Pubdate: Wed, 30 May 2012
Source: Chicago Tribune (IL)
Copyright: 2012 Chicago Tribune Company
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/IuiAC7IZ
Website: http://www.chicagotribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/82
Author: Clarence Page

OBAMA'S POT REFORM GOES UP IN SMOKE

I would shrug and say "So what?" to the latest details from President 
Barack Obama's potsmoking past, except for one thing: He stirred so 
much hope as a candidate for sensible marijuana policy reforms but, 
as president, has delivered so little change.

David Maraniss brings all that back to mind with his forthcoming 
book, "Barack Obama: The Story," which has been leaking like a sieve 
to major media in advance of its publication. Published accounts of 
Obama's days at Punahou, the private Hawaiian prep school that he 
attended in the 1970s, make the future president sound like a classic stoner.

"When a joint was making the rounds," Maraniss writes, the young 
Obama "often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!' 
and took an extra hit." Whoa, dude!

As Barry Obama and his basketball buddies, among other friends, 
partied in a Volkswagen minivan, "When the pot was gone," Maraniss 
writes, "they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of 
smoke from the ceiling." Or in Washington terms, one might say they 
were trying to make maximum use of available resources.

Whether such details amuse or appall you, it's not news that young 
Barry Obama enjoyed a toke or two back in his school days. In his 
memoir "Dreams from My Father" and on the campaign trail, he was 
refreshing in his candor compared with Bill Clinton, who famously 
said he smoked but "didn't inhale," or George W. Bush, who refused to 
confirm or deny accounts reporters received from his friends.

All three were elected anyway, a sign of how much the times and 
attitudes have relaxed about the demon weed. A significant turning 
point came in November when the Gallup Poll found that, for the first 
time in its 42-year history of asking the question, a majority of 
Americans believe marijuana should be legalized nationwide. "Ending 
the war on cannabis consumers is no longer a political liability," 
Erik Altieri, communications coordinator for pro-legalization NORML 
said recently. "It is a political possibility.

Activists were elated when Obama acknowledged that legalization was 
"an entirely legitimate topic for debate" - the first time a sitting 
president has made such a statement, according to Ethan Nadelmann, 
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. Obama promised to 
maintain a hands-off approach toward California's pot clinics that 
adhered to state law, which legalized marijuana for medicinal 
purposes in 1996. "I'm not going to be using Justice Department 
resources to try to circumvent state laws (on medical marijuana)," he 
said, according to Rolling Stone magazine.

But activists' joy quickly evaporated as marijuana arrests surged to 
record highs - more than 850,000 in 2009 and in 2010, according to 
the latest annual FBI crime reports. That's more than half of all 
drug arrests, contrary to the popular but reckless notion that 
"nobody" gets busted for grass anymore.

And federal agents have launched more than 100 raids in nine medical 
marijuana states, resulting in at least 61 federal indictments, 
according to data compiled by Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy 
group. The raids have closed down dozens of distributors operating 
legally under state law, and a high-profile training academy for 
providers in Oakland, Calif.

It is against the backdrop of those events that Obama's youthful weed 
indiscretions raise intriguing new questions, such as: Would today's 
Barack Obama arrest young Barry Obama?

The answer, judging by his recent interview with Rolling Stone, 
appears to be maybe not, as long as young Barry were a medical 
marijuana patient.

The president claimed there is no contradiction between current 
policy and his earlier comments: "What I specifically said was that 
we were not going to prioritize prosecutions of persons who are using 
medical marijuana," he said. "I never made a commitment that somehow 
we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and 
operators of marijuana - and the reason is, because it's against federal law."

Or, as the old saying goes, there's always a loophole - especially 
when you're dealing with lawyer-politicians.

The president noted that, "there haven't been prosecutions of users 
of marijuana for medical purposes." Maybe not. But any sense of 
clarity about the federal marijuana policy has gone up in smoke.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom