Somehow I don't think Obama is dumb enough to think that it makes sense to criminalize marijuana, although perhaps I am mistaken. It is unfortunate that people like him still think it is politically necessary to support this idiotic policy.

at least during his first term, if at all. This does not mean that he won't tolerate states acting in their own interest as far as drug policy is concerned. I believe the key to this issue is States Rights.

It's bad for business, big business, and Obama is nothing but an Establishment Snake Oil salesman anyway. There is big money to be made in the War on Drugs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtic3A6rcbo

You think all of those Hum Vees and Machine Guns fell out of the sky? Someone had to pay for them, and someone profited from them. I wonder how much of said profits went into Obama's campaign coffers? And besides, how would the CIA fund all of its secret adventures without drug trafficking?

TO a very valid question. Ha ha, pot questions? Oh, those kids today. next!

WTH is wrong with asking about drug policy? Can he not articulate WHY it wouldn't help the economy or otherwise be a good idea to legalize pot? I'd hope that a man who's public persona is built on intelligence and careful consideration of the issues has a better reason than "marijuana is bad, mkay?"

Holder issued a promising statement about marijuana and:

States Rights.

But that's a big uh oh. Mention States' rights around here and you'll be accused of being Lincoln hating confederate and called a racist that wants to implement Jim Crow laws. Are you or have you ever been a member of the John Birch Society????

If a problem can't be solved with Federal Stormtroopers it can't be solved.

what this says about the "online community" is that "we the people", those who elected Obama, support legalization of marijuana.

This is an issue that enjoys damn near majority support. I believe it was 53% of western state voters were in favor, while it was 44% nationwide. This is not some fringe topic.

We are spending billions and billions of dollars to fight a "war" against the country's number one cash crop. Meanwhile, millions of our citizens (a disproportionate number of them African-American!) are in jail, the deficit runs into the trillions, and drug cartel violence -- funded heavily by marijuana -- is spilling over into our country.

The anti-legalization crowd literally doesn't have a leg to stand on... and he just laughs us off?! You have GOT to be kidding me.

Change indeed. Vote 3rd party in 2012.

I find his response laughable in the face of the drug cartel violence in Mexico. Decriminalize pot, tax it, and the entire issue goes away, along with the law enforcement overhead necessary to (pretend to) enforce the War on Drugs. Or, are the cartels merely inciting violence publicly to get bigger payoffs privately?

Obama saying that marijuana is "mbad". He simply said that legalizing mj is not a good *strategy* for economic recovery. And I agree with that statement because *strategy* implies that it is the fundamental principal of your effort.

Or to put it another way, it is the equivalent of declaring "economic recovery will achieved by legalizing marijuana". Now that still leaves open the potential for using legalized mj as a *tactic* in the overall *strategy* of economic recovery. Baby steps, 1 state at a time.

Why should he answer yes? To bring more heat on himself?

Honestly, even if he wanted marijuana legalized, do you really think he could make that happen? He can't even get health care reformed, for goodness sakes.

Legalizing weed, which I favor %100, will not prevent the Mexican Cartels from warring over the cocaine and heroin trade. My guess is that these are their big-margin items anyway.

and I think he's wrong....

A black president in his first 60 days coming out in favor of legalizing pot? Oh, yeah, like that's going to happen! He might as well grow dreads and wear a dashiki.

It's still too early. Like the catholic church and their stand on birth control - even if the individuals understand that the populace is trending the that way, you are not going to see a leader support legalization any time soon. It would be political suicide.

Give it a couple more decades.

have a slight tendency toward hyperbole in our activism. Sorry, ya'll, decriminalizing weed probably wouldn't stimulate the economy enough to make an appreciable difference in the situation.

However, decriminalizing it would save money on law enforcement efforts, help (but not cure, because Mexican drug lords deal in other drugs, too) drug cartel violence over the border and if we legalized the sale of it and taxed it, it would help reduce the deficit that's going to result from the government spending necessary to get us out of this mess. Plus, it's the right thing to do.

I find it heartening that he didn't say that decriminalization was a bad thing, or that marijuana was bad, etc. He just said it wasn't a good growth strategy for the economy.

I'm waiting for artists more talented than me to come up with a retro-WWII poster for a marijuana victory garden. Does anyone know of one out there?

The online audience is a bunch of potheads, hahaha. Funny that he was taking us seriously when he wanted votes, free press and campaign contributions.

It's more and more apparent that you have to read between the lines to get President Obama. He's done this many times already, made a statement that makes it look like he's moving to the center or center-right and later doing something that proves what he actually meant was more to the left. This, IMO, will prove to be another one of those. He left it wide open to legalize MJ, just not as a strategy to fix the economy. But there's enough there to make the right think that he's not going to legalize it.

Mr. Prez is usually thoughtful with his answers. Why would it not be a good strategy? Give us some reasons.