Can’t Spell POTUS Without POT
Jan 20, 2014 Commentary, Political
Barack Obama has suddenly become a health expert on marijuana, tobacco and alcohol. I guess Obama thinks that smoking weed, using coke, smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol makes him an expert on the subject.
I have made my position known in the past. Instead of spending billions to fight this drug we should legalize it and tax the hell out of it (say 40-50%) in order to increase revenue. The revenue (as well as the savings from the war on drugs) could be used to pay the debt and lower our income taxes. The real problem will be getting government to actually use the tax money to pay bills instead of using it to make more bills. It will also eventually lead to government declaring marijuana a right and that some folks can’t afford it so it needs to be subsidized. They will give away pot with Obamaphones. I would never use it so the issue will not affect me as long as government does not decide to use my tax dollars for pot related items.
Back to Barack. He wants marijuana made legal and he is out talking now about how it is no more dangerous than alcohol. Obama said that it is well known he smoked pot as a teen and that he viewed it no differently from smoking tobacco. Hey genius, tobacco does not cause one to get high. It does not impair one’s ability to do things.
So Barry said he does not think marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol. That is likely true but we have quantitative methods to determine if a person is impaired by alcohol. How would we do that for marijuana when THC stays in the system for sometime and the levels stay high with repeated use? The person is not intoxicated but the levels are high so how do we measure? If we make marijuana legal there needs to be very strict laws about using it and driving and doing other things (like those where we would not allow alcohol) and the punishment needs to be severe.
Even if marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol that still means it is dangerous (just no more so than alcohol).
Smoking marijuana causes cancer and if one is also a tobacco smoker the incidence of cancer greatly increases. Despite what the stoner crowd tells you, marijuana is not some wonder drug that causes no harm. There are serious effects on the body and long term use is detrimental. Perhaps there is a use for the products from marijuana (like THC being used to stimulate appetite in cancer patients) but make no mistake, it has harmful effects.
The real issue with regard to Obama is the inequality in the legal system. Obama is concerned that rich people who get caught with marijuana are less likely to suffer the harsh consequences of the legal system than are the middle class and the poor among us.
Yes, there are a lot of people on the middle and low end of the spectrum who are jailed or otherwise under the restraints of the legal system because of marijuana use. However, I strongly doubt that these problems are ONLY because of the marijuana. For many of these people marijuana possession or use is but one charge among others such as illegal possession of a firearm, possession/use of other drugs, burglary, assault, failure to appear, violation of probation, multiple past arrests and so on.
In other words, these folks are not angels who happened to have a little weed on them.
But Obama is one to never leave the inequality card at home so he makes the issue about the inequality of the legal system.
If he wants equality then how about we start with making it so all the citizens have the same standards and rules as the politicians? If people get caught intoxicated they can go to rehab and be allowed back to work just like a member of Congress. If someone gets caught not paying taxes or cheating on them then that person can get a pass just like members of Congress and members of the Obama staff.
I do not believe in equality of outcome. Everyone should have the same chance in life (and we all pretty much have the same opportunity) but what one does with the opportunities is what determines the outcome. Obama can’t grasp this concept for society at large (with regard to him and his daughters it is a different story) so he thinks everyone deserves (or, as liberals say, has a right) to the same outcome.
And by God if the outcome is not the same then big government needs to step in and fix it.
Suppose two people of similar means both receive a million dollars to do what they want with. The first guy parties and spends it all on lavish items and soon runs out of money and ends up bankrupt. The second guy invests the money in a small business and grows the business over time so that he is eventually making many times more than the million dollars he started with. He employs people, provides them great benefits and he prospers. He buys the things he put off while building his business and he establishes a great life for his family.
Which one would most people applaud? They both had the same opportunity and chose different paths so their outcome was not the same.
To Obama the first guy got shafted and the government needs to step in and take money from the second guy to make the first guy’s life better.
Obama is clueless.
Maybe all that pot he used in his youth did damage his brain after all…
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
Tags: cdc, inequality, lies, marijuana, Obama, pot smoker