Friday, May 25, 2012

Ron Paul versus Barack Obama, on Weed

The Prez appears to have been quite the Hawaii pot head.

Buzzfeed has what at first seems a hilarious take on the President and his serious weed smoking days. It's a must read: A User's Guide to Smoking Pot with Barack Obama.

But there is another side to the story,the Prez as serious hypocrite. Firedoglake has that side of the story:
Details from a new book Barack Obama: The Storycontains in-depth details about his frequent marijuana use as a young man. Although Obama admitted to using marijuana in his memoir Dreams From My Father, we now learn for example that Obama was a frequently indulging aficionado who was a big fan of hot boxing in cars. While Obama’s past marijuana use is treated as merely a funny anecdote, his hypocrisy on the issue of marijuana and the destruction his continued support for prohibition causes is no laughing matter.

In 2010 roughly 850,000 Americans were arrested for marijuana related offenses of which the vast majority was for possession. That means since Obama took office it is likely well over 2.5 million Americans have been arrested for marijuana. Millions arrested for committing the same basic “crime” our President often committed during his youth.

While Obama was lucky enough not to get a criminal record for his mostly harmless marijuana use, hundreds of thousands of other Americans this year were not as fortunate, especially young African American and Latino males who are disproportionally arrested at much higher rates for marijuana. Many of these young people will be burdened with a records that could permanently hurt their employment prospects and they will lose the federal support they need to attend college.

If Obama were a young man today and got arrested for his marijuana use under our currently policy, the negative consequences from such an arrest could easily have stopped him from ever becoming President. Clearly, the actual use of marijuana didn’t hurt Obama by making him less successful, but the consequences of our prohibition easily could have. But not only does Obama support maintaining this current drug policy, which is more damaging to people than the drug itself, but his administration has taken the federal war against medical marijuana to new heights.
Contrast this with Ron Paul, who I seriously doubt has ever taken one puff of weed in his life. (He told me that it was only recently that he started drinking red wine.). Yet, it is Ron Paul who wants to eliminate federal drug laws. If he were president, he would pardon those in jail for federal drug offenses and disband the DEA.

That's the difference between a man of principle who favors liberty for all and a scheming elitist like President Obama.  Dr. Paul. just wouldn't touch weed, but as a man in favor liberty, he wouldn't bother with  anyone else who chose to use it.  President Obama, on the other hand, as an elitist, views himself above the law.  For him to be a Hawaii pot head was just fine, but now, in power, he uses the power of federal government to crush those who now do what he did.

9 comments:

  1. Why didn't the press uncover this during the 2008 presidential campaign? Will it make a difference in the 2012 election?

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  2. Penn Jillette recently had an awesome rant about Obama and drugs.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWWOJGYZYpk

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  3. Disappointing title. I would gladly pay $100 to see these two debate while they're both high. Obama would simply dig himself further into impossible promises and weird observations about the malleable populace, but Dr. Paul might spontaneously think up an entirely new and even more brilliant school of economic thought or something.

    I kid, I kid.

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  4. Obama's a narc. Pass it on.

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  5. The pot headed pixie sounds a good guy to hang with. Wonder what happened to him.

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  6. Maui Wowi...'nuff said

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  7. How sad that the choice is between a pothead and a medical doctor, and the "majority" is leaning towards the former.

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  8. Typical of power mad elitists. Was it any different for the Papa Kennedy? Once a rum runner and then suddenly once in a position of power he uses his office to make sure nobody could do likewise. The lying rat! Fast forward to today and you have Barack pulling the same sort of stunt.

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