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Andrew Sullivan was irritated at Obama's response to the marijuana question yesterday.
I'm tired of having the Prohibition issue treated as if it's trivial or a joke. It is neither. It is about freedom and it's deadly serious. As for your online audience, Mr president, have you forgotten who got you elected?
Radley Balko explains why it is in fact, deadly serious:
There have been 7,000 homicides in Mexico over the last two years, the vast majority directly related to black market drug trade. Seventy percent of Mexico’s black market drug rade is marijuana.
Right. But let's remember the question that was asked:
With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?Placing the question in the context of "boosting the economy" made it a joke. If the question had been framed entirely as a question of failed policy, brutality, and freedom, I doubt Obama would have laughed. There are plenty of reasons to change our drug policy: the deaths caused by paramilitary enforcement, our swelling prisons and swelling budgets, and the knowledge that our current approach does nothing to reduce drug use or demand.
But "growing the economy" is far from the most compelling, and asking the question that way basically invites derision.
-- A. Serwer
