It’s time for Obama to end the war on Marijuana if for nothing else than for the sake of empathy, or rather his ability to walk in the shoes of Marijuana users.
Details from a new book Barack Obama: The Story contains in-depth details about his frequent marijuana use as a young man. Although Obama admitted to using marijuana in his memoir Dreams From My Father, we now learn for example that Obama was a frequently indulging aficionado who was a big fan of hot boxing in cars
http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/...
I am so glad that Obama did not incur a criminal record due to his marijuana use. Otherwise, he might not have become our President and a man I admire and respect. Republicans would surely have manipulated any such record as a vicious attack against him.
But not everyone is as fortunate as Obama.
While Obama was lucky enough not to get a criminal record for his mostly harmless marijuana use, hundreds of thousands of other Americans this year were not as fortunate, especially young African American and Latino males who are disproportionally arrested at much higher rates for marijuana. Many of these young people will be burdened with a records that could permanently hurt their employment prospects and they will lose the federal support they need to attend college.
So Mr. President, I think you should place yourself in their shoes. I think you should realize that you too were once like them. Your innocuous marijuana use as a youth harmed no one and it did not cause any damage to your life in the long run. You did not become addicted to marijuana. You turned out alright. In fact you turned out more than alright. You turned out to be the most powerful man in the world.
As FDL goes on to note:
If Obama were a young man today and got arrested for his marijuana use under our currently policy, the negative consequences from such an arrest could easily have stopped him from ever becoming President. Clearly, the actual use of marijuana didn’t hurt Obama by making him less successful, but the consequences of our prohibition easily could have. But not only does Obama support maintaining this current drug policy, which is more damaging to people than the drug itself, but his administration has taken the federal war against medical marijuana to new heights.
So Mr. President, end this absurd war on Marijuana. Let future children just like you grow up to be doctors, lawyers, engineers and yes…even Presidents.