U.S. DRUG POLICY UNDER OBAMA

Last week, the American media celebrated President Obama's 100th day
in office, an occasion that they have been shamelessly over-hyping for
a while now. So how has this guy, who promised profound change and
supported rethinking some aspects of drug policy during his campaign,
performed in his first 100 days?

Even before the campaign, Obama admitted to marijuana and cocaine use
in his younger days as a top law student at Harvard. Personally, I
find this hard to believe because I'm pretty sure you have to be a
huge nerd to get into Harvard Law, but this could also be proof that
these illicit drugs aren't all that bad. Nonetheless, his comfort
level with disclosing this information showed early on that he was
able to be frank when discussing the taboo subject of drugs.

Once elected, the presidential transition Web site asked its visitors
what subject they would like to see him tackle, and the overwhelming
winner was legalizing marijuana. In response, Obama made a lame joke
about stoners and instead of listening to the people, he declared that
he was not in favor of federal legalization. The facts show marijuana
prohibition is costly and counterproductive, and it's unfortunate
Obama wants to keep punishing people for smoking the same herb he used
to smoke. It was also disheartening to see Obama put drug warriors
such as his Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who helped oversee Bill
Clinton's sharp escalation of the war on drugs, to top positions in
his cabinet.

He did, however, come through with significant change on the issue of
medical marijuana. The Bush administration somehow thought it was a
good use of our tax dollars to have the DEA, fully armed with S.W.A.T.
gear and assault rifles, raid dozens of medical cannabis clubs. The
Republican Party, which loves to tout states' rights when it comes to
things like abortion or environmental protection, seems to lose its
support when it comes to the issue of medical marijuana. Luckily, for
the sake of our broke-ass government, the current administration will
no longer continue to raid these tax-paying businesses.

President Obama also recently urged Congress to end the disparity in
sentencing between cocaine in crack or powdered form. Under current
law, which was passed in the mid-'80s, all you need is five grams of
crack to receive a hefty five-year vacation in prison compared to the
500 grams of the much more expensive powdered form of cocaine needed
for the same sentence. Minorities and those living in poverty
disproportionately use crack over cocaine, and there is no other law
that has such a gap between penalties for different forms of the same
thing. Not that I'm condoning crack use, because it's probably not the
best choice you can make, but the United States needs to be more
sensible when putting a person's liberty on the line.

Overall, Obama has produced, or begun to produce, pretty significant
change in America's drug policy, at least in comparison to the Bush
years. His appeal to reason in regards to medical marijuana and
cocaine sentencing policies is something that the country has been
needing for years. However, there is still more he can do. While
recently accepting some of the responsibility for the Mexican drug
wars on behalf of America, Obama blamed the violence on easy access to
guns rather than the policies of prohibition that produce such high
incentives for the business of drug trafficking. It'd be nice to see
Obama lead based on the facts and not the politics on some more
issues, but there's no denying that the change we have seen so far on
these issues has been encouraging.

Obama and Drugs After 100 Days: B+

Daily Nexus drug columnist Jon Nightingale likely will not give the
political figures to the right such high marks after today's board
meeting.