In a second term, that is. Marc Ambinder says yes:
Don't expect miracles. There is very little the president can do by himself. And pot-smokers shouldn't expect the president to come out in favor of legalizing marijuana. But from his days as a state senator in Illinois, Obama has considered the Drug War to be a failure, a conflict that has exacerbated the problem of drug abuse, devastated entire communities, changed policing practices for the worse, and has led to a generation of young children, disproportionately black and minority, to grow up in dislocated homes, or in none at all.Jesse Walker reamins unconvinced:
Marc Ambinder's article goes on to make a sensible argument against that war, but it doesn't say much more about why we should believe that Obama would suddenly shift gears after the election. All it says is that "from his days as a state senator in Illinois, Obama has considered the Drug War to be a failure." And indeed, Obama did declare the drug war a failure when he was a state senator in Illinois; but as president, his record has been a lot less impressive. Jacob Sullum detailed Obama's drug-war disappointments in a feature for Reason last year, and anyone who reads GQ's exercise in wishful thinking should follow it up with Sullum's sobering assessment.It was Nixon who declared to his Chief of Staff, Bob Haldeman, "I want a goddamn strong statement on marijuana." Remember? Maybe not, but the next bit will surely jog your memory: "I mean one on marijuana that just tears the ass out of them ... By God we are going to hit the marijuana thing, and I want to hit it right square in the puss." President Regan pursued the war in the same sentiment, making the war on drugs a federal concern and instituting mandatory minimum sentences. James Higdon recognizes that Obama has inherited an office that has been hostile to drugs for decades, but says the so-called pivot has already happened, and that Obama has simply declared his war on the war quietly:
The road map to pot decriminalization, an essential first step for any pivot on the drug war, can be found in the executive order President Obama issued on immigration to effectively implement components of the DREAM Act without the help of Congress by ordering his executive branch to de-prioritize enforcement of certain laws.Actually, I'm not convinced by that, and still feel disappointed at Obama's abject lack of enthusiasm for an end to this pointless, absurd war. Much more is needed here. I needn't even tell you that.