Finally, Something the President Doesn’t Want to Tax
What happens when the President opens the floor to questions by anyone, about anything?
Well, you get a ton of questions about legalizing marijuana from a few thousand unemployed stoners!
The more than 92,000 people who responded either have a Cheech and Chong sense of humor or there is a deep concern in America — undetected by the media — about the decriminalization of marijuana, its possible use for medicinal purposes and its potential as a new source of tax revenue.
Given the opportunity to say what’s really on their minds without going through the filter of the mainstream media, people “buzzed up” a series of questions that seemed to suggest broad interest in legalizing marijuana and taxing it.
In this moment of national economic crisis, the top four questions under the heading of “Financial security” concerned marijuana; on the budget, people voted up questions about marijuana to positions 1-4; marijuana was in the first and third positions under “jobs”; people boosted a plug for legalizing marijuana to No. 2 under “health care reform.” And questions about decriminalizing pot occupied spots 1 and 2 under “green jobs and energy.”
Never let it be said that smoking weed affects your ability to stay on task.
The President basically laughed off the one question on the subject he accepted, which was a bad move, I think. His flippancy caused him to give exactly the wrong answer.
“The answer is no, I don’t think that is a good strategy to grow our economy,” he said, as the audience in the room applauded and joined him in a laugh.
No? I would have thought, given the ridiculous tax increases he’s already put in place on other tobacco products, he would have jumped on the chance to tax marijuana like Nancy Pelosi jumps on an earamark. I guess we’ve finally found the one thing Barack Obama doesn’t want to tax.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Pressing on a Campaign Promise
- It’s a Contradiction Wrapped in a Fog, Inside a President
- President-Elect Hypocrite
Category: President Barack Obama, The Economy and Your Money, The Social Issues
That *is* pretty surprising. Though the reality is the tobacco and liquor lobbies would have a fit if they allowed user-made competition to intrude on their market.
I guess it's not surprising if you think he's still willing to support prohibition and the efforts of lobbyists rather than introduce some real change.
That would no doubt do something to lower the ridiculous high prison population in the US to boot!
Use of pot has never been an issue for me – never used it and sort of don't care if someone else does. My husband feels very strongly about it – he dealt with young men in the military and is absolutely convinced that it's a gateway drug, leading to use of the hard drugs.
Putting that aside though, how is it that tobacco smoke is considered 100% carcinogenic, but marijuana smoke is just find and dandy? Smoke is smoke – do we just not _know_ about it as a carcinogen because the studies haven't been done? Do pot users die of other things before cancer has a chance to strike? I really wonder how the culture that accepts pot smoking can accept it as totally harmless while at the same time condemning tobacco smoking which is also a completely natural product. I don't even know if the question is a science question or a cultural question!