handofdave wrote:
This allowance that Obama is granting the states that have made medical pot available is therefore rather odd in the history of Washington DC laws vs. the individual state laws.
Actually, it's a rather clever tactic.
By and large, the support for liberalising drug policy comes -- unsurprisingly -- from the liberal left. While support for the War On some Drugs comes from the right. However, like almost all left/right analyses, that's extremely simplistic and only tells part of the story.
In the US, for instance, there's a sizeable chunk of the right wing who identify with the libertarian ideal of small-government / less central interference with local legislatures.
So, by granting individual states more power over cannabis policy, Obama is -- rather cleverly -- advancing a left-liberal agenda while simultaneously splitting the right, by appearing to appeal to libertarian principles while he's doing it.
It's a good move and worthy of support. But it does beg certain questions (like: If Obama thinks it's right for Oregon to set its own laws regarding pot, why doesn't he think it's right for Mississippi to set its own laws regarding abortion?)
