White House Response To The Ny Times Editorial Board's Call For Federal Marijuana Legalization

[cheapshades]

"The New York Times editorial board opined in its Sunday July 27, 2014 edition that the Federal government should legalize marijuana for adults aged 21 years and older."

 

White House response:

 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/07/28/response-new-york-times-editorial-marijuana-legalization

 

 

The nytimes editorial page:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/07/27/opinion/sunday/high-time-marijuana-legalization.html

 

 

MMMA Forum discussion:

 

http://michiganmedicalmarijuana.org/topic/46999-ny-times-calls-for-repeal-of-federal-ban-on-marijuana/

 

Edited August 2, 2014 by cheapshades

[Norby]

THOSE ARE NOT FACTS!!!

[Restorium2]

THOSE ARE NOT FACTS!!!

Exactly. But it's all they have now because we have swept all the garbage into a neat little pile to be scooped up and taken out to the trash. Shine that light. They just have those 4 falsehoods now. One even masquerading as a scienticifc study that couldn't ever be close to proven. There's no real scientist that is on board with that study.

[imiubu]

How have studies of long term cannabis use been accomplished when honest research has ever been approved by the good ole U.S. gov't?

There is just so much of the gov't response that I feel is complete and utter hooey.

Not the silver bullet???  Well, rescheduling cannabis is a HUGE start.

 

 

Research or no research, I do not advocate use of mind altering drugs while in the early stages of brain development.

[GregS]

One more reason to keep the pressure on through the electorate. Elected people won't touch it. It's up to us. What percentage of ballot proposals fail? Help me out. I'm stumped.

[GregS]

I do like this: " We will continue to focus on genuine drug policy reform – a strategy that rejects extremes, and promotes expanded access to treatment, evidence-based prevention efforts, and alternatives to incarceration."  It isn't all bad. That is a flag of surrender to talk about terms.

 

They are coming around slowly, but they are coming around. Keep up the great work. This is a full court press in a game in which we can't help ourselves but wiin.

Edited August 2, 2014 by GregS

[imiubu]

..."promotes expanded access to treatment, evidence-based prevention efforts,"...

 

imo, that sounds like increasing forced 'rehab'.  Just another form of incarceration.

[GregS]

..."promotes expanded access to treatment, evidence-based prevention efforts,"...

 

imo, that sounds like increasing forced 'rehab'.  Just another form of incarceration.

Which is why we must keep the conversation going to argue that drug abuse must be treated as a public health issue. Alcohol treatment leads to forced rehab when it goes beyond reasonableness and causes harm to the public, and folks go into treatment on their own if and when they think it necessary. Crazy shooters finally compelled the government to provide mental health treatment for citizens through the ACA. We have to get crazy I guess and continue to compel the government through the electorate. It's a lot of insanity, and people everywhere are working hard at it. 

Edited August 2, 2014 by GregS

[slipstar059]

Yeah imiubu, programs like drug court, that are impossible, for most to get through. Forcing mandatory NA (a program that has a success rate of 5 percent) while rejecting methadone clinics, or any form of medication that will dirty up the mandatory 3-5 a week drug tests, is outdated and proven to not be successful. When the people in the system fail their drug tests they get thrown in the clink, for however many days the judge thinks is fit. It's a whole new way to make money, I mean deal with the problem. How about the judge who was sending people to 3 months of rehab, when they would be at the completion of drug court, which might have not been a problem, if it wasn't for the fact that those people had quit using, he also happened to be on the board of directors at the rehab, he sent everyone to. Or how about the non regulated centers drug offenders can be sentenced to, this article is from another state but don't think it doesn't happen here. http://www.mh.alabama.gov/Downloads/COPI/NewsArticles/AnnistonStar061012.pdf

And yes in the eyes of the Feds we're just as bad as someone addicted to heroin. I have lots of personal stories I don't feel comfortable sharing online, or just quite yet, but I've seen a lot of injustice's being quietly swept under the rug. http://www.truthwinsout.org/blog/2011/01/14007/

Here's a story about a gay man going to teen challenge in Muskegon, MI. He went in for alcohol, and while there they tried to cure him of that pesky homosexuality, he was born with. I'll end my diatribe with a vice news story about the rape and degradation that happens at these rehab centers for teens.

http://m.vice.com/read/thousands-of-american-teens-are-trapped-in-abusive-cult-like-treatment-centres

Hopefully this torture will stop someday.

Edited August 2, 2014 by slipstar059

[painterdan]

Who wrote the white house response Michele leonhart of the dea,this doesn't sound like progress to me.
Same crap they have been saying forever.

[slipstar059]

Substance use in school age children has a detrimental effect on their academic achievement. Students who received earned D’s or F’s were more likely to be current users of marijuana than those who earned A’s (45% vs. 10%).[3]

I guess I'm an anomaly grades were at solid C's until I used cannabis, I ended up with a 3.8 accumulative grade average. Cannabis helped give me the concentration, without the nasty speed habit.

Edited August 3, 2014 by slipstar059

[Herb Cannabis]

The government response key's in on children using marijuana and people driving on marijuana, so, why aren't they talking about kids on alcohol or pills?  It is the same old arguments.  Really twisted logic if you ask me.

 

As far as driving on marijuana is concerned, is that new????????  Many of us have been doing this since before leo was a gleam in her/his daddy's eyes.  Sure we have had the misfortune of an accident and so have drunks, people who text while driving or runny mouths talking on the phones.  I wonder where we would fit in on the chart of accidents while???.  Closer to the bottom than the rest I'd guess.

 

This is purely them trying to grasp at straws to preserve there prohibition and make as much money as possible before their cash cow dries up. 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Herb Cannabis

[Kingdiamond]

Public health problems my arse!

[GrowGoddess]

Looks to me like the Feds are going against 3/4 of the states in this country. Also, going by polls I have seen, they are going against the will of the people.

 

I thought they took an oath to represent the will of the people.

 

All of the examples listed by the Feds are irrelevant. I didn't see anyone trying to pass a law to allow marijuana in schools, or for children to poses and use, excluding use for serious medical issues. Keeping it a schedule 1 drug, marijuana doesn't fit in that category, it contains medicinal properties. We know it, the states know it, the Feds know it, and big pharma knows it. So why does it fall into the schedule 1 category?

 

A far greater threat to the people is chemicals and poisons that the Federal Government approves of.

 

Here is one example of what they consider safe, thousands of people with toxic, poisonous water supply. According to them it is due to the algae, not the runoff from farms containing fertilizers and pesticides, not to mention sewage. http://local.msn.com/toledo-to-residents-dont-use-or-drink-the-water

How about the city of Detroit water shutoff. Over 100,000 people had their water shut off. It is illegal under US law as well as UN laws. Our most dangerous prisoners have access to clean drinking water. http://news.msn.com/us/what-happens-when-detroit-shuts-off-the-water-of-100000-people-1 There are two people I blame for the water shut off in Detroit. Our republican governor, because he could have that water turned back on immediately. I also blame our democratic president, because he also has the power to have that water turned back on within hours. They were informed by the UN that their actions are illegal and they still chose to do nothing about it. Closest thing to genocide and it could turn into genocide. Even if the water is being turned back on, they already had exceeded the time limit for sustaining life. In other words, the crime has already been committed.

 

Even our own officials have accused the Federal Government of operating at treasonous levels.

[t-pain]

the ondcp is required by law to oppose legalization.

so i'm not sure why this is even news...

[AmishRnot4ganja]

Oh God, please stop. All the points they bring up are either blatantly false or grossly exagerrated. What is it with these people?

I am guessing that the problem is that such a huge industry has grown up around marijuana prohibition that ending it would create a serious economic crisis, or...

 

Marijuana use will actually cause a breakdown of societal norms. Marijuana causes people to question the reality they have been taught to believe. Our society depends a lot on the influence of religion to keep people in line. What happens when people smoke pot and realize that they have been fed a load of Crap about the existence and nature of God? There goes another institution?

Edited August 2, 2014 by amish4ganja

[GregS]

Substance use in school age children has a detrimental effect on their academic achievement. Students who received earned D’s or F’s were more likely to be current users of marijuana than those who earned A’s (45% vs. 10%).[3]

I guess I'm an anomalie my grades were at solid C's until I used cannabis, I ended up with a 3.8 accumulative grade average. Cannabis helped give me the concentration, without the nasty speed habit.

Good for you.

 

BTW. It's anomaly.

[FranksHotPeppersAndMarijuana]

Ds and Fs huh?  So since they are more likely to be users that means that is what caused the Ds and Fs?  Says who?  I bet the kids who got Ds and Fs also were more likely to have parents that don't care about their education.  Hmmm, maybe that's the cause?  If you came of age in the 60s you were more likely than not to have used marijuana.  I guess marijuana also causes coming of age in the 60s. 

[slipstar059]

Good for you.

 

BTW. It's anomaly.

 

I don't have a clue as to what you might be referring to.

Edited August 3, 2014 by slipstar059

[cheapshades]

I don't have a clue as to what you might be referring to.

 

Of course you do. "I guess I'm an anomalie "  

[AmishRnot4ganja]

With all the lies the government has promulgated over the years, people are probably skeptical of any "new" facts the government spews about marijuana.

[Norby]

With all the lies the government has promulgated over the years, people are probably skeptical of any new "facts" the government spews about marijuana.

Fixed that for you.  The gov't never had facts so that should be in parentheses.

[Indigro]

Ds and Fs huh? So since they are more likely to be users that means that is what caused the Ds and Fs? Says who? I bet the kids who got Ds and Fs also were more likely to have parents that don't care about their education. Hmmm, maybe that's the cause? If you came of age in the 60s you were more likely than not to have used marijuana. I guess marijuana also causes coming of age in the 60s.

That's how I read it as well... 10% of the A's smoked pot, and still got A's. 55% of the D's didn't smoke pot, and still got D's. No causal relationships for academic performance is given, just smoke & mirrors. Although, the numbers don't seem to add up... don't believe over half the kids in our country has tried pot by the end of hs. Maybe, but that seems 'high'.

 

But as in everything in life, 3/5 don't measure up. Another 1 out of 5 can do a decent/acceptable job, but only the last one in the five do anything that can be called 'a good job', and less than that for an excellent job. Maybe pot is also accountable for these basic realities? Silly to even suggest, no?

 

But I do agree we shouldn't be messing w developing brains. Like feeding them fast processed foods, prescription mood enhancers & speed, polluted air, chem's in the water, etc, etc, etc. But of course, we should really be concerned about pot.

[t-pain]

how many kids on ritalin right now? you know it stunts growth in children ?

 

dont see marijuana doing that...

[FranksHotPeppersAndMarijuana]

Ritalin has been shown to stunt growth in children but who cares?  I mean you can care but pointing to the downside of some treatments isn't a good way to somehow gain approval for marijuana use.  Furthermore marijuana has been shown to meddle with intellectual development as Indigro indicates.  But who cares?  No one is advocating for marijuana use among those with developing brains. You can't get distracted by arguments that are useless.  Legalizing marijuana for adults doesn't mean we are advocating its use for kids.

 

You have to focus on the primary argument which is that marijuana is relatively safe and relatively harmless. It shouldn't be outlawed because the state wants to play big brother.