Online Marijuana Legalization Petition Meets Threshold for White House Response

[Jacob Bell]

An online petition to legalize marijuana has met the threshold necessary to force White House review. The petition, "Legalize and Regulate Marijuana in a Manner Similar to Alcohol," was actually created on the White House's own website, in the "We the People" section.

According to the White House website, a threshold of 5,000 "signatures" achieved in 30 days is necessary for such a petition to be "reviewed by the White House, and for an official response to be issued."

The petition, which has a start date of Sept. 22, has been signed by nearly 34,000 petitioners as of this writing, meaning it met the deadline easily.

Here's what the petition says:

"We the people want to know when we can have our "perfectly legitimate" discussion on marijuana legalization. Marijuana prohibition has resulted in the arrest of over 20 million Americans since 1965, countless lives ruined and hundreds of billions of tax dollars squandered and yet this policy has still failed to achieve its stated goals of lowering use rates, limiting the drug's access, and creating safer communities.

"Isn't it time to legalize and regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol? If not, please explain why you feel that the continued criminalization of cannabis will achieve the results in the future that it has never achieved in the past?"

It's true that many states have legalized medicinal marijuana. A recent attempt to legalize the drug in California via the ballot box failed, however. It's also true that quite a few conservative groups continue to rail against the drug, even if its used in a medicinal manner.

Marijuana has been shown to provide relief for some who are suffering from cancer and other diseases. Some have cynically stated that people's tunes change as soon as they or some other person in their family have need of pot to stand pain, nausea, etc. due to illness.

It is unclear how long the White House will take to examine the petition. Although the website pre-pledges to examine the issue, it does not guarantee a response timeframe.

News Hawk- Jacob Ebel 420 MAGAZINE
Source: examiner.com
Author: Michael Santo
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Copyright: Clarity Digital Group LLC
Website: Online marijuana legalization petition meets threshold for White House response

 

[markscastle]

Legalize YES! Tax and/or Regulate NEVER!

 

[slojoe]

I signed it, but i think it will be ' same old same old '... I hope iam wrong . Time will tell.

 

[demp5294]

Didn't know it existed would have loved to put my name on it.

 

[slojoe]

You can, just go to ' We The People.com '. They all ready got the 5,000 signatures they need, but you can post and be heard any way..

 

[Jacob Bell]

For those that want to sign it, here is the direct link to the petition:
We The People

It may not be a perfect petition, but ideally it's about letting the federal government know just how many people want Cannabis legalized. I realize Obama has done nothing so far but chuckle and sidestep the question whenever it's brought up (it was the number one question on the YouTube town hall, and I believe the Twitter town hall as well) but it's my belief that it's better to sign this type of petition than to sit back and say "ah, it won't work, why bother". I'm one of those people that feel it's better to get involved and try my best to change things

Also, if you all haven't seen it yet, there is another petition for Hemp which I think is equally important, you can find the info on it here or go directly to the petition here
The Hemp petition still needs 4966 signatures, for some reason it's way behind the marijuana petition. I don't understand that, but maybe the word just hasn't gotten out.

 

[s00thsayer]

Here's another petition I tried to make a new thread for on 420magazine.com but I couldn't post it...

Remove Marijuana from the Schedule 1 list of drugs in the Controlled Substances Act

////////////////////////////////////////

Please sign this petition. The white house will officially respond to any petition that gets 5,000 signatures within 30 days of creation. When creating an account on the petition site, use accurate info. Only your first name and the first initial of your last name will visible on the "signature" of petitions. For privacy reasons, you can prevent your city and state from being visible on the signature by removing the city, state, and zip entries in your profile after your account has been created. (to change your profile info go to whitehouse.gov/user and click on the "personal information" tab)

////////////////////////////////////////

we petition the obama administration to:
Remove Marijuana from the Schedule 1 list of drugs in the Controlled Substances Act

Marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule 1 drug in the Controlled Substances Act, a category reserved for drugs which have "no currently accepted medical use". Marijuana has known medical uses and therefore should not be classified as a Schedule 1 substance. The federal government should "accept" marijuana's known medical uses and remove it from the Schedule 1 list of drugs.

 

[slojoe]

On the hemp petition the vote counter is stuck with same amount as 2 day's ago ! I entered my new pssword they gave and it wouldent let me in to vote, it said my password was not "secure enough". Something's not right so I just quit trying.

 

[budbro]

OMG, the petition was answered! Unfortunately the coward Obama did not speak on the issue, rather he pawned it off to the drug czar. Guess what he said? Yup, gave us the finger. He admitted they could not arrest their way out of the problem, but rather they promised to spend billions of more tax dollars to help all of us marijuana addicts get over our addiction to such a horrible drug after we were arrested. Thanks, retard. He did cleverly reply to marijuana for medical purposes though, reiterating and exclamating that smoking it cannot be good for anything, but extracting the compounds (aka, Sativex) shows promise for medicinal purposes. With no surprise, he neglected to compare alcohol to marijuana, which was what the petition was all about, nice dodge.
Citizens -1, Big Pharma +1, in a nutshell...

 

[slojoe]

Obama is such a coward he had gil do the speaking, he also lost my vote and respect!! Here's thier version of "straight talk", just more B.S

 

[Bill C]

I read some of the links the response gave. I had no idea 376,000 Emergency Room visits in 2009 were the result of cannabis.... at least according to their numbers. Most of the "Facts" were statistics on increased use by teens.

It seems as though we're back to "Reefer Madness" and "It's all about the children", instead of dealing with real facts.
:: SIGH ::

 

[ilynnboy]

What a freaking joke !!!

 

[demp5294]

It just shows that theirs more to legalization than just basic rights.

 

[Richard Richardson]

Here is the answer to the petition:

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO

Remove Marijuana from the Schedule 1 list of drugs in the Controlled Substances Act

What We Have to Say About Legalizing Marijuana

Thank you for signing the petition “Remove Marijuana from the Schedule 1 list of drugs in the Controlled Substances Act” We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on WhiteHouse.gov.

By Gil Kerlikowske.

When the President took office, he directed all of his policymakers to develop policies based on science and research, not ideology or politics. So our concern about marijuana is based on what the science tells us about the drug's effects.

According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health- the world's largest source of drug abuse research - marijuana use is associated with addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment. We know from an array of treatment admission information and Federal data that marijuana use is a significant source for voluntary drug treatment admissions and visits to emergency rooms. Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has almost tripled over the past 20 years, raising serious concerns about what this means for public health – especially among young people who use the drug because research shows their brains continue to develop well into their 20's. Simply put, it is not a benign drug.

Like many, we are interested in the potential marijuana may have in providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses. That is why we ardently support ongoing research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine. To date, however, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition.

As a former police chief, I recognize we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem. We also recognize 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 is why the President's National Drug Control Strategy is balanced and comprehensive, emphasizing prevention and treatment while at the same time supporting innovative law enforcement efforts that protect public safety and disrupt the supply of drugs entering our communities. Preventing drug use is the most cost-effective way to reduce drug use and its consequences in America. And, as we've seen in our work through community coalitions across the country, this approach works in making communities healthier and safer. We're also focused on expanding access to drug treatment for addicts. Treatment works. In fact, millions of Americans are in successful recovery for drug and alcoholism today. And through our work with innovative drug courts across the Nation, we are improving our criminal justice system to divert non-violent offenders into treatment.

Our commitment to a balanced approach to drug control is real. This last fiscal year alone, the Federal Government spent over $10 billion on drug education and treatment programs compared to just over $9 billion on drug related law enforcement in the U.S.

Thank you for making your voice heard. I encourage you to take a moment to read about the President's approach to drug control to learn more.

Go back to sleep, America. Everything is OK.