Obama on Pot

January 21, 2004
“I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws.”

THEN:

January 21, 2004
In the next breath, Obama waffles:
“But I’m not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana.”

Huh? If Obama decriminalizes pot, that makes pot legal. We can’t say for certain, but perhaps the following admission accounts for much Obama’s waffling:

“When I was a kid, I inhaled, frequently. That was the point.”

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Comments

[dmcdonell88]

This is absolute ignorance - especially considering when someone makes an official post on a website, it should be at least legitimate as opposed to just totally inacurate.

Responding specifically to the above statement which reads, "Huh? If Obama decriminalizes pot, that makes pot legal." That statement is fundamentally flawed for one glaring reason - Legalization and Decriminalization are two totally different ideas.

Take Canada for instence, under the Liberal leadership of Jean Chretien. He decriminalized pot, but he did not legalize it. This means, when stopped by a police officer and found to be in posession, depending on the quantity (and even method of packaging to be totally fair to the legislation) you were fined instead of having criminal charges imposed.

There is the key difference - Decriminalization means to remove the possibility of criminal charges (when in posession of an amount deemed to be for personal use) while legalization means to remove any legal consequences what-so-ever.

Take the example of speeding on the highway, for one. The act of breaking the speed laws (again, up to an established speed) is decriminalized, meaning, instead of being arrested and charged with a criminal offence, you are merely issued a fine. This does not make speeding legal, it makes it instead decriminalized.

From now on, when making allegations like the one's put forth above, ensure that you're knowledge (or in this case, lack-there-of) does not skew the facts, and provide the public with false information based on your false opinions.

DMcDonell

[baculus]

Actually, decriminalizing and legalizing are two entirely different mattes.

When you decriminalize marijuana, you make it a ticketable offense - a misdemeanor. It is still not legal, but it has been reduced to a minor offense.

Legalization is the out and out full legal acceptance of using marijuana (though, in most cases, it is still handled like in intoxicant in handling vehicles and such.) It is not illegal in any fashion for personal usage.

I have never heard Obama support fully legalizing marijuana.

Thus, Obama did not waffle on this matter. And I believe, if you want to be honest, you cannot continue to profess that Obama is waffling or changing his stance on this issue, because they two entirely different conclusions.

[McCainFan08]

OK. We need to be wise when pointing out Obama's hypocrisy. There is a HUGE difference between "Decriminalization" and "Legalization" of any vice. In the case of marijuana, decriminalizing simply means possession by individuals for personal use will not clog our already over-burdened and corrupt court system by putting otherwise law abiding citizens before a judge to answer for having a little bag of pot. LEGALIZATION means our fat, tax hungry government regulates and controls pot, which is even worse. This is not a flip-flop on Obama's part, if you have even an arm chair grasp of our legal system. Bob Barr and Ron Paul understand the difference!!! I would vote Libertarian to defend this ideal, but I feel McCain needs my vote for more important issues, so i digress. Let's get a full grasp of the issues before we go pointing our fingers. It's in our best interests.

[Mar]

Actually, decriminalizing a drug and making it legal are two entirely different things. The first makes it a criminal offense if you have ANY of it, but still allows you to prosecute abuses of the substance. It's easy to get confused between the two, but any legislator who knows ANYTHING about the law would know the difference.

[tstanke]

This is just plain stupid, research things a little if you're going to act like you know something. Decriminalization and legalization are not the same. I live in NYC where small amounts are decriminalized, but that does not make it legal. It is not legal to buy or sell. You will still get arrested for having it, just not fined or imprisoned.