Dope and Change

Penn Gillette, he of Penn and Teller fame, is an outspoken Libertarian and atheist.  He recently ranted on the fact that President Obama openly admitted to smoking marijuana and even doing cocaine.  Gillette wonders where Obama would be today if he had been arrested during that time and suffered the penalties for drug use that he supports as President.  Basically, if President Obama had caught teenage Obama smoking weed, that teenager would have been screwed.  Young Barack would probably not have gone to Columbia or Harvard.  It is very unlikely he would have been elected Senator or President with a criminal record.  Luckily, teenage Obama got away with his 'crime.'  Here is a clear case of It's only wrong if you get caught.

Remember back during the 2000 campaign when, the weekend before the election, it was revealed that George W. Bush had spent a night in jail for drunk driving?  That was presented as a reason why he should not be president.  Interestingly, Obama admits to driving drunk in one of his two autobiographies and yet there was nothing about that in 2008.  Remember how much effort was put into the story that Bush did cocaine and that was a big deal?  There was no proof but there were rumors.  The implication was that a man who did cocaine shouldn't be president.  And yet, Obama admitted to cocaine use in his autobiography.  No big deal.

I am not saying that Obama's drug use should be used against him at this late date.  He's been in the job so the issue should now be performance rather than youthful indiscretions.  Clearly, he managed to pull himself together and accomplish a great deal.  Everyone does stupid things when they are young but most of us eventually mature.  Eight years ago, Obama called for decriminalization of marijuana.  Today, silence.  It is one thing to call for decriminalization when you are a state senator and another thing to call for it as President.  It takes leadership and courage to do it as President.

Libertarians are too often painted as potheads on this issue which is why they would be better off avoiding it in most cases.  But with a president who was a self-identified member of the Choom Gang, it bares discussion.  If the state of Kansas or Vermont wants to make weed illegal, I have no qualms.  States have broad authority.  The federal government has a very limited scope and the legality of dope is outside of it.  As I said in a previous post, in order to outlaw alcohol, it required an amendment to the constitution.  Where is the amendment for marijuana?