Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jun 2012
Source: Detroit News (MI)
Copyright: 2012 Tribune Media Services
Contact:  http://www.detroitnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/126
Author: Clarence Page
Page: 11A

OBAMA'S POT REFORM GOES UP IN SMOKE

I would shrug and say "So what?" to the latest details from President 
Barack Obama's potsmoking past, except for one thing: He stirred so 
much hope as a candidate for sensible marijuana policy reforms but, 
as president, has delivered so little change.

David Maraniss brings all that back to mind with his forthcoming 
book, "Barack Obama: The Story," which has been leaking like a sieve 
to major media in advance of its publication. Published accounts of 
his days at Punahou, the private Hawaiian prep school that Obama 
attended in the 1970s, make the future president sound like a classic stoner.

"When a joint was making the rounds," Maraniss writes, the young 
Obama "often elbowed his way in, out of turn, shouted 'Intercepted!' 
and took an extra hit." Whoa, dude!

As Barry Obama and his basketball buddies, among other friends, 
partied in a Volkswagen minivan, "When the pot was gone," Maraniss 
writes, "they tilted their heads back and sucked in the last bit of 
smoke from the ceiling." Or in Washington terms, one might say they 
were trying to make maximum use of available resources.

Whether such details amuse or upset you, it's not news that young 
Barry Obama enjoyed a toke or two back in his school days.

In his memoir "Dreams from My Father" and on the campaign trail, he 
was refreshing in his candor compared to his predecessors Bill 
Clinton, who famously said he smoked but "didn't inhale," or George 
W. Bush, who refused to confirm or deny accounts reporters received 
from his friends.

All three were elected anyway, a sign of how much the times and 
attitudes have relaxed about the demon weed.

A significant turning point came in November when the Gallup Poll 
found that, for the first time in its 42-year history of asking the 
question, a majority of Americans believe marijuana should be legalized.

"Ending the war on cannabis consumers is no longer a political 
liability," Erik Altieri, communications director for 
pro-legalization NORML said recently. "It is a political possibility."

Activists were elated when Obama acknowledged that legalization was 
"an entirely legitimate topic for debate" - the first time a sitting 
president has made such a statement, according to Ethan Nadelmann, 
executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Obama promised to maintain a hands-off approach toward California's 
dispensaries that adhered to state law, which legalized marijuana for 
medicinal purposes in 1996. "I'm not going to be using Justice 
Department resources to try to circumvent state laws (on medical 
marijuana)," he said, according to Rolling Stone.

But activists' joy quickly evaporated as marijuana arrests surged to 
new record highs - more than 850,000 in 2009 and in 2010, according 
to the latest annual FBI crime reports. That's more than half of all 
drug arrests, contrary to the popular but reckless notion that 
"nobody" gets busted for grass anymore.

And federal agents have launched more than 100 raids in nine medical 
marijuana states, resulting in at least 61 federal indictments, 
according to data compiled by Americans for Safe Access, an advocacy group.

The raids have closed down dozens of distributors operating legally 
under state law, and a high-profile training academy for providers in Oakland.

It is against the backdrop of those events that Obama's youthful weed 
indiscretions raise intriguing new questions, such as: Would today's 
Barack Obama arrest young Barry Obama?

The answer, judging by his recent interview with Rolling Stone, 
appears to be maybe not, as long as young Barry were a medical 
marijuana patient.

The president noted that "there haven't been prosecutions of users of 
marijuana for medical purposes."

Maybe not. But any sense of clarity about the federal marijuana 
policy has gone up in smoke.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom