President Obama continues to attempt bringing together his liberal base by tackling controversial social issues. It appears he now wants the liberal leaning marijuana users to support him despite policies that threaten to lock them up. Cannatruths offers some suggestions.
First he would need to sign an executive order moving cannabis from a schedule one drug to a schedule five so that it could legally have a value for medical use. Then he would need to guarantee that federal resources used in the drug war will be directed entirely away from anything related to cannabis that isn’t coming through the borders, at the very least those who are in compliance with their state law.
These two things would be sufficient enough to regain trust on the issue of cannabis, but it is very unlikely that the administration will do this. Luckily we do have a candidate in former two-term governor of New Mexico, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson this year, who toured a Denver medical marijuana dispensary the other day and is willing to make these policy changes.
Read More at Cannatruths: So Obama wants the “pothead” vote
Gary Johnson is the Presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party and has called for legalization of marijuana since he was governor of New Mexico in 1999.
Much thanks for posting my article!
@11 Yea, but the drug issue is a big issue for Johnson, and the latest poll shows legalization at 56%. I think if IPR can post a million Wayne Root stories, I think it can accept one where they talk about liberals and pot, and mentions Gary Johnson (almost an endorsement).
Now if only we can get LEAP to endorse Johnson. That would be big news.
Article seems fine to me. I would suggest a headline that mentions Johnson, although I don’t have a specific one mind.
Clunky first try:
Cannatruths: Johnson Better than Obama for “Pothead” Voters
Something along those lines.
To me this seems like coverage creep on the Democratic Party side. A one sentence blurb at the end of an article is not an article about a non-Democrat, non-Republican campaign.
Austin: The non-editorializing thing is tough for all of us writers and most of us seem to violate it from time to time. It’s usually easy to fix with changing a word or phrase or two.
That fix is excellent Austin – it reads very nicely!
Fixed, If you have any suggestions for me, or anything I can fix up, please let me know via email. It is [email protected]
I’m pretty much open to posting anything. Despite my strong radical libertarian stances, I am trying to be as neutral as possible for this site.
No problem, Austin. I appreciate the effort you’re making and the stories you’ve shared!
still new at this. I’ll fix it now.
And my favorite part…
“Luckily we do have a candidate in former two-term governor of New Mexico, Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson this year, who toured a Denver medical marijuana dispensary the other day and is willing to make these policy changes.”
Agreed.
Hi Mark –
I don’t disagree at all. I’m just saying that IPR usually is pretty strict about editorializing in the original post itself, and authors typically use the OP for straight reporting and then post a comment with their editorial thoughts. Red Phillips, paulie, and many others do a very good job of this.
Wole,
I understand your point but to those in jail and their families, his record is terrible.
I don’t disagree with any of this, but I’d drop the “terrible” in the first sentence. It’s editorializing, and leaving it out doesn’t change the implication made by “despite”. Also, the two “despite” clauses are redundant – I’d combine them. The way it reads now, it essentially says, “Despite his policies the President wants marijuana users to support him despite his policies.”