# Heard the Rumor that Obama Is Putting Pot Legalization on the Table? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519 "2012-06-18T14:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/1 "2012-06-18T14:38:22Z")
On Jimmy Fallon some night last week, he opened a joke with “There’s talk that [Obama plans to put pot legalization on the table closer to the election].” He actually used the words “There’s talk.” Has anyone else heard this rumor elsewhere? Perhaps a cite? Sent from my SGH-i677 using Board Express ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/2 "2012-06-18T14:39:46Z")
I will go on the record right now and say that I’ll eat my shoes if this turns out to be true. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/3 "2012-06-18T14:43:32Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I will go on the record right now and say that I’ll eat my shoes if this turns out to be true. Got the munchies already? Duuuuude. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/4 "2012-06-18T14:55:27Z")
It was probably a setup for a joke, not an actual discussion of Obama’s campaign platform. I have not heard anybody say Obama will propose legalizing marijuana and I think it’s very unlikely. A google search turns up pages and pages of people complaining that his administration has been enforcing federal marijuana laws and not cutting medical marijuana dispensaries any slack. I can imagine them proposing looser federal regulations but not full-on legalization. Even adopting a different policy (leaving state laws alone when they contradict the federal ones) might create big problems for them . ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/5 "2012-06-18T15:24:18Z")
Rahm Emanuel made [big news last week](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/17/analysis-for-rahm-little-_n_1603825.html) with throwing his support behind decriminalizing pot in Chicago (you’d just get a ticket for holding under a certain amount). Perhaps that was what was being referred to? ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/6 "2012-06-18T15:33:15Z")
Here is a cite [http://elitedaily.com/elite/2012/report-barack-obamas-secret-weapon-2012-election-legalizing-marijuana/](http://elitedaily.com/elite/2012/report-barack-obamas-secret-weapon-2012-election-legalizing-marijuana/) It is just a ploy to get younger voters motivated to go to the polls like they did in 2008. You will notice that there are no actual administration members quoted in the article so that if Obama is re-elected it will be really easy to do nothing and no one can be blamed. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/7 "2012-06-18T15:42:05Z")
During the '08 election campaign he scored points (with me) when he promised that under his administration the DEA would not be wasting time going after dispensarys or med marijuana patients. That turned out to be a lie. Fool me once. . . ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/8 "2012-06-18T15:43:15Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > Here is a cite [http://elitedaily.com/elite/2012/report-barack-obamas-secret-weapon-2012-election-legalizing-marijuana/](http://elitedaily.com/elite/2012/report-barack-obamas-secret-weapon-2012-election-legalizing-marijuana/) That’s a cite about people speculating what Obama might gain from the proposal politically, not a cite that the administration is considering the idea. > [@](#): > > You will notice that there are no actual administration members quoted in the article Yes, it was hard not to notice that. If the administration were putting out a trial balloon, you’d see quotes sourced to ‘people close to the decision’ and 'senior administration officials and things of that type. This story doesn’t say what you are indicating it does. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/9 "2012-06-18T16:02:54Z")
I saw on I think _The Daily Show_ that a lot of STATES are putting pot laws on the ballot, and it’s basically being seen as a way to get young people out to vote. TDS compared it to glut of same-sex-marriage issues on ballots in … 2006? 2008? Anyway this would mean it’s just democrats in states getting the issue on the ballot, for their states, as a way to motivate people to show up at the polls. And when they do they’ll most likely vote for Obama. So it benefits Obama’s campaign, and I can see how it ends up being mis-construed as something that his office is doing but in reality it’s got nothing to do with federal law and everything to do with states and state democrats. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/10 "2012-06-18T16:10:25Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > TDS compared it to glut of same-sex-marriage issues on ballots in … 2006? 2008? 1. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/11 "2012-06-18T16:14:42Z")
I’d guess that any talk that Obama is thinking about legalizing marijuana originated somewhere in the Romney campaign. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/12 "2012-06-18T16:43:40Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’d guess that any talk that Obama is thinking about legalizing marijuana originated somewhere in the Romney campaign. If that were true, it would indicate Romney’s camp didn’t look at the [poll numbers](http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/23/488912/poll-56-percent-of-americans-favor-marijuana-legalization-just-36-percent-oppose/?mobile=nc). ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/13 "2012-06-18T17:26:02Z")
Maybe the talk is about this recent advance - [marijuana that won’t get you high](http://healthland.time.com/2012/06/04/a-new-marijuana-plant-without-the-high-it-could-be-good-medicine/). Would be suitable for much, though perhaps not all, of the medical marijuana market. ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/14 "2012-06-18T18:13:44Z")
> [@puddleglum](#): > > You will notice that there are no actual administration members quoted in the article so that if Obama is re-elected it will be really easy to do nothing and no one can be blamed. Bush! ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/15 "2012-06-18T18:21:29Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > If that were true, it would indicate Romney’s camp didn’t look at the [poll numbers](http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/05/23/488912/poll-56-percent-of-americans-favor-marijuana-legalization-just-36-percent-oppose/?mobile=nc). But the real battle is over swing votes. The people who support marijuana legalization were probably already mostly inclined towards Obama. So Romney didn’t have those voters to lose. But Romney can make a play for anti-legalization voters. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/16 "2012-06-18T18:42:16Z")
I’m an Obama fan, will vote for him again, but…this is an election year. His comments about being in support of gay marriage were personal, and for the press; he can’t really do anything about it. Last week’s bit about not deporting anyone under 30, same. He can SAY whatever he wants, but it’s actions that matter. So even if the pot thing is true, it really doesn’t matter. Believe it when you see it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/17 "2012-06-18T18:51:21Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > His comments about being in support of gay marriage were personal, and for the press; he can’t really do anything about it. That’s not actually true. He can (and I believe _has_) do things like extending marriage benefits for gay federal employees, support non-discrimination policies, and he can throw his weight behind various same-sex marriage initiatives on the federal and state level. The deportation thing wasn’t just talk either, although it was certainly an election-year move. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/18 "2012-06-18T19:06:51Z")
I have heard this rumor, and I’m interested if it turns out to be true. I think I ran across it first on HotAir, which is a conservative site. ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/19 "2012-06-18T19:34:16Z")
Obama is strongly against legalization. His track record is actually much [worse than Bush](http://reason.org/news/show/false-forbearance) in this area (though in fairness, there was more medical marijuana in 2009 than in 2001 and therefore more enforcement “opportunities”). Obama is 100% behind the “war on drugs.” I greatly doubt he will ever spend any political capital to change things, even if he gets elected to a second term. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2012, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519/20 "2012-06-18T19:34:55Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I think I ran across it first on HotAir, which is a conservative site. Is that a _more_ credible cite than Jimmy Fallon, or… ? 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heard-the-rumor-that-obama-is-putting-pot-legalization-on-the-table/625519.md?page=2)