The White House's Response, and My Refute

On July 21, I sent a letter to the White House. This is the second open letter I've written to President Obama on the subject of cannabis legalization. I sent the first in December of last year, and have not yet received a response. This is highly unusual, and I do feel it has received attention. It can be found here.

The second letter has been by far the most popular blog post I've ever written. It can be found here.

On August 5th I received a response from the White House staff, about 2 weeks after I sent my letter, as is the normal response time. Here is their response:

Thank you for writing.  The Obama Administration is committed to developing policies based on science and research, and the Federal Government has been funding and reviewing studies to better understand marijuana’s effects on individuals, public health, and safety. 

This Administration opposes marijuana legalization, and our policy approach focuses on improving public health and safety through prevention, treatment, support for recovery, and innovative criminal justice strategies to break the cycle of drug use and crime.  A considerable body of evidence shows that marijuana use, especially chronic use that begins at a young age, is associated with serious health and social problems.  

Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has tripled since 1990, raising serious public health concerns.

At the same time, we share public concerns about ensuring limited Federal enforcement resources are dedicated to pursuing our highest enforcement priorities, such as preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing the sale of marijuana by criminal enterprises and gangs, preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation and distribution of marijuana, and preventing drugged driving and other adverse public health consequences.  We will also closely monitor implementation of marijuana legalization in individual States and prevent the diversion of marijuana to States that have not legalized its use, sale, or distribution.  Outside of its highest enforcement priorities, the Federal Government has traditionally relied on State and local agencies to address marijuana activity through enforcement of their own narcotics laws.

Like many people, we are also interested in the potential marijuana components may have in providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses.  That is why we support ongoing research into evaluating what components of the marijuana plant may be used as medicine.  To date, though, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition.

Thank you for making your voice heard.  You can learn more about the President’s approach to drug control atwww.WhiteHouse.gov/ONDCP.

Sincerely,

The White House

***Here's my response to them:


Dear White House mail room staff,

Thank you for the timely response to my letter. It is good to hear that the Administration committed to basing policy on science, but it's disappointing to hear such outdated and inaccurate information used to back up its positions. 

I have written a line-by line refute of your response on my blog, with links to the data, study, or review whenever possible.

Thank you for proving my point: the Administration needs to update it's information and stance on cannabis prohibition. I await your response.

***Here is my refute:

First they claim that a "considerable body of evidence shows that marijuana use, especially chronic use that begins at a young age, is associated with serious health and social problems."

On the subject of chronic use on health, this study tells us it's about as bad as not flossing, but no other health issues were noted. Cannabis is not a cause of mental disorders and has even been shown to improve symptoms in bipolar patients without additional cognitive impairment. Use of cannabis is associated with better outcomes in brain injury patients and lower mortality rates in heart attack victims. It has been shown to slow the spread of cancer and synthetic THC appears to kill leukemia. I have yet to see a recent study that reveals any of the "serious health problems" the Administration referenced, and unlike virtually all other drugs, cannabis overdose is not fatal. Regardless of it's potential benefits, something being unhealthy, addictive, or intoxicating is not grounds for its prohibition, as demonstrated by alcohol and tobacco.

I'd like to point out that legalization has been associated with a decline in teen use, as reported by the CDC, and supported by this study and this study. And this study looked at teenaged twins and found no direct connection between marijuana use and IQ decline. Here's another with similar results. It needs to be noted that alcohol is the gateway drug, not cannabis, as so long has been claimed. Thus we see that harsh prohibition laws do not actually protect teens.

They mention "social issues". This study says work absences decline when cannabis is legalized. It diminishes aggressivenes. The legalization of cannabis is also associated with explosive economic growth, creating jobs in a new billion-dollar industry in Colorado, and amazing tax revenue. Medicare spends less when cannabis is available, too. Ultimately, there is no instance when a black market is preferable to a regulated one. Regulation solves the problems of "preventing the distribution of marijuana to minors, preventing the sale of marijuana by criminal enterprises and gangs, preventing violence and the use of firearms in the cultivation" that the Administration said they are worried about. They want to "stop the cycle of crime?" They need to stop criminalizing it. 

 The myth that cannabis potency has tripled is based on incomplete information, which is backed up by statements from a July 2004 report from the EMCDDA. Also, the THC content of a plant varies dramatically based on quality of care. There has traditionally been little transparency into government approved growing, until Sen. Elizabeth Warren got involved. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also exposed that the NIDA monopoly on research cannabis production is unwarranted. Controlling the only available research material severely limits sample diversity, and any good scientist knows that skews results. In 2011 I wrote to Harry Reid about labs that reported receiving very low quality test samples from the NIDA, containing a shredded mix of the entire plant rather than cured flowers, and will look again for those references. 

The Administration expressed concern about drugged driving, but as we know from alcohol and allergy medicine, inebriative qualities are not grounds for prohibition of a substance. Additionally, the U.S. National Roadside Survey found that cannabis was not linked to higher crash risks, compared to how even legal levels of alcohol significantly increase danger. Supporting the findings of the USNRS, this review found that risk associated with cannabis was previously overstated.

In conclusion, the stale arguments in favor of prohibition are quickly dismantled when looking at the studies and data published in the last 6 months. There is no legitimate reason for cannabis to be illegal, prohibition does not protect the people from anything, black markets fuel crime and teen use, old government statistics are inaccurate, and the risks and effects don't seem nearly as negative as once claimed.

It's time for the Administration to update their information. Prohibition has failed, and legalization is a wild success in Colorado, etc. Fix the injustice, accept the $28 Billion tax the people actually want to pay, and let's deal with this as a health issue instead of a criminal one.

An open letter to President Obama on marijuana legalization

Dear Mr. President Obama,

I recently signed a petition regarding the acting DEA chief, which has since gathered over 125,000 signatures as of this writing, and have been eagarly awaiting a response from the White House. I hope your delayed response is due to deep consideration on the matter.

 I have decided to write this letter because I am not entirely satisfied with the scope and wording of the petition- I feel much was left unsaid.
Several congress members have also sent you a letter on the subject, which makes several of the important points the petition didn't address so I won't waste the words repeating theirs.

Mr. President, you have said in the past that young people should be concerned about climate change, jobs, the economy, war and peace, and that marijuana legalization should not be our highest priority. I absolutely agree those are important concerns. But someone needs to point out that the marijuana industry in Colorado has been the most successful economic and jobs booster the country has seen since the recession, and the state has profited to extremes.

 If we should be worried about climate change and the environment as you have stated, we should allow farmers to grow industrial hemp- it's a green source of biofuel, bioplastics, construction materials, paper products, clothing, food, and more. A cheap, drought resistant crop, it would stimulate our economy from farmer to consumer.

 There is no good reason this plant should be illegal. There is nothing negative about marijuana that isn't also true about alcohol or cigarettes, except its legal status, a draconian double standard. The mere fact that it is illegal creates far more problems in the world and costs the country much more money than if it were a taxable commodity. The only ones who benefit from this system are Big Money groups.

 I understand you may be concerned about the stereotypical stigma of being our first African-American president and legalizing marijuana, and the role model you present to your daughters. But the status quo is based on Victorian morality to which most of the country no longer ascribes, propaganda and corruption from Big Money, and a legacy of racism as demonstrated by the very use of the word "marijuana," as opposed to "cannabis" or "hemp."

 I have no doubt you read the recommendation to legalize from the Global Commission on Drug Policy in 2011, signed by many respected world leaders and intellectuals. They agree: it's really in the best interest of the people. But if you're unwilling to effect that, please at least overhaul the DEA so it no longer hinders progress. If the government seriously thinks that medical marijuana involves smoking the "leaves" as the acting DEA chief said, and that's what is being sent out as research grade marijuana, it's no wonder we're getting skewed results from government approved science- it's the wrong part of the plant. Research grade marijuana needs to equal the standard of medical grade marijuana buds available in dispensaries. Period.

Thank you for your time and consideration. This affects millions of Americans in our everyday lives, and we depend on you to do the right thing.

Respectfully yours,

Raven Wildchild

EXIT The American Dream, ENTER American Despair

It hit a little close to home when I heard there was another school shooting at a small Oregon college, as I work at one. I believe I read that this was the 142nd school shooting since 2012, and the 45th this year alone. Very disturbing numbers indeed. The politicians are calling for gun control again, which I do think there should be better background checks and the like, but it's not the root of the problem. My school had its own tragedy last year, when one of our football players was stabbed to death while waiting in line at 7eleven across the street from campus. The suspect was dispatched by police shortly after, but no motive was ever uncovered, and the murderer had apparently never even met his victim before. The weapon choice is incidental, based on whatever is available, just like the homemade bombs favored by Muslim extremists.

This blog makes some good suggestions for prevention of such tragedies.
 The community outreach-type work described in the blog has been shown to be more effective than federal programs and policing, but that is still only treating the symptom. We need to consider what has caused us to skyrocket to 10 times the rate of youth violence seen in other developed countries.

When I was younger, people said that apathy was problem with our culture; I'd say we've moved from apathetic to despairing. What else could we do? The American Dream has become a taunt from the financial elite; the hard work that once paid off only manages us to keep us stationary, which seems better than sinking back into the quagmire. Our culture has become stuck in it's old patterns because there was once honor in what we did, and we are desperately trying to fill outdated expectations and somehow revive that honor. Capitalism worked well for most everyone while it was regulated, but now it's corrupted and we're still behaving like we expect it to work as it did before. We clock in to our regulated lives now, with little free time, less spending money, no room for advancement, and lots of neurotic attempts to comfort ourselves with how responsible we're being, because this is the way it's done. We went to college because we didn't want to "throw our lives away," loaded ourselves with debt, and got stuck working in food service anyway. And when we ask, "Is this all there is to life?" we are answered with a resounding "Yes."

Despite the obvious flaws in the corrupt system, the culture here is still very attached to capitalism, and alternative lifestyles are rather frowned upon. But if we don't address the issues of income equality and life satisfaction soon, the population will fall further into poverty and the crime rate will rise. But if I'm right about despair being a motivating emotion behind these mass shootings, then I believe we can ward off despair with curiosity, creativity, and passion (they became way uncool around apathy o'clock and are due for a comeback). All three emotions can be triggered by the Arts, and it's time we bring the arts back to our schools and communities. Currently in our culture, the perceived value of art is generally very low, a perception that has in recent years had a powerful effect on the quality of films and other arts industries here. Remember how much better movies were in the '90s? Today, tired plotlines and poor CGFX dominate because Hollywood no longer values its artists. (Or really, any of its workers, but most of them have unions.)

The oversupply of workers and shortage of jobs that pay reasonable salaries make employees less valuable to the companies than they were 15 years ago. On a certain subconscious level people believe that their paycheck defines their human value. And as we take those subconscious beliefs into the macrocosm, it should be no surprise that we are growing a disregard for that human life that is worth so little. To those who give up on the world and take out their frustrations through violence, it must seem like going down with guns blazing and a legacy attached to their name is more success than they will ever otherwise achieve. And success = value in our corrupted capitalist society.

So, my challenge to everyone in America is to apply some creativity this week and as often as possible to make the world more fun, beautiful, or intriguing in some way. Encourage someone's passion or curiosity if you can't find an idea of your own. Let's make living in America a little better by all taking responsibility for a single moment that could be improved with a song or a game or friendly encouragement. Because when we stand together, we're too big to fail.