Obama on marijuana

The question:

"With over 1 out of 30 Americans controlled by the penal system, why not legalize, control, and tax marijuana to change the failed war on drugs into a money making, money saving boost to the economy? Do we really need that many victimless criminals?"
- Ryan Palmer, Dallas, TX

[Update: there were actually multiple questions voted high, so Obama may not have been responding to this specific one]

Obama's answer:

"Can I just interrupt, Jared, before you ask the next question, just to say that, you know, we -- we took -- we took votes about which questions were going to be asked, and I think 3 million people voted or 3.5 million people voted. I have to say that there was one question that was voted on that ranked fairly high, and that was whether legalizing marijuana would improve the economy and job creation.

And I don't know what this says about the online audience... (laughter)

... but I just want -- I don't want people to think that -- this was a fairly popular question. We want to make sure that it was answered.

The answer is, no, I don't think that is a good strategy to grow our economy. So -- all right...

Here he first focuses on the "money making, money saving boost to the economy" portion of the question. And he's morphing it into a question about "growing the economy".

But the economic case for ending prohibition isn't about "growing the economy" overall. It's about ending a drag on the licit economy by re-legalizing a widespread illicit one. In other words the point is not to increase economic activity overall, but to end part of the failed "war on drugs" that has created a very harmful black market. Much more harmful than the re-legalization of marijuana could possibly be (Also see the Netherlands, where harmful drug use decreased after legalization).

The point of re-legalizing pot is also not directly "job creation", as the president suggests. The point is to un-create unproductive jobs, meaning the vast law enforcement necessary solely to try -- and fail -- to effectively enforce drug laws, as well as the United States' ridiculously high incarceration rate. We have 5% of the world's population (1 in 20) yet host 25% of the people behind bars (1 in 4), many of them for victimless and nonviolent drug-related crimes. This is a very serious drag on our economy.

Any job creation from repealing prohibition would happen indirectly, as fewer taxes are spent on the failed enforcement of prohibitions that on balance are clearly unnecessary, unwise, and unhelpful. Instead those resources and a new tax on marijuana and all the productivity saved by scaling down the war on drugs could be invested in something more positive, like say the healthcare, education, and energy research that Obama is so eager for.

Admittedly this question wasn't phrased as well as it could have been, but it's disappointing that he didn't really address it nor the real substance behind it. He's smarter than this, which is what makes his answer more deliberately political than substantive or in the country's best interest. This has to change sometime -- and if not now, when?

Update: At the subsequent White House press briefing the issue is also not taken seriously:



(question asked at 1:20)

Q Robert, in the online town meeting, when the President said he doesn't think legalizing marijuana would give the economy a boost, was he giving a political answer or an economic answer? Does he have economic numbers to back that up?

MR. GIBBS: I'm unaware of a CEA analysis -- (laughter) -- regarding that. I think the --

Q Will you let us know if there is one? (Laughter.)

MR. GIBBS: I think you've heard the President talk about getting us on a path toward sustained economic growth. I don't think he believes that that is a part of that plan.

Q What about medicinal marijuana?

MR. GIBBS: I think the -- I'd point you to the Justice Department on developments on that.

The President asked people to ask their questions. Obviously interests aligned with certain viewpoints did so, and the President wanted to answer the question that, no, it was not -- he did not think a good economic strategy.

Q Did that question get the most votes of any?

MR. GIBBS: I will ask Macon and those guys. It is interesting when -- I think several of those topics were in things like financial stability or --

Q Green jobs.

MR. GIBBS: Green jobs, right. (Laughter.) It's unclear what leap of faith one has to make to ask that question in some of the -- some of those -- right, some of those -- some of those topics.

Q Why did he even bring it up? Why did he even bring it up? I mean, no one asked it online and no one asked it --

MR. GIBBS: No, people -- people asked it online –

Q I mean, no, I know they voted for it, they voted for it. But he brought it up on his own. This is what I'm saying. Why did he even bring --

MR. GIBBS: April, the concept of the virtual town hall meeting was to have people --

Q Transparency?

MR. GIBBS: No, no, let me -- you can ask and I'll answer -- (laughter) -- that the President asked people to go to the web site, ask questions of the administration, vote on which questions they wanted to have the President answer, and that he would do so. And as I said and as Ann said and -- maybe we should have said "clean-energy jobs" -- that would have --

Q You said "green."

MR. GIBBS: Yes, I know. That in some topics -- you know, this is not the first time that an interest group gets on a web site and votes many times for their question to be answered, and the President thought he should answer it and I think he did.

Q But, Robert, he didn't take on the serious issue. He made a joke out of it. I mean, there were a lot of questions about legalization of marijuana, not as a job creation program, but just as a serious policy issue. And with what's happening in Mexico --

MR. GIBBS: It poses the legal -- I'll do this for the President -- I didn't -- I neither emailed my question in, nor voted for it, but the President opposes the legalization of marijuana, and I'd -- I'll say I did that without even the slightest hint of laughter.

Q Can you say why?

Q Robert, while you're on this same subject can we follow up?

MR. GIBBS: Hold on one sec. Hold on.

Q What did the President learn in this? A lot of the questions were things he talks about all the time.

Q Annie, there was a question pending on why -- why he feels that way about legalizing marijuana.

MR. GIBBS: He does not think that that is -- he opposes it. He doesn't think that's the right plan for America.

Q But a follow-up on the process, on the --

MR. GIBBS: Hold on, let me -- I've lost control. (Laughter.) Hold on, what are you -- dammit, you guys don't get to Google this stuff and send in your questions. Hold on, hold on, hold on, let me --

Meanwhile Andrew Sullivan opines on "Obama's Pathetic Pot Answer":

The chuckle suggests a man of his generation. The dismissiveness toward the question of ending Prohibition as both a good in itself and a form of tax revenue is, however, depressing. His answer was a non-answer. I'm tired of having the Prohibition issue treated as if it's trivial or a joke. It is neither. It is about freedom and it's deadly serious.

Agreed. current policy is deadly serious in a tragically literal sense. Many people die every year as a direct consequence of prohibition.