In Jamaica, Obama Encounters Marijuana Questions…And Blames Congress or Something

He's the most powerful man in the world, claiming the absolute right to operate a secret "kill list," take the country to war, and issue executive orders and actions that have far-reaching and long-lasting effects.

But when former Choom Gang member and current U.S. President Barack Obama gets a question about pot legalization from a Jamaica Rasta man, would you believe he defers to Congress quicker than James Buchanan ever did.

After his usual "here comes the pot question" style jokes and laughs, Obama granted that the war on drugs, like other wars, is not healthy for children and other living things. But you know, what can he do, what with this legislative body standing in the way? When asked about legalization at the federal level, he pleaded

"I do not foresee, any time soon, Congress changing the law at a national basis."

More here.

Hat tip: Mike Hewlett

Hey Mr. President, if you're interested in executive action on this topic, you know that you have the unilateral power to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, right? That wouldn't be a panacea, or even automatically make pot legal under the current prescription regime, but it would also be a hugely powerful statement and allow for all sorts of new, positive developments in medicine and law enforcement.

Comments

[rts]

What a twat.

[soflarider]

Come on! Give him a break. His phone won’t connect to the local network and his pen ran out of ink.

[jay_dubya]

GODDAMMIT OBAMA PRESS 9 TO GET AN OUTSIDE LINE

[plusafdotcom]

Log in via Hillary’s server?

[Hey Nikki!]

Absolute piece of shit.

[wareagle]

what the fuck ever. This is the issue where he hides behind “mean ole Congress?” Sure as hell has not stopped him on far bigger points.

[Hamster of Doom]

And not one person coughed, “Executive order.” I call bullshit.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Pretend marijuana is an immigrant and forbid enforcement of the relevant laws. Problem solved.

[kilroy]

What the fuck has he got to lose? Reschedule it already!

[Derpetologist]

But but but he visited the Bob Marley Museum and greeted people in JAH mayyyyyy ken patois!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vucnSelKio

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/…..ey-museum/

[Warty]

Cowardly, lying, disgusting scum. Fuck him. When he gets old and gets some terminal disease, I hope it’s something slow, painful, and humiliating.

[Hey Nikki!]

Why wait until he’s old?

[Warty]

Because I already got Reason sued once. I can’t believe they tolerate me.

[Xeones]

Wait, what? How?

Was it DONDERROOOOOOOOOOO?

[Warty]

It was that one time that we were making fun of that one guy and talking about stuff he definitely didn’t do. If you go through the court papers, you’ll see my stupid handle as a named defendant.

[Rich]

It’s unfortunate that the — what’s the stylish term — kerfuffle was so, um, unpleasant, but I must say I almost died laughing during that commenting session.

[Hamster of Doom]

Wait. Someone actually sued.

Dude. Always be in on the joke. Always.

[Derpetologist]

Defendants include Warty, The Gobbler, John, Mr. Weebles, Mr. Whipple, Not Arthur Wolk…

Oh man, too funny.

https://reason.com/assets/db/13159509033684.pdf

[Derpetologist]

The Reason Foundation, a euphemism for the policies and goals of the Libertarian Party, a right wing fringe element that espouses to what amounts to an abandonment of the institutions of our Republic…

….anti-consumer, anti-Government, anti-court, anti -judge, and often anti-semitic, anarchistic views…

…much like the Nazis of the early 1930s….

I’m so glad I wasn’t drinking anything when I read this.

[Number 2]

Libertarians are like the Nazis of the 1930’s? Seriously??

I am surprised that Reason didn’t counterclaim for defamation.

[Robert]

Hey, if we’re like the Nazis of the 1930s, does that mean we get to wear cool uniforms & have recognition salutes, rituals, parades, etc.?

Anyway, is our slogan still News, Views, and Abuse?

[bacon-magic]

That is the most lawyer scumbag awesomeness I’ve seen in a while. You trolls on here really are cool(don’t let your heads swell up, they are ugly enough as it is{is that libelous or libelicious?}).

[Andrew S.]

I had forgotten about that!

I wonder if he might still have sex with sheep on a regular basis. Allgedly, of course.

[Xeones]

OH MY GOD. That is HILARIOUS

[Warty]

Oh, memories. I had forgotten about this little gem.

Plaintiff wrote a book entitled “Recollections of My Puppy”, a book for adults and children, all of the proceeds from which go to animal rescue. The false charges by defendants have utterly killed that book and the charitable purpose Wolk intended.

[Derpetologist]

My fav:

244. The plaintifff must now carry a gun to protect himself from the nut balls who are incited by these defendants all with the sole intention of causing the lunatic fringe who are devotees of these defendants from doing him bodily harm.

Reason is militant cult? Neat!

[plusafdotcom]

Well, 18.5 fucking megabytes of pdf and I could only stomach reading the first seven pages…

The over-the-top accusations from He Whose Name Shall Never Be Spoken reminded me of people who are bullies and accuse Others of being bullies by attacking them back!

I even have an Observation which I think applies to He Whose….

http://www.plusaf.com/falklaws.htm#50th

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Ah, yes, Mr. Thingamabob, and what’s-his-name, and also you-know-who.

[Robert]

Too bad he didn’t have a sense of humor about it like Steve Smith, who actually went on a Reason cruise so people could meet him after turning him into a caricature. I don’t know if that was his real name, and if it wasn’t, that might explain part of his willingness to go along with it.

I enjoy the gag too, and just use Steve Smith’s name (in caps) to refer only to the fictional character, not the real person. It seems likely that few of those who take part in that gag now could remember any cx to the actual poster anyway.

But apparently that wasn’t the case w the guy you refer to.

[Xeones]

I’d settle for him living another 30 or 40 years with debilitating, untreatable diarrhea and incontinence.

[Hamster of Doom]

Erectile dysfunction and shrinkage.

[Robert]

Then he could do ads, “Unlike Bob Dole, I won the presidency, but that didn’t save me from ED & S. Now there’s a pill that helps both, and the att’y gen’l doesn’t have a problem with it even under the current admin.”

[Derpetologist]

I guess he didn’t get enough flexibility after his last election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9uZdfqv3Hc

[GILMORE]

(“lean farther forward, it makes it look like i care”)

[Roger the Shrubber]

He refuses to use the numerals 4, 2, or 0 on his phone.

[Ken Shultz]

“There are two states in the United States that have embarked on an experiment to decriminalize or legalize marijuana. Right now that is not federal policy, and I do not foresee any time soon Congress changing the law on a national basis. But I do think that if there are states that show that they are not suddenly a magnet for additional crime, that they have a strong enough public health infrastructure to push against the potential of increased addiction, then it is conceivable that will spur on a national debate.”

—-Barack Obama

Does everybody see what Obama said about marijuana and addiction?

Barack Obama believes at least one of two things:

1) Barack Obama believes that marijuana is addictive.

2) Barack Obama believes that marijuana is a gateway drug.

Millions of people, all over the world, are suffering the devastating impacts of the Drug War because of Barack Obama’s stupid and unscientific beliefs.

[Derpetologist]

No, he’s just another power hungry hypocrite like Michael Bloomberg, who when asked whether he ever smoked weed, said: “You bet I did. And I enjoyed it.”

The I-got-mine-fuck-you philosophy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04…..marks.html

http://farm4.static.flickr.com…..119e_o.jpg

[GILMORE]

“ha ha ha ha! No, that’s cute. I only use executive authority to hurt my political enemies! not take risks. Also, let’s be real = Soccer Moms vs Black Folks? sorry bro”

[Ken Shultz]

“Also, let’s be real = Soccer Moms vs Black Folks? sorry bro””

Which is objectively racist.

I’d like to see someone from the NAACP take him to task for this, but they won’t.

I understand, plenty among the NAACP leadership grew up under Jim Crow and living to see a black man elected President is even weirder and cooler for them than seeing a libertarian elected President would be for us.,.

But the Drug War is officially a racist policy according to the NAACP! Somebody’s gotta stand up and call it like it is–even if the President perpetuating the racist Drug War is fulfillment of every civil rights leaders’ dream.

[GILMORE]

Well, reggae music is nothing if not filled with excoriations of their fellow black men who, once they get power, invariably turn and hypocritically use it against their “bredren” for self advancement

call a dem a Vampire!

[Notorious G.K.C.]

But in Jamaica, you don’t have to worry that turning a black person out of office would result in a white person taking their place.

[GILMORE]

They never had a black prime minister until 1992

And guess what happened after that?

[Ken Shultz]

I think a lot of that was Drug War related. Certainly, Rasta and Jamaican aren’t equivalent.

Incidentally, last time I was in Mendocino (Emerald Triangle, Pot Growing Capital of the U.S.), far as I could tell, there was a radio station devoted to reggae.

It’s called “The Skunk FM”!

http://tunein.com/radio/The-Skunk-FM-927-s19393/

On the streets, it seemed like there were tons of really well dressed Jamaicans, Colombians, and Eastern Europeans driving around in really nice cars.

But then if the local economy is based on a multi-billion product that has to be smuggled everywhere, who else is going to who up to grow and distribute it but people who already in that business?

I don’t know. That was a casual observation.

It was the only place I’ve ever been worried about camping when I’m on my bike. The Americans who flock there to work picking come harvest season were some of the creepiest I’ve seen. I’m not generally freaked out by those types, but these people had that look: There’s one look where they’re trying to figure out whether to rob you, but they had the other one. The one where they’ve already decided to rob you–they’re just trying to figure out whether they should wait until you fall asleep to jump you.

[GILMORE]

That wasn’t a comment about rastafarians or weed =

it was pointing out that Jamaica, post-independence, went completely to shit.

and that the frequent, general observations about the “lack of trustworthiness of their fellow man” in Reggae music is entirely justified.

[Derpetologist]

Shh! You’re not supposed to notice that Jamaica isn’t all peace and love, because it’s full of groovy brown people!

“If you’re gay in Jamiaca, you’re dead.”

http://www.theguardian.com/wor…..hts.gender

[Derpetologist]

Say, shouldn’t Obama be boycotting the place because of rampant homophobia?

Oh man. Just imagine the reaction if Obama called on Jamaica to legalize gay marriage. He’d last about as long as Bob Marley with a toe tumor.

[Ken Shultz]

“Shh! You’re not supposed to notice that Jamaica isn’t all peace and love”

Yeah, and the Rastas have been trying to point that out since the beginning–notably and recently here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GZlJGERbvE

Hell, they’ve been ranking about the gangs and crime of Jamaica since long before Ska and Rock Steady turned into Reggae.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb8jkjlP89M

[Ken Shultz]

All the excoriations of Babylon. It’s fucking awesomeness.

I can’t make myself buy their religious justifications, but the conclusions are fundamentally superior to those of my neighbors.

If you read Marcus Garvey’s excoriation of communism:

“The Communist Party wanted to have as many supporters as possible, even if it meant having Blacks but Garvey discouraged this. He had the idea that Communists were only White men who wanted to manipulate Blacks so they could continue to have control over them.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey

True liberation only comes from self-sufficiency? What a terrifying thought!

How do we stop them? I know! Let’s persecute them for their cannabis!

I was reading about this guy recently, too:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrahima_Fall

Probably had a much bigger impact on the culture than is generally appreciated. A patron saint of hard work? Their sect wears dreads, and under the doctrine of “you reap what you sow”, holds hard work to be a sacrament and a fundamental expression of faith in God.

That’s ingenious.

Reenforces my hope that if the Protestant work ethic ever disappears in this country, it can and will spring up elsewhere.

[Mickey Rat]

Besides, are you aware how much arbitrary power over the citizenry the government would be giving up doing that? Do you think I am crazy enough to give that up?

[LarryA]

Hey Mr. President, if you’re interested in executive action on this topic, you know that you have the unilateral power to reclassify marijuana under the Controlled Substances Act, right?

“Where’s the fun in that?”

[Ken Shultz]

Oh, and someone might mention…

Rastafarians, with their self-sufficiency, are about as libertarian as it gets.

The idea that if the white man discriminates against you, won’t give you a good job, etc. so you can buy flashy clothes, then you should go make your own clothes and be proud of what you made for yourself?

That’s so freakin’ libertarian.

The idea that God created nature in such a way that the world provides everything we really need–if only we’re willing to work hard enough for it? That true liberation only comes from self-sufficiency?

That’s about as libertarian as anybody ever needs to be–and Rastafai is all about self-sufficiency.

The idea that God gave us a seed that we can grow for ourselves, and that racist white men don’t want us to be free to grow it and smoke it for various reasons–mostly to keep us dependent on them in various ways? I don’t see anything unlibertarian about that either.

[Notorious G.K.C.]

Wow, I’d like to subscribe to their newsletter.

[GILMORE]

That may be so about “rastafarianism“…

…when i was in jamaica in the 1990s, my local Montego Bay 16yr old tour guide said that all the Rastas were freeloaders who took ‘government jobs’ that basically paid them welfare for not shitting in the streets, and forced them to stay away from tourist areas during the day. Most jamaicans thought they were bums, basically.

[Ken Shultz]

They get offended if you add “ism” to Rastafari.

Like Peter Tosh sang, “We’re sick and tired of your “ism” schism”.

They just see us all of us as worshiping Jah and all the various “isms” (Protestantism, Catholicism, Mormonism, Judaism, etc.) are just meant to divide us. They don’t want to be a party to that.

I think it’s true that a lot of people who want to be Rasta go out there with all enthusiasm for getting high and listening to reggae all day–and end up finding out about how that self-sufficiency means hard work later. Then they give up on self-sufficiency and go on the dole? Yeah, I can see that happening.

However, I bet anybody who makes their own clothes and looks ragamuffin is assumed to be lazy because of the way he looks, too. Some of the slef-sufficient people I’ve seen look like bums.

Still, he might be growing his vegetables in his own garden, making his own clothes, and enjoying his freedom. I don’t think there’s anything about being a Rasta that says you have to go on the dole. Or that you should go on the dole. And I think there’s plenty that says you shouldn’t. The dole /= self-sufficiency.

[adolphowisner]

My co-worker’s step-sister makes $80 /hour on the laptop . She has been out of work for seven months but last month her paycheck was $21155 just working on the laptop for a few hours. find out here now
????????????????? http://www.jobsfish.com

[Robert]

See? Nobody has to be on the dole when opp’ties like this exist.

[Longtail]

Gee, I don’t know if any libertarians noticed (because Republicans certainly won’t), but Obama has done a yeoman job of trying to keep the country out of war, disengage from all the conflicts he inherited and engage in diplomacy, but who’s counting?

[John Ashman]

Can’t find his pen suddenly. Hypocrite.

The idea that legalizing marijuana would create a LARGER addiction problem is ridiculous. If ONLY we could get alcoholics, meth addicts, heroin addicts, etc, hooked on marijuana, we would dropt he crime rate by more than half and save a lot of lives from harmful addictions.

[BDub]

Does this ass-hat really think most people don’t know he has the executive authority to change the “Schedule” designation the drug? Man, he such a hypocrite!

[John Ashman]

“Oh, look, it’s a Jamaican asking me about drugs, HAHAHAHA”

Well, asshole, what I heard is someone asking about property rights and your persecution of your own people.

[Vernon_da_Noodler]

bath house Barry wood like nuffin mo dan to bees puffin a fatty wiff his bros befo dey go down lo

[Vernon_da_Noodler]

bath house Barry wood like nuffin mo dan to bees puffin a fatty wiff his bros befo dey go down lo

[levelplayingfield]

Good luck trying to quantify all of hypocritical statement/actions of liar-in-chief. Re-elected to the Presidency?? Very disheartening that our citizenry could be so blind…

[Roger Knights]

Obama may have been threatened that if he toned down the drug war, embarrassing testimony would be leaked to the media.

[Roger Knights]

PS: Similar threats of exposure may have been delivered to Obama’s two predecessors. If there were persons who might tesrify to their embarrassing actions, news of them might have circulated in law enforcement circles.

[drmaddogs]

Am still awaiting any MSM to bring up how Presidents, including Obama, use free services in Campaigns, in exchange for their ‘Drug Policies”. Or hoe State Level Candidates receive illegal campaign donations from Fed taxes in exchange for their elections.
Maybe someday, someone, somewhere in Media will expose this story of how the 50 Billion a year in “Drug War” funding… helps (completely), Mj Prohibition go on and on and on by buying the policies the candidates will promote… long before the candidate ‘declares’, long before the candidate states for, against, or in Obama’s words, ‘ we need to have a discussion about it’.

Well, at this point in Obama’s cycle, I hope people see just how much Obama really meant with ‘Discussion’… ‘Blame Congress’. By the way, Hillary and Rand Paul both have signed up with ONDCP participants, so don’t expect any help their either lol!
The only hope Americans have on most any program that uses tax dollars as to changing the program, is to vote, not for a politician, but directly on the ballots.
As, Hillary was quoted when asked if Mj Prohibition would end,,, “No, there’s too much money in it”.

[Gene]

I completely agree with this assessment.

[Pope Jimbo]

Penn was on the right side of this one.

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