Dear Mr. President,
Last Sunday (02/02/14), I wrote you about mistakes you had made in recent comments about removing marijuana from the Controlled Substance list. If you need to review what I wrote you, you can find it here. After posting it, I attended church where Joyce Meyers was a guest speaker. Ms. Meyers said something that stuck in my mind.
“Passivity is one of the greatest deceptions of the devil…….Joyce Meyers 2/2/2014”
(For the atheists in the audience, please just substitute the word WORLD for devil.)
For 4 decades, I have been passive on this issue. I believed in my heart both times I voted for you, that you would be the one with the courage and the intestinal fortitude to stand up for what is right and just and in the process, right this wrong. Was I mistaken?
There was a time when it seemed an impossible dream that the day would ever come that the law would change. There was a time when the thought of coming out of the pot closet seemed like it would never happen. And although the public supports removing marijuana from the controlled by approximately 2/3rds of the voting population, the topic is STILL a hot potato of controversy.
Well, damn the controversy and public opinion be Damned. None of it matters; none of it has ever mattered when it came to following the law. So I come to you today, Mr. President, to insist that you do your job as an attorney and as our POTUS and uphold the very law that has been used to arrest so many.
Below is the LEGAL DEFINITION of what is a Level 1 Controlled substance ACCORDING TO THE LAW:
Substances in this schedule have no currently accepted medical use in the United States, a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision, and a high potential for abuse.
Definition of Schedule I Controlled Substances
This is what the law says. The law you are supposed to uphold! Under this definition, marijuana no longer qualifies as a Level 1 Controlled Substance. This is NOT my opinion. These are
FACTS! You still believe in
FACTS, don’t you Mr. President?
Let’s break it down then:
1) have no currently accepted medical use in the United States
Fact: There are currently there are 20 States that have legalized MEDICAL marijuana and 5 more plus the District of Columbia set to do so this year. So criteria #1 is no longer valid and does not apply.
Please note….the law does NOT say that there is no currently accepted use in the USA by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. It also does not say there is no currently accepted use by the majority of the states. It states there is no currently accepted medical use in the United States. So clearly number 1 is no longer applicable.
2) a lack of accepted safety for use under medical supervision,
PLEASE SEE ABOVE. Criteria 2 is no longer applicable.
3) a high potential for abuse
Heroin has a high potential for abuse. It would be hard to find anyone including addicts who would dispute that. But marijuana does not! You, yourself sir, admitted that you believed that marijuana was not more dangerous than alcohol.
But fortunately for us, the law is not supposed to be based on opinion. It is supposed to be based on science. You still believe in science, don’t you Mr. President? Or have you become like members of the right, who reject the science they don’t like and support their own unenlightened OPINION over the facts of science?
People don’t die from smoking pot. They don’t die from eating too much pot. And speaking as someone with 43 years of experience, it is easier to abuse soda pop like Coca Cola than it is to abuse pot. Should we put Coca Cola on the Controlled substance list? It meets the criteria as stated by the law. Of course not.
Nicotine and cigarettes also fit the legal criteria for Level 1 Controlled substance. Let’s face it cigarettes are more harmful and kill more people than pot. Cigarettes have no accepted medical use and I don’t know any physicians that would use it to treat patients. Speaking from personal experience, you know as well as I do how addictive cigarettes and nicotine are and how hard it is to quit using them. Are you going to place cigarettes on the Controlled Substance list since they meet the criteria? Of course not.
And let’s not take my personal opinion either. Here are some links to the SCIENCE about pot:
Health and Societal Costs of Marijuana vs. Alcohol and Tobacco: Prohibitionists' Concerns Answered and Refuted
Report: Marijuana Less Harmful than Alcohol or Tobacco | The Partnership at Drugfree.org
SAFER - Marijuana vs. Alcohol
(BTW, there are plenty more links if you Google the subject. These are just 3 of the top links. )
So ACCORDING TO CURRENT DAY SCIENCE, Marijuana CONCLUSIVELY does not meet the third criteria of having a high potential for abuse. The Dept. of Justice Website states:
The abuse rate is a determinate factor in the scheduling of the drug; for example, Schedule I drugs are considered the most dangerous class of drugs with a high potential for abuse and potentially severe psychological and/or physical dependence.
http://www.justice.gov/...
So
today, February 2014, marijuana does not
LEGALLY QUALIFY as a Level 1 Controlled substance and must be removed from the list BEFORE more people are arrested and imprisoned by the government. In fact,
ACCORDING TO THE LAW, Mr. President, marijuana does not qualify to be on the list at all. Here is what the law says:
Definition of Controlled Substance Schedules
Drugs and other substances that are considered controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) are divided into five schedules. An updated and complete list of the schedules is published annually in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.) §§ 1308.11 through 1308.15. Substances are placed in their respective schedules based on whether they have a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States, their relative abuse potential, and likelihood of causing dependence when abused.
According to the scientific data, some of which I have linked to, marijuana does not qualify to be on the list.
Now, Mr. President, this may not have been the case when you became POTUS in 2009 but it is what it is TODAY! Today, 2014, marijuana does not qualify as a controlled substance under the law.
Now, I’m not going to go away and I’m not going to quit saying it and I’m not going to be passive any longer until you DO THE RIGHT THING FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AND UPHOLD THE LETTER OF THE LAW AND FIX THIS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE!
Now, there seems to be some confusion about whose job it is to fix this. So again, I refer you to the law which says:
The Assistant Secretary, by authority of the Secretary, compiles the information and transmits back to the DEA a medical and scientific evaluation regarding the drug or other substance, a recommendation as to whether the drug should be controlled, and in what schedule it should be placed.
The medical and scientific evaluations are binding to the DEA with respect to scientific and medical matters. The recommendation on scheduling is binding only to the extent that if HHS recommends that the substance not be controlled, the DEA may not control the substance. Once the DEA has received the scientific and medical evaluation from HHS, the DEA Administrator will evaluate all available data and make a final decision whether to propose that a drug or other substance be controlled and into which schedule it should be placed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Since the Secretary of HHS and its deputies serve at the pleasure of the PRESIDENT of the United States, then you CAN issue an Executive Order to the Dept. of HHS to issue a written recommendation to DEA that marijuana be removed from the Controlled Substance list as it no longer LEGALLY qualifies as a controlled substance UNDER THE LAW; the very law that the DEA uses to arrest and imprison people.
You have the power ACCORDING TO THE LAW which the President is supposed to be the very embodiment of. It is NOT in the hands of Congress, sir. It is NOT in the hands of the Attorney General. It is NOT in the hands of the DEA. It is in the hands of the Dept. of HHS and hence the responsibility rests ultimately in your hands to take action.
If you do not act, there will be consequences because people like myself are not going to go away. We have watched how your administration has changed your stance on “Gay Marriage” and LGBT civil rights over the years. Now, today, it is time for your administration to “Seize the Day” and correct a 43 year old miscarriage of justice that has done more damage to people’s lives over 43 years than the actual use of the substance has. The longer it takes you to do what is right for America, the louder our voices and the greater our numbers will become.
What’s the worst thing that could happen if you acted? Perhaps, the GOP would stop talking about ACA and start talking about something else? The reality is that anyone who would criticize you for doing what’s right, wouldn’t vote for you in the first place.
No sir, we are not going to shut up or go away. And our participation or lack thereof, in the next election cycle could have a serious consequence to your agenda, your legacy, and your ability to lead for the last 2 years of your presidency as well as your party. Remember 2010? Don’t think it can’t happen again. You could lose the house and the Senate if people like me decide to sit this one out AGAIN. Is that really in the best interest of the country? I don’t think so. But if you don’t care, then perhaps you are just another politician, no different than GW Bush who served his own agenda while POTUS.
By the way, when did it become okay for Presidents to just uphold the laws they like and ignore the ones they don’t like? Did it start with GW Bush? Clinton? Daddy Bush? Reagan? Nixon? Somewhere along the way, it seems that Presidents think it is okay to uphold and enforce the laws they agree with and ignore the ones they don’t. Is it just politics? Is this what Democracy has come to? I hope not, but it’s hard to maintain hope at times. It’s especially hard when 3 living Presidents, ALL OF WHOM HAVE SMOKED POT IN THEIR LIFETIMES, do not have the courage, the SPINE, to do the right thing. Now perhaps under the law, your predecessors did not have the law on their side. BUT YOU DO! So the responsibility falls on your shoulders.
So here are your choices:
1) You can act and do the right thing, as I have outlined. If you do, you will actually bring Congress together because they will have to ACT to regulate and tax it. Instead of fighting over how to cut spending, they can fight over how to spend all the NEW tax revenue and you will be able to keep taxes down for the Average Joe. You will actually bring Congress together on something.
2) If you fail to act, you will bring Democrats, Independents, and Republicans together against you, your administration AS WELL AS YOUR PARTY! I abhor Paul Ryan, but if you fail to uphold the law and choose only to enforce it YOUR WAY even if the LETTER OF THE LAW DOES NOT SUPPORT YOUR WAY, then many of us may be forced to agree with the GOP A-hole when he calls you Lawless. PLEASE DO NOT PUT US IN THAT POSITION!
AUTHOR NOTE: This is a serious warning to Democrats so that we do not see a repeat 2010 where many unhappy Democratic voters stayed home and allowed the GOP to regain control of the House. Since then we haven't been able to get anything done but cut, Cut, CUT!
As a smoker of 43 years, I will no longer stay in the closet and be afraid. And I will no longer tolerate the NEGATIVE words that are used for people as myself. I have raised a family as a single parent; I have successfully run a business and
I HAVE NEVER BEEN ARRESTED FOR ANYTHING. I don’t drink or use drugs. So those negative stereotypes do not apply.
I would be happy to discuss this with you; to enlighten you on the TRUTH about pot in place of the propaganda that some of your Administration believes in. In many cases, someone with 43 years’ experience would be considered an expert. And it really doesn’t matter what other people say about this issue.
Obama's White House Opposes His Actual Views on Marijuana Legalization
Drug Warriors Reject Obama Administration's Call for Softer Sentences
If what other people thought mattered, the law would have been changed already. All I have ever heard from the Federal Government for 43 years is about upholding the law or changing the law. Prosecutors prosecute according to the law. But ACCORDING TO THE VERY LAW they use to prosecute, the substance NO LONGER QUALIFIES! (Use that defense attorney’s)
I warn you, sir, this issue is not going to go away until and unless you do the right thing and uphold the law! I understand that there will be those who will say that my call for you to uphold the law is against what I am trying to accomplish. However, you don’t have to enforce anything if you would ACT TO FIX THIS MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE! You’re an attorney by trade. Isn’t that what attorney’s do?
If you would show some political courage and backbone, you could actually find an issue to bring people together in a good way. But make no mistake, sir, this issue will bring people together one way or the other, whether you act or fail to act because people are tired of being treated like criminals because the law is wrong and no one will act to right the wrong.
Today I'm going to church and praying that you act and right this 43 year old wrong, providing an opportunity for people to work together in a positive direction for our country. It’s been such a long time since that has happened. It would be a welcome change. Today, people should not lose their home, lose their job, lose their liberty and/or lose their children for being arrested for possession of marijuana. It’s a travesty of justice. Will you right this injustice? Or will you continue to be part of it?
A petition to remove marijuana from the controlled substance list has been posted at whitehouse.gov. You will have to address it once we have the necessary number of signatures. It might take a day, a month or many months. But make no mistake the snowball is rolling down the hill. It will pick up momemtum because there are many others like myself.