cannabisnews.com: Obama Feds Shouldn't Target Recreational Pot Users

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  Obama Feds Shouldn't Target Recreational Pot Users

Posted by CN Staff on December 14, 2012 at 08:04:10 PT
By Reuters 
Source: Reuters 

Washington, D.C. -- President Barack Obama says federal authorities should not target recreational marijuana use in two Western states where it has been made legal given limited government resources and growing public acceptance of the controlled substance. His first comments on the issue come weeks after Washington state and Colorado voters supported legalizing pot, or cannabis, last month in ballot measures that stand in direct opposition of federal law. "It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that's legal," he told ABC News in part of an interview released on Friday.
"At this point (in) Washington and Colorado, you've seen the voters speak on this issue. And, as it is, the federal government has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions," Obama said. The Department of Justice has said pot remains a federally controlled substance and states have been looking for guidance from Washington on how it will handle the conflict with state laws. Medical use of the substance is legal in 18 U.S. states. But federal officials have still continued to crack down on some providers in those states. Pot remains an illegal narcotic under U.S. law, but Washington and Colorado became the first states in the nation to legalize recreational marijuana use on November 6. A similar effort in Oregon failed. Obama called the situation "a tough problem, because Congress has not yet changed the law." He told ABC that "what we're going to need to have is a conversation about" how to reconcile federal and state laws, and that he has asked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to examine the issue. In his 1995 memoir, "Dreams of My Father," Obama admitted to regularly smoking pot in high school. The father of two told ABC that he would not go so far as to say pot should be legalized altogether. There are also concerns about drug use in children and violence, he told ABC, according to its website. "I want to discourage drug use," he added. The new measures in Washington and Colorado, which already permit medical marijuana use, allow possession of up to an ounce of the substance for private use. They also will regulate and tax sales at special stores for those aged 21 and older.Source: Reuters (Wire)Published: December 14, 2012Copyright: 2012 Thomson ReutersCannabisNews  -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 

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Comment #21 posted by FoM on December 18, 2012 at 08:35:33 PT
BGreen
I agree. I don't care how much of an arsenal anyone has they would not win so what is the sense of it all? 
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Comment #20 posted by BGreen on December 18, 2012 at 08:32:00 PT
That's bat crap crazy
If our government gets so out of control that some crazy joker with a few assault rifles thinks he needs to step in to save the day, that's one stupid and most assuredly dead fool.If our government becomes that much of a threat it will only be because they were elected to office and recruited our neighbors to take up arms against us. The government has bigger guns, better marksmen and nearly unlimited resources. What kind of fool would think they could stop it at that point?Bud
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 18, 2012 at 08:11:57 PT
BGreen
Yesterday Chris Matthews had on a guest and Chris cornered him about why does anyone need those assault weapons for hunting or practicing shooting. He finally said we need those guns to go after the government. My jaw dropped. Why would anyone need to go after the government? We have the Internet. The pen is mightier then the sword.
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Comment #18 posted by BGreen on December 18, 2012 at 08:00:18 PT
I understand, FoM
I feel the same way. If I even mention controlling certain extremely lethal guns then I'm immediately met with the argument we're taking every gun away from everyone. That's entirely not the truth.The reason we don't have more bombings is because we put strict controls on the ingredients necessary to build them. We ban certain kinds of knives because they have no other purpose than inflict bodily injury.A good marksman doesn't need an assault rifle and a clip with 20 or 30 rounds of armor piercing or hollow point bullets to kill anything he or she wants. The bullets produced and readily available are meant for nothing more than death by destruction of the body. The don't make clean wounds like a knife. They explode in the body causing irreparable damage.Do I want these out of the hands of a pissed off little punks, a disgruntled spouse or anybody sliding way down the left side of the bell curve? Hell, YES!Keep your legal pistols and rifles. If you let them get into the hands of someone who murders, then you should be held accountable. Most responsible gun owners treat them as the deadly and dangerous weapons they are. They don't have a darned thing to worry about by any kind of gun control.I can't be forced into silence anymore. I will openly debate the facts. The facts are that nobody is ever going to take everybody's guns away. The only people who need to worry about being raided are the people who insist on possessing the most deadliest of the deadly guns. I don't even know anybody who owns those kinds of assault weapons so I don't understand the hyperbolic rhetoric.I just pray to God that it's not any of our friends or family that get blown away in the next attack. I used to think that was the least of my worries. The fact that every time it happens we arm more and more people makes me think it's almost probable.The Reverend Bud Green 
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on December 18, 2012 at 07:20:22 PT

BGreen
I feel so repressed by not being able to talk about gun control. It's a terrible feeling. I heard yesterday that Germany has strict gun laws and they have about 81 million people. They had about 156 gun deaths last year and we had almost 10,000. We have 4 times as many people and I did the math.
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Comment #16 posted by BGreen on December 18, 2012 at 06:40:39 PT

20 babies were slaughtered by guns
They were killed by guns. The US is the only "civilized" country in the world where we have so many mass murders committed by people with guns. It doesn't happen with knives, sticks, baseball bats or even bombs. It happens when cowards get a hold of high powered guns which make them more dangerous than if they didn't have high powered weapons.The entire rest of the world is our model. The rest of the world doesn't hide their heads in the sand, ignoring the facts in front of their faces when it comes to gun violence. People seem more concerned with their right to have weapons than to even be interested in a discussion that just MIGHT help to prevent this kind of slaughter from happening five times per year.The rest of the world has crazy people, they have video games, they ignore mental health as much as we do. What is the difference? Guns. Ignoring that or getting angry because I point out the extremely obvious won't solve any problems.If the gun supporters are right then it won't make any difference if we talk about possible answers. If the truth scares people then so be it.I'm perfectly prepared to have a discussion, no matter how uncomfortable it is. I might change my mind. I might become more resolute in my beliefs. The real truth is that if we get angry and refuse to talk about ANY possible solution then we will continue to have NO solution.The rest of the world is a great model for what happens when there is pragmatism in thinking towards cannabis prohibition. The US government ignored it and refused to even consider that their views might be wrong. That's why we're where we are on cannabis. It was the realization that they were wrong.I respect people's right to be themselves. Giving idiots guns is a different story. It's made my life more dangerous by leaps and bounds.It really pisses me off that I can't even talk about a possible solution when guns can't even be mentioned. Guns turn nobodies into powerful killers. Guns are no longer the "great equalizer," they've made powerless pussies into extreme warriors.If your guns are so damned important then be secure enough in your beliefs to allow a discussion. There are millions of people just as smart on both sides of this issue to be afraid of a discussion.I'm so secure in all of my beliefs that I do not fear any discussion. The only reason to ever fear a discussion is when you know that you're not going to win. Debate me but don't shut me up.The Reverend Bud Green
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Comment #15 posted by Johnobonno on December 18, 2012 at 01:46:05 PT:

Why are my guns the target now?
Just when I thought we were making a little progress we have to fight that war again? Now I have to worry about my neighbors conspiring with politicians to have my house raided by jack booted gangters from the government on a rampage to purge all violence form the Earth. In the name of peace you start a civil war. Is that wise?So sorry about those killings,very sad. Let's not allow that to cause a worse thing for everyone. 
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Comment #14 posted by afterburner on December 14, 2012 at 13:54:54 PT

most of the school shooters were on psych meds...
which cause homicidal & suicidal thoughts.But the U. S. federal government is reluctant to allow legalization of cannabis which relaxes people and has not killed anyone!Feds, think of the children please!!!
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Comment #13 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 12:58:37 PT

And how can we know who they are 
and where they are... before it's too late? I think it's not possible.It's people that hate and don't control their anger and somehow think it's alright for them to kill. I think we may always have them and always have to guard against them.Even if we could detect something in someone that they might do something like this before they do it... there's likely nothing we could do to stop them, even with that information. Nothing but protect ourselves is all I can think of. I don't know. Maybe someone, someday will find a drug or an invention that quells the squirm of the murderous mind. That would be something. But I don't think we have anything like that.This is so horrible. I have my baby girl, my two year old granddaughter, here beside me and I look at her and I'm sick at the thought of the things that happen to some babies.And when they are in school or other places away from us... it is scary. There are still many discoveries to be made that can, perhaps, make the world a kinder, more merciful place for us all to live.
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 12:42:57 PT

It's killers that are the problem
not the weapons they may use.A lot of people disagree with me on that. But that's what I think. It's the killer... not the knife, or the stick, or the gun, or the bare hands they use to kill.It's the killers. And I don't know what to do about them but be very careful and teach my children, and all children, if I have the opportunity, to be very careful. Know what's going on around you. I've always tried to teach my children to avoid and watch out for dangerous people. If you sense danger in a person... get away from them and stay away from them.
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Comment #11 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 12:39:09 PT

twenty twos
Don't ever doubt that they can't kill a person. They can. And lots of people have been killed from them. A pellet gun can kill a person. The only person killed during the Lewis and Clark expedition was killed with an air gun.I dislike pink guns and any gun that looks like a toy. They should look dangerous... because they are.
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Comment #10 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 12:31:48 PT

The only answer i can think of is to work
harder at teaching people not to want to kill, but to protect others. To kill the helpless, especially children... it's beyond the understanding of a normal human being.There's something wrong with them. They are like "brute beasts"... dangerous animals. They have no understanding and compassion for others. They are dangerous, the most dangerous thing in the world... other people that have a really messed up sense of right and wrong and their part in it.They think, I think, that they have a good reason to do the things they do. But of course they don't. They are deluded. Like every thief I ever met always had a reason why it was alright for him to steal from someone... often expressing the feeling that the person he stole from somehow owed it to him. It's insanity and there is a lot of it afoot. Including in the prohibitionists that think they should punish people over cannabis and other substances.Stupid crazy people just like these other killers... and they always have some grand excuse for their behavior... that is nothing but a delusion.
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Comment #9 posted by BGreen on December 14, 2012 at 12:03:27 PT

Hope, I understand how you feel
I don't want to stop you or anybody else from defending themselves. The truth is that more people get accidentally killed by guns in the home than purposefully shot as an intruder.There has to be a better answer. How many more kindergarten classes have to be slaughtered before we try harder to find one? I pray to God it's none.Bud
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 11:55:59 PT

People that do things like this aren't normal.
I read about a man stomping a two year old girl to death in Colorado. What kind of man does something like that?
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Comment #7 posted by BGreen on December 14, 2012 at 11:55:48 PT

You're right
I don't think anybody should be able to get weapons as powerful as are available. Assault rifles and bullets designed to destroy flesh as they enter the body should be off limits to the average person.Part of the problem with "guns" is that it's as collectively ambiguous as "drugs." Heroin is not cannabis and a .22 isn't the same thing as the weapons being used in these mass murders.The problem with the gun violence is the same problem that plagues us with the war on cannabis ... people refuse to have an intelligent discussion about the situation.Maybe, just maybe, this time we'll start talking about a solution.Bud
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on December 14, 2012 at 11:52:45 PT

My word about guns and the right to own one.
I want to be able to do something about it besides hide, or die, if a murderous nut case like this shows up anywhere near me or mine.And no law against owning a gun would stop a nut case. Never has. Never will.
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Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 14, 2012 at 11:46:52 PT

BGreen
Yes, I agree. How can anyone be termed crazy though if they never did anything to send up a red flag?
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Comment #4 posted by BGreen on December 14, 2012 at 11:40:06 PT

I'm not against all guns
I'm actually an expert marksman. For that very reason I don't even own a gun. I know that I could easily kill. I know that even I lose my temper sometimes. I don't even want that kind of power to kill around me.It's just really obvious that guns are being used to commit mass murder on larger and larger scales and that we have to somehow keep that kind of power out of the hands of those capable of this kind of violence.It should be obvious to all but the completely clueless that we have failed society by allowing crazy people to arm themselves.Bud
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 14, 2012 at 11:28:08 PT

BGreen
I am watching this terrible incident too. I dare not say anything about guns since people are very defensive of the right to bear arms so as usual I will keep it to myself. I don't understand why people love guns and the right to own them like they do but they do. I am sure more children and adults will be killed in the future like happened today and so many other times. 
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Comment #2 posted by BGreen on December 14, 2012 at 11:09:31 PT

I'm in shock right now
The mass murder at the Sandy Hook Elementary school is unbelievable. 30 people shot, 27 of them fatally. What the heck is wrong with people?They've filled the prisons with cannabis partakers to protect the kids but forgot to concentrate on the heavily armed crazy m' f'ers who terrorize this country.I'll bet you any amount of money that if the founding fathers of this country could have seen weapons so powerful to have a kill rate of 27 out of 30, including 18 little precious children, that this so-called "right to bear arms" would not exist.Bud
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on December 14, 2012 at 09:40:24 PT

"I want to discourage drug use," he added.
Hypocrite! Alcohol is far more harmful that marijuana or cannabis ever was!Obama wants to keep things the same for as long as possible, on Rocky's orders. Only when it becomes political suicide to keep his illogical and harmful position, will he change.I remain questioning the difference with good old cigarettes: "How come that something which is allowed medically, is prohibited, still? Cigarettes anyone?"Are cigarettes good for you? Is it healty to smoke cigarettes? Cigarettes kill 40,000 Americans from 2nd hand smoke and kills 480,000 American direcly, EVERY YEAR!MARIJUANA HAS KILLED NO-ONE DIRECTLY!GET A CLUE OBAMA WITH YOUR MURDEROUS POLICIES!My father and 4 of his brothers (my uncles) died from cigarettes, yes it is very personal!
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