What's So Funny About Legalizing Pot?

by Matt Kelley · 2009-03-27 05:19:00 UTC
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In the video above, you'll see President Barack Obama's response to the top question from web users in his online town hall yesterday morning. He was asked whether he'd consider legalizing marijuana to help grow the economy, and he laughed the question off.

"I don't know what this says about the online audience..." Obama chuckles, before dismissing the question with simple "No." Maybe what it shows about the online audience, Mr. President, is that when you open the floor for questions you get some good ideas that aren't popular in Washington.

The derision Obama showed for the idea points to just how far this movement needs to go. It's hard to advocate for the legalization of pot, because you won't be taken seriously. Even the President will laugh at you. This is the wrong message to send to people standing up for an idea that will eventually gain traction.

The marijuana legalization community is disappointed and angry with our President today. Sure, he can disagree with our ideas - we understand it will take years to make this idea a reality and that he's playing the popularity contest game. But to laugh at a policy reform supported by more than 30 percent of the population shows a level of disrespect for his supporters that I don't find appropriate.

Change.org community member Dawn West sent me a thoughtful reply to Obama's dismissal:

This “online audience” he dismisses and mocks is the tens of millions of Americans who donated and campaigned on his behalf during the election. President Obama seems to forget that the marijuana reform movement is serious and it helped him get elected. He also seems to forget his support for decriminalization.

What I really would like to know is: what is so funny about legalizing cannabis? Over 20 million Americans arrested for cannabis since 1965? Nearly 900,000 arrests cannabis violations in 2007, 89% of which was for simple possession? The tens of billions of taxpayer dollars spent each year to fund the War on Some Drugs? Lost tax revenues in the billions? The criminalization of minorities, our youth, and our sick? Funding criminal organizations and energizing the black market with billions of dollars annually? None of this seems particularly funny.

Perhaps Jim Webb's criminal justice study panel will provide the evidence Obama needs to stop laughing.

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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