Rumors are abound that Obama wants the cannabis vote and that he may try to do something to appease the group. He should be concerned, because he needs that voting bloc if he wants to be re-elected. From where I stand though, he has done more to push us away than bring us into his administration.
Considering that raids on medical dispensaries and shakedowns of state officials and dispensary landlords are just as prevalent as during the Bush administration, questions about the topic have been laughed off as non-serious by administration officials and Obama himself, and that the drug raids rage on, often targeting innocent people, it is a wonder that he would think he could count on our vote.
Yes, cannabis is just one issue and we should also be concerned with the bigger picture too. For Obama that is looking pretty bleak as well considering his signing of NDAA, private kill list, hiring of lobbyists to his administration, a drone program that is killing far more innocent civilians than terrorists, and an economy that while not entirely his own as congress shares this with him, is not doing well considering the rate of unemployment and under-employment.
So what could Obama do to try and attract the cannabis voting bloc? It would have to be a major shift in policy, rhetoric and minor changes aren’t going to work.
First he would need to sign an executive order moving cannabis from a schedule one drug to a schedule five so that it could legally have a value for medical use. Then he would need to guarantee that federal resources used in the drug war will be directed entirely away from anything related to cannabis that isn’t coming through the borders, at the very least those who are in compliance with their state law.
These two things would be sufficient enough to regain trust on the issue of cannabis, but it is very unlikely that the administration will do this. Luckily we do have a candidate in former two-term governor of New Mexico, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson this year, who toured a Denver medical marijuana dispensary the other day and is willing to make these policy changes.
CannaTruths: Facts About The Plant 
Schedule Two is worse than prohibition. It will only allow cannabis to be sold via prescription. This will eliminate collectives, dispensaries, and home grows. Under Schedule Two, states will not be allowed to legalize cannabis for sale without a prescription which means no smoke shops, no state run stores and thus, no taxes paid. Also, since the only place to get cannabis will be a pharmacy, only registered legal drug producers will be able to supply it. So, the only ones who will benefit financially will be the big pharmaceutical companies. Recreational users will still have to rely on the black market to get their bud. Prosecutions for possession (without a prescription) will go up. The Obama Administration will use this as a way to avoid any further change to the law. Once cannabis lands in Schedule Two, it will stay there a lot longer than One. There will no reason to make any change after that regardless of how loud we cry. Schedule Three or Four will be the change we need to bring cannabis back into the world.
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No decriminalize, no schedule, no tax & no regulation…Repeal the law against and let my people grow the fuel, fiber, food, and medicine that will save the world…
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Personally I think cannabis should be the same as any vegetable you grow in your garden. It should be completely unregulated.
However, that isn’t happening any time soon, so I know what I will accept as a good faith effort. This is the minimum Obama needs to do.
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Repeal the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, then I will believe, once again. Not now, not ever unless that evil law of lies and greed is reversed. Capiche?
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Mary, the Tax Act was overturned by Leary v. US back in 1969. Our problem now is it’s arbitrary Schedule 1 status. It was supposed to be a temporary status, pending the recommendations of the Shaffer commission. Nixon did the exact opposite of what the commission recommended. In 1988, DEA Judge Young ruled that cannabis be rescheduled. In 1989, DEA Judge Lawn overruled her decision. In 2007, DEA Judge Bittner tried to break NIDA’s monopoly and allow Dr. Craker to grow for research. Michelle Leonhart rejected that recommendation, even though she doesn’t know enough about drugs to answer direct questions from Congress. Read your history so you can #knowyourenemy.
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