Obama Dismisses Latin American Leaders’ Calls for Drug Legalization

[Better Believe It]

Obama Dismisses Latin American Leaders’ Calls for Drug Legalization in Colombia
By: Jon Walker
April 16, 2012

With the total failure of the drug war causing many Latin American political leaders to publicly question the wisdom of prohibition, President Obama was forced to repeatedly address the issue this weekend at the Summit of the Americas in Cartagena, Colombia. Unfortunately, Obama did his best to quickly dismiss the topic with incoherent excuses. From the LA Times:

“The capacity of a large-scale drug trade to dominate certain countries if they were allowed to operate legally without any constraint could be just as corrupting, if not more corrupting, than the status quo,” he said.

This is simply an absurd defense of prohibition. If drugs were legalized and regulated like any other product, the business running them would be operate like any other legal business such as beer breweries, pharmaceutical makers, car manufacturers, alcohol distillers, dairies, etc. While corporations can and sometimes do have a corrupting influence over a nation’s politics, the idea that the level of corruption and violence from a legal business would ever be on the scale that we see with the cartels in the illicit drug trade doesn’t pass the laugh test.

If this pathetic defense is the best President Obama can offer to justify the continuation of a policy that is literally killing thousand of people a year, that is truly sad.

Read the full article at:

http://justsaynow.firedoglake.com/2012/04/16/obama-dismisses-latin-american-leaders-calls-for-drug-legalization-in-colombia/

[tridim]

1. He didn't say no to marijuana legalization as your and Jane's graphic implies.

He said he didn't agree with legalizing ALL drugs in an election year.

Jane's spin is truly sad, she's going to be so sad when Obama wins.

[Better Believe It]

3. The graphic is the logo of the website that published the article. Obama is opposed to medical pot

Not only is President Obama opposed to the legalization of pot, he is directing his Attorney General to aggressively crack down on medical pot.

Is that news to you?

If it is, I can provide you with credible news links on this government offensive against medical pot.

[tridim]

5. Obama supports medical pot in legal states.

Period.

Stop lying about the Obama administration's positions.

FDL is not a credible news source BBI.

[Better Believe It]

6. Is that why the feds are prosecuting and shutting down medical pot facilities?

[Occulus]

7. "It's only a few"

"they broke the law anyway"
"they were a scrip mill"
"they broke Federal law"

Any others you can anticipate?

[Comrade Grumpy]

8. Why do you keep posting this rubbish! You certainly know better by now.

"Stop lying about the Obama administration's positions," you say, but that is exactly what you are doing.

The federal government does not recognize medical marijuana.

Obama campaigned on a promise to not persecute medical marijuana patients and providers. To his credit, the Holder Justice Department in 2009 actually followed up on that, issuing a memo directing prosecutors not to go after medical marijuana operations that were operating in compliance with state law.

That changed last year, when the Justice Department issued a new memo, emboldening federal prosecutors to go after dispensaries and large growers. Since then, the feds have virtually wiped out Montana's dispensaries and raided dozens, if not hundreds, of California dispensaries. People who thought they were safe because they operating in accordance with their state laws are going to federal prison.

There have been considerably more DEA raids on medical marijuana providers under Obama than under Bush, and Obama's only had three years!

The feds are kind enough to say they will not go after grandma in a wheelchair, but they are most definitely going after the guy who sells her her medicine.

For you to keep perpetrating your lies about this is just shameful. There is no excuse.

[DiverDave]

11. Are you seriously trying to say that the President

APPROVES of MM?

Because if you are, it's a flat out lie.

He IS supporting the closing and threatening of people simply for approving a lease for a LEGAL (in the states eye's)
dispensary.

So, how bout YOU stop with this blatant BS?

He lied about dialing back the pressure on sick people, and that is the truth.

[Zax2me]

4. Yea, he's been a big leader in the legalization movement....

Not.

[Comrade Grumpy]

9. Here is what his 2012 National Drug Control Strategy says about marijuana legalization:

"The Administration also recognizes that legalizing marijuana would not provide the answer to any of the health, social, youth education, criminal justice, and community quality of life challenges associated with drug use."

That sounds like a big, fat "no" to me.

The drug strategy was released Tuesday.

[msongs]

2. he's got a prison industrial complex to protect nt

[RainDog]

10. k&r n/t