The All Knowing Obama

Chokshi Niraj,”Obama on marijuana legalization: ‘My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this’”GovBeat.Washingtonpost.com. January 22, 2015 July 30, 2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/01/22/obama-on-marijuana-legalization-my-suspicion-is-that-youre-gonna-see-other-states-start-looking-at-this/

On January 22, 2015, Three youtube stars got the chance of a life time to interview our president Barack Obama. The interview mainly revolved around marijuana and the policies that talk about the legalization of it. One of the three interviewers is Hank Green, a popular youtube star that has around 2.5 million subscribers. The other two youtube stars are Bethany Mota and Glozell Green, Glozell has around 3.8 million subscribers while Bethany has over a whopping 9.1 million subscribers. these youtube stars have a lot of popularity which means that a lot of people will be listening to what is being said in this interview.

The interview starts off with President Obama answering Hank Green’s question saying “What you’re seeing now is Colorado, Washington through state referenda, they’re experimenting with legal marijuana.” The legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state are very much the guinea pig in this situation, other states want to find out what marijuana can bring to the table when it is legalized. The experiment right now is actually going very well with both Colorado and Washington state having a boost in their economy with the sales of marijuana. With the experiment going so well Obama could only predict “My suspicion is that you’re gonna see other states start looking at this.” Other states will start taking a look into the legalization of weed for the benefits they have happened to produce.

The author of this post then goes on to what else Obama has to say about  many different issues that were related to federal application of drug policy.  Chokshi then says about Obama “He said that he will continue to have his administration review treatment of nonviolent drug offenders, and said drug policy with regard to marijuana should be treated more as a public health issue than a criminal one. He also voiced concern with the racially unequal application of marijuana laws and noted bipartisan support on the issue.” Now that Obama is trying to do something about the countless number of inmates that are in prison for such a small non-violent crime of possession, prisons will be less over encumbered with the amount of prisoners. Which will save millions in tax payers money that could help the economy in other ways. Obama wants to decriminalize marijuana or at least change the law to where it won’t be seen as a criminal problem but more as a public health problem.

With the use of marijuana becoming more wide spread we as a country need to make changes for it, not only are we wasting our tax payer’s dollars we are also wasting peoples valuable time being in jail for this non-violent crime. Now that they have been in prison it puts a long lasting effect on them not just mentally but also financially, having a criminal record prevents them from taking out loans. This article has really broaden my view on marijuana and I believe that it can broaden my classmates view on the legalization of weed.

4 Comments

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4 Responses to The All Knowing Obama

  1. Topanga

    I agree with President Obama’s statement that non-violent drug crimes shouldn’t be treated with criminalization, but rehabilitation. Its was kind of crazy to read his responses regarding Colorado and marijuana legalization there. The federal government still prohibits the use of marijuana, and to see the President talking about how its okay is a little weird. Hopefully before Obama leaves office, he can do something to make right all the people who have been imprisoned over marijuana.

  2. Robert

    Topanga is right again. Of course, there are limitations to how effective rehabilitation is. However, putting someone in jail just because they have a few joints on them is excessive. It’s interesting to read this and the title makes me laugh a bit but that’s just me. On a final note, something does need to be done. There is need of lots of reform. One of them being the criminalization of non-violent drug offenders.

  3. Juan

    I think that Obama is right about marijuana being more of a public health problem than a criminal one. Just like other legals drugs the consumption should be left to the individual. Give people the chance to try out marijuana and if they want to smoke everyday then should be allow to. Also, I think that it is a right step to try and not jail non-violent marijuana offenders.

  4. acb3897

    I love how Obama is very neutral towards this controversy. I love the way he speaks, generally, because he has a gracefulness about him that is so beautiful to me. I like how Obama poses this with maturity and a fresh new perspective that would change the way marijuana legalization is seen. To me, it’s not clear what his personal stance on this issue is through this article, but I believe it’s better that way.

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