I have to admit that I am surprised by President Obama's actions, since this new approach is a step backward from a centralized federal government. I am not too hopeful, though. The cynical side of me knows that Obama is perfectly content to expand government control in most areas while leaving the states to regulate other things which he deems acceptable for us plebeians to handle (including medicinal marijuana, apparently).
More articles:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/19/MNO01A7S79.DTL
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091019/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_medical_marijuana
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/19/obama-wont-seek-arrest-medical-pot-users/?test=latestnews
4 comments:
the one good thing he's doing...
I think I'm with Some Dude -- and Obama! -- on this one. I do not agree with the libertarian position of legalizing drugs, but I am rethinking my position on marijuana. I don't really know that marijuana is much more harmful than smoking cigarettes. I don't think people should smoke marijuana of course, but I'm not sure it's worth the gov't wasting a lot of money to enforce. People do plenty of things that are harmful to their own health, like not exercising, drinking too much, eating fast food, etc. It's not the gov't's job to force everyone to behave in a "healthy" way. Freedom means people can make their own choices, within limits.
I still think the gov't should ban really dangerous substances like cocaine, heroin, and meth. I know the argument that many people die each year because of the gov't's war on drugs, but I think many more lives would be destroyed if these addictive drugs were legalized. Just my thoughts, for what they're worth....
I can think of other areas that are not worth time spent by the feds...
I see this as being less about the drug issue and more about states' rights, but I agree with Some Dude that it won't go far.
~A
Natedawg, I agree with you on "dangerous" drugs. I do not have any personal experience with drugs, but it seems to me that many drugs (cocaine, for example) are harmful not only to the user but those near him. I am not denying the responsibility of the drug user, but I think some drugs cause people to rob and kill people in order to get their fix. Other drugs cause users to endanger other people because they are not in their right mind. If it could be shown that certain drugs do NOT endanger other people or their property, then I would support their legalization. They would be no different from alcohol.
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