I always find it ironic when Republican politicians try to paint United States President Barack Obama as some type of drug reform hero. Republican Senator Ted Cruz from Texas recently tried to attack Barack Obama during his keynote speech at Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Policy Orientation. During the speech Senator Cruz suggested that Obama should be sending marijuana users to jail in Colorado because marijuana is still illegal at the federal level, but that Obama isn’t because he is trying to help marijuana consumers by circumventing the democratic process and letting drug users commit crimes with no penalties.
“You can go to Congress, you can get a conversation, you could get Democrats and Republicans who would say, ‘We ought to change our drug policy in some way,’ and you could have a real conversation, you could have hearings, you could look at the problem, you could discuss commonsense changes that maybe should happen or shouldn’t happen. This president didn’t do that. He just said, ‘The laws say one thing’ — and mind you these are criminal laws, these are laws that say if you do ‘X, Y, and Z’ you will go to prison. The president announced, ‘No, you won’t.'” Senator Cruz said, according to Raw Story.
Number one – President Obama does not like marijuana consumers and reform supporters. Ask any marijuana consumer how they feel about Obama’s policies towards marijuana, and they will be very upfront that he is horrible in this area. Obama has enforced federal marijuana laws on a a level that even George W. Bush couldn’t match.
Number two – Does Senator Cruz really want to to see Obama or anyone else go to Congress with a marijuana reform bill? Or is he just pretending like he wants to ‘have a real conversation’ with hearings, etc because it fits his rhetoric at that particular point in time, for the particular audience he is talking to? Because last I checked there were multiple United States Representatives that were trying to do that very thing, but they got zero help from the Senate…Does this mean that Senator Cruz will back up his empty rhetoric with some action?
Number three – Why do so many Republican politicians want to enforce federal marijuana laws and throw Colorado’s marijuana consumers in jail? I thought Republicans believed in state’s rights, limited government intrusion, and responsible fiscal policies? Yet when it comes to marijuana, all that gets thrown out the window. When it comes to marijuana, politicians like Senator Ted Cruz want to trample on the rights of states and their voters, want to have federal agents investigating millions of citizens simply because they consume marijuana, and want to fill federal prisons with marijuana consumers instead of reserving those prison beds for real criminals.
