White House Won't Say If Obama's Medical Marijuana Stance May Be Swayed By Sanjay Gup

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WASHINGTON -- The White House declined to weigh in Tuesday on whether President Barack Obama has changed his position on medical marijuana use after the president's onetime choice for surgeon general, Sanjay Gupta, reversed his stance and apologized for misleading the public on the drug's effects.

During the daily press briefing, CQ-Roll Call reporter Steve Dennis asked White House spokesman Josh Earnest if the administration had any reaction to Gupta's Aug. 9 column, "Why I changed my mind on weed," in which Gupta explores the discrepancy between the Drug Enforcement Administration's classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug and scientific research demonstrating its benefits. Gupta, who serves as CNN's chief medical expert, not only apologized for dismissing the evidence from medical marijuana patients, but said he had concluded that marijuana has a low potential for abuse and "very legitimate medical applications."

Dennis also asked if Obama had personally been looking at the issue, given that national polls show rising support for marijuana legalization since he took office.

Earnest ducked the question, responding, "I have to confess I did not see the Sanjay Gupta column you're referring to, so it's hard for me to comment at this point."

The Obama administration has cracked down hard on medical marijuana, even in states that have legalized its use. A recent report found that this administration spent nearly $300 million on medical marijuana intervention through lawsuits, indictments and asset forfeiture attempts by the Justice Department. Over the past few years, the Internal Revenue Service has also targeted medical marijuana dispensaries, forcing many of them to the brink of closure, and largely ignoring the fact that many such businesses were in compliance with state laws.

But as the White House continues to wage war on pot, public opinion has shifted in the opposite direction. A HuffPost/YouGov poll conducted in April found that 51 percent of Americans said marijuana should be "legalized, taxed and regulated like alcohol." An earlier Pew Research Center survey also found majority support among Americans for marijuana legalization.

"It's baffling that the White House still seems so afraid to embrace this issue, particularly for an administration headed by a former marijuana enthusiast who repeatedly pledged during the 2008 campaign to put a stop to federal raids on state-legal providers," Tom Angell, co-founder of the pro-legalization website Marijuana Majority, told The Huffington Post in a statement. "Polls show that legalizing marijuana is a mainstream issue and that a super-majority of voters wants the feds to let states implement their own marijuana laws without harassment. There's almost no one clamoring for a continued federal crackdown, so I can't imagine why the president hasn't put a stop to it yet."

Obama has previously shown significant confidence in Gupta's medical expertise: As many observers recalled, the president reportedly offered him the post of surgeon general in 2009. Gupta then withdrew his name from consideration, citing his reluctance to give up his medical practice and be away from his family.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/obama-medical-marijuana_n_3786350.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
 
Let's see - Gupta on one hand, and all of those wonderful pharma dollars on the other.

Must be some tough deliberations going on there right now.
 
e House Won't Say If Obama's Medical Marijuana Stance May Be Swayed By Sanjay Gup

I agree...the "reefer madness" mentality has run it's course. It's time for an honest and fresh look at cannabis.

I've smoked it in the past. I liked it foe a while, but as I got older, it brought on anxiety attacks....it stopped being fun after that.

I was watching Morgan Spurlock doing a special on it....he applied and got a MM card from the state of California. He then went to a dispensary and talked to the owner....his "ailment " was anxiety....the owner of the dispensary said..."since your diagnosis is anxiety, you'll want to steer clear of certain strains of Marijuana and focus on another....because the one can have that side effect".

Perhaps I was just smoking the wrong stuff back in the day? The problem with it being illegal is that you get whatever is available...so you don't know.
 
Steelplate said:
I was watching Morgan Spurlock doing a special on it....he applied and got a MM card from the state of California. He then went to a dispensary and talked to the owner....his "ailment " was anxiety....the owner of the dispensary said..."since your diagnosis is anxiety, you'll want to steer clear of certain strains of Marijuana and focus on another....because the one can have that side effect".
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There are two basic strains. One causes mellowness, the other anxiety (this is a incredibly simplistic explanation, but I don't have my material in front of me).
Perhaps I was just smoking the wrong stuff back in the day? The problem with it being illegal is that you get whatever is available...so you don't know.
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Usually you do, unless you're not paying for anything good anyways, in which case you don't care. But if you're asking for, say, some AK47 (pretty much the only type of weed I know) you're going to get what you ask for typically.
 
e House Won't Say If Obama's Medical Marijuana Stance May Be Swayed By Sanjay Gup

Clovis said:
There are two basic strains. One causes mellowness, the other anxiety (this is a incredibly simplistic explanation, but I don't have my material in front of me).
Usually you do, unless you're not paying for anything good anyways, in which case you don't care. But if you're asking for, say, some AK47 (pretty much the only type of weed I know) you're going to get what you ask for typically.
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IIRC....there are two strains....Indica and Sativa. I don't know which does what because I was in my 20's the last I smoked it regularly.
 
The problem with this type of simplification is that most of the high power stuff (such as ak-47) are hybrids of both strains and possibly even a third type,; ruderalis.

The best one can hope for these days would be a sativa or indica dominant strain. Unfortunately the genetic dominance can vary among plants with the exact same heritage.
 
Clovis said:
There are two basic strains. One causes mellowness, the other anxiety (this is a incredibly simplistic explanation, but I don't have my material in front of me).
Usually you do, unless you're not paying for anything good anyways, in which case you don't care. But if you're asking for, say, some AK47 (pretty much the only type of weed I know) you're going to get what you ask for typically.
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2 main cannibinoids.
THC is the psychoative, that gets one high. CBD is the other main one -put the 2 together you get the new oral spray Sativex
currently in advanced FDA clinical trials.

Here is a breakdown of all the cannibinoids, and the effects

http://fosterdam.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/cannabinoids.jpg ( image wont post)
 
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