Another Medical Marijuana Petition Was Created, But Will Obama Ever Listen?
Another marijuana reform petition has been started on the White House website. Between YouTube contests, petitions, op-eds, etc, the Obama administration has been asked to reform marijuana laws more times than any other administration in American history. It’s not coincidence. Barack Obama made promises to the medical marijuana community on the campaign trail, and made comments about recreational marijuana reform while he was serving in his home state of Illinois. With Obama’s first term drawing to a close, he has not kept any promises to the medical marijuana community, and has smirked when asked about marijuana legalization, suggesting he doesn’t take the issue serious at all.
I hope this new petition gets some traction since we are going into an election. The medical marijuana voting bloc isn’t as large as some other voter groups, so there won’t be open courting by either major party. However, if we can make enough noise by getting the signature goal of 25,000 signatures by April 15th, we just might be able to get the issue into the overall discussion before the general election. All of the presidential candidates in the 2012 Election get awkward when they talk about medical marijuana, with the exceptions of Ron Paul and third party candidates.
If the petition goes nowhere, it’s virtually guaranteed that candidates will continue to dodge the issue all together. But, if we can get the signatures, there’s a chance that a moderator at a debate or major media outlets will pick up the story. When they see the candidates squirm when they are asked about their view on medical marijuana, they will continue to ask it in order to get their journalistic kicks. Awkward politicians makes good television! Below is the information for the petition. As of the writing of this article, there are only 28 of the 25,000 signatures…Let’s go people!
WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
keep its promise on medical marijuana
President Barack Obama should keep his campaign promise from 23 March, 2008 “I’m not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue”.
We ask the Administration to stop:
– Lawsuits against property owner renting to dispensaries.
– The IRS denying tax-paying dispensaries reasonable expense deductions.
– The Dept. of Treasury browbeating banks to close accounts of marijuana collectives.
– The BATF denying medical marijuana patients’ right to have firearms.
– The DEA turning down a petition to reschedule marijuana for medical use, ignoring extensive scientific evidence of marijuana’s efficacy.
– NIDA blocking a proposed study on medical marijuana for PTSD.
