick of their crap on the issue.
Yes, the next petition should be to get rid of Gil.
http://bit.ly/w4jEEZ
Let’s get this one to 25,000 too!
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