It's two separate issues... medical use, recreational use. One requires a prescription from a doctor, the other is available to anyone. Big difference in my opinion. Obama has consistently said that he would end the federal raids because he believes marijuana has medical value. Not once has he said that he would allow them to continue. However, he is in fact against decriminalizing marijuana for anything other than medical use. There is absolutely no evidence to back that up, though. It's just random speculation.... it contradicts everything Obama has said on the subject. The original poster provided the following comparison, which is completely accurate: http://www.obama-mccain.info/compare-obama-mccain-marijuana.php For all I know, McCain is lying and he would give free marijuana to anyone who asks for it if he were president. But again, no evidence for that either. You gotta vote for where the candidates stand on the issues... otherwise it's just voting for a face, a name, or a speaking ability. This is one area where the two major candidates have a completely opposite stance. Obama is for medical marijuana and McCain is against it. End of discussion.
Why did Obama change his stance on making MJ decriminalized across the board? EDIT: becuase he is a schemer, at one time weed helped him get into an elected officials position, now he is agianst it while running for president. You see Obama is trying to control his little world of supporters by giving you false hope.
He still supports lesser penalties for drugs in general which is at least a tiny step in the right direction. But to answer your question... the reason he has said he is against decriminalizing marijuana in general is probably because it attracts more voters. The vast majority of the country doesn't think that marijuana should ever be legal. One less thing to hold against him. Honestly though.. marijuana being decriminalized is not my top concern right now. I can think of many issues more important than this, which is why it doesn't matter to me that he wouldn't legalize marijuana. All politicians try to attract as many voters as possible. They all end up altering their positions in some form. They wouldn't get elected otherwise. However, I can guarantee that if you started counting who's flip-flopped on the most issues, McCain would easily take the cake.
who said I liked mccain, what I hate are people that defend a failed cause, they are worse than the failure itself, because they continue to defend it to the end, even though it has failed.
Any idiot can stand there and say" i am for decriminalizing Marijuana', but only and idiot would listen and believe he actually intended to do anything about it. Its just politicians being politicians by building your politically niave minds up to believing they actually care about the issue in order to garner your votes. In reality they could give a fuck less whether pot is legal for various reasons. First off there's not enough people who actually care enough to base their vote on whether or not MJ is legalized. Only about 15% of the population smokes weed on a regular bases, out of that how many cant or wont vote in the election for various reasons, (underage, felon, etc.)? That's not a big enough voting block to force a politicians hand at actually getting the legislation passed, they care about votes and nothing, nothing else, votes = political power, which = self enrichment. Every couple of years, some politician, introduces a bill, knowing full well that there's no way that it will pass. He does it under pressure from a small group of his constituents so that it appears he cares and that he is trying to appease them. After it doesn't pass, he can say he tried and still cares and blame it on the other guy. We got a long way to go before we can get it legalized. We need to start at the Congressional level, not the executive level. Politicians have been bringing up decriminalization since i was a teenager and if you would have asked me back in 1977 i would have swore up and down that i would be decriminalized by the end of Carters term.
Carter could of fixed his failed term in office if he decriminalized MJ, and some weed could of brought him to his sinces to support the pro western Shah in Iran back then instead of casting him to curb for lies about him being tied to "human rights" violations, which lead to that Shah being over-run by radical islamist who murdered 20,000 of there own people that were pro-western ideals. People talk about Bush being a murderer and a lier, well Carter was worse, he saw murders being done and did nothing about it. You can blame going to war with Iran not on the president in power now, but Jimmy Carter who could of ended all of this years ago. Fuck Jimmy Carter!
I agree Carter and his failed policies are to blame for most of the problems going on in the Mideast today.
I'm not saying you like McCain... I'm sure you probably don't. Bottom line though - the next president will be either him or Obama. My only point was that McCain has changed his position on many more issues than Obama has. Agreed... even if the president did try to get it legalized, it's ultimately a decision that Congress will make.
Nonetheless, as Head of the Executive, the President decides on enforcement. That can surely influence Congress's policy.
He's said alot of things and they all contradict each other. I made the video that tells the truth. First when he was a state rep he was supportive of decrim. Then running for President, he wasn't and didn't raise his hand. Then when medical came up in NH and the patients were showing up at campaign stops, he did what a few others did, he caved and said he would stop the raids. The same thing drug warrior Hillary, Biden, Edwards, they all said the same. Then Obama seems for a day to support marijuana decrim. The next day his rep clears it up and releases the statement, that you are asking about. Also in there somewhere Obama said that he would not risk any political capital for medical marijuana, to sign or support legislation. No political capital for sick people when 75% of the voters support medical marijuana? More than the candidate himself? And just the other night in the forum with McCain, he listed his biggest moral weakness was using drugs and alcohol. Sound like he's cool on weed? Not to me. Here's the video where he talks medical, yes he said he would stop the DEA raids. It's something but not much, especially when he says right at the end, "Not high on my list, not likely. I would not risk any political capital over it." Obama needs to be pressured some more. It's a winning campaign issue. 60%+ of voters support decrim, 75% support medical! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvUziSfMwAw
You couldn't be further from the truth, but at least you are sure of it! 60% now support marijuana decrim, 70%+ support medical marijuana. More popular than any candidate in America and pretty much nothing can touch those numbers. But the money/hackocracy that fights it. Wake up. People been saying that forever. I said times have changed. They have. In MA, we won 40 non binding initiatives mostly for decrim with a higher than 60% vote. Real voters. non binding due to cost of getting signatures, but to show we could win. We went undefeated. We got a statewide binding initiative. A poll this week was released. We are up 72% for decrim and 22% against. Yep, that's right, we are up by 50%! And it gets better, it's a presidential ballot with many first time and unenrolled voters, who will break for us. The poll only polled registered likely voters enrolled with the major two parties. Times have changed, it wasn't this way 15 years ago, actually I think it wasn't this good, just last year. That's how far we have come and continue to go. 50 states, every city, every town, every state. We've won, just time to rip the wall down. The first time in the nation a state will vote in marijuana decrim by voter initiative. It's more popular than any candidate or issue in MA. More popular than the Governor, Obama, Kennedy, Kerry, McCain, Romeny, any current MA elected official in office.
Check out http://masscann.org top story and check the MA voter poll and see how that is no longer true in any way whatsoever. Older people are actually more likely to support it. It's actually been the 30 something new parents, hipsters, ambitious for their first career track, that had the lowest numbers on marijuana but with this polls it's actually across the board now. Check it.
How is obama a flip flopper???. He is very clear on what he is saying, he would allow decriminilazation for people with no medical use for it and not prosecute people who use it for medical purposes. But he is against legalization and concerned about growers which make sense, u dont want everybody to be growing this stuff like there is no control for it. People think legalization is the key when that only opens up a market for corporations and/or opens a market for more conflict between large based growers and dealers. Decriminization is the key, you get caught and you pay a fine. You dont want legalization and have these corporate bastards take control.
For all we know, Obama couldnt give a fuk about anything. At least he is OPEN for pressure, unlike mccain. Now the battle comes down to the people against corporations, who can put more pressure on obama to make this work. But people are too lazy to act on it, there are only a few soldiers that are willing to act on this fight for marijuana. The public just want to "march" and smoke pot on the street instead of putting REAL pressure.
No he was for decrim, then against, then for it for one day, and now against it. He doesn't even support medical. Just one small thing he would do is not send the DEA into raid the clinics. That does not mean he supports decrim or medical. He really doesn't. Go find his statements and see for yourself.
I just looked at a few interviews of him. Can you show me where he says all those things you are claiming?. what i have seen so far is he is FOR decriminalization in small amounts and against prosecution of the use of medical marijuana.
that's the only thing he has said, and people picked it up and ran with it. Keeping these laws in place and basically looking the other way is not my idea of "hope and change" Mike, great job y'all are doing in Mass man!! Hopefully everything goes through (looks like it will) and hopefully CT follows suit! I'm sick of hiding the greatest hobby in the world (MJ growing)
show me a link where obama himself says that he is for decriminalization and against prosecution of the use of medical marijuana, and i will donate to his campaign.