unreasonable.org

If you'd like to let the Obama campaign know how you feel about this, contact them at

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/mypolicy

My message:

I am extremely disappointed by Mr. Obama's cowardice on the issue of cannabis decriminalization.

In 2004, he was wise enough to express support for ending criminal penalties for cannabis use or possession. And when the Washington Times recently dug up this fact, at first the Obama campaign stood behind this common sense policy. I thought that we might see the same courage that Mr. Obama showed on the failed Iraq War applied to the failed Drug War.

But within 24 hours, the Obama campaign was backpedaling, and declared that Obama does not support eliminating criminal penalties for cannabis.

That's shameful cowardice.

Let us not forget what criminalization of a behavior means: those who are caught doing it are forced in a cage at gunpoint. Does Mr. Obama think that he would have been better off if his own cannabis use had resulted in him being treated this way? I presume not, yet he wished to continue a policy that will do this to others people whose only difference from him is that they're unlucky enough to get caught.

That's shameful hypocrisy.

Tom Swiss - proprietor, unreasonable.org

I do think Obama is a man of courage, I never agreed with eliminating criminal penalties for cannabis in the first place. I don't have a good reason to support that, I hate drugs and they should stay illegal. I don't want to see all these drug dealers today to become respectable business men tomorrow, they have to pay for what they did and we need a legal basis for that. And that's for all the drug victims, there are too many people whose lives have been destroyed by drugs. We have thousands of kids struggling with drugs on the streets, we should better consider putting them in drug treatment, they represent out future.

Obama is a smart man with respect to decriminalizing and possible legalization of cannabis. I guess he's actually researched and listened to the cannabis patients instead of taking our fake government for its words.

I had no clue that the one who is happening to be our future president had been accused of consuming drugs. Indeed this is a terrible fact and all the American citizens should take this situation in consideration.

You have to read between the lines and be practical. The way Democrats have lost the last two elections is because of the Rove tactic of social/cultural wedge issues. Do you really want Obama to lose the election, with everything he's got going for him, because the Republicans are playing marijuana quotes from him all over TV nonstop?

It's pretty obvious that Obama is not big on criminalizing marijuana users. What is the practical result of this? He'll probably tell the federal authorities to stop wasting time prosecuting legal state users, like they do with medical marijuana in California.

In other words, don't lower his chance of getting elected and having federal authorities ease off legal users. This is not an issue that wins elections, so leave it off for now.

Weed actually makes for great honest currency and tender, when legal. Cash and cocaine on the other hand, are easily diluted! This is the real problem and the Federal Reserve could not allow this to happen in the early quarter of the century when the institution was trying to establish itself ensuring its commodity to be the most in demand required for every trade transaction. Times are different now though, people have so much confidence in the American dollar (Although I personally have greater confidence in toilet paper and not just because its softer. The Dollar is good for scraping off lumps that just wont gravitate but shit just does not stick to it and least not forget how it blocks the sewer pipe). We must take a fresh look at Marijuana and shake off the taboo of the past. The laws against cannabis are plainly anti-social and the risk for users is not the cannabis itself but the harmful aldulterants that may be inhaled from a substance with no regulation and more demand than supply. Anyway, law is based around the principles of what is not socially acceptable. Whats the problem then!

Maybe courage just doesn't make sense if it reduces Obama's influence. I mean that in the vicious process that leads to government, it's good to be franc only if it makes you elected. Every president had to do some electioneering and I'm fed up with the hypocrisy "The one who is cought is faulty" for things everyone does.