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Marijuana Policy Project's Party at the Playboy Mansion

The party will be hosted by Joe Rogan, from NBC's "Fear Factor" and Comedy Central's "The Man Show," and will feature rapper, producer, and film director DJ Pooh, who often collaborates with Ice Cube and has also worked with LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur, and Snoop Dogg.

Sweet Leaf Valentine Ball/Fundraiser

We've set the date, obtained the venue, lined up the entertainment and making plans for our February Emerald Empire HempFest fundraiser. Don't miss this one!! More details to follow. In the interim, please contact:

The Legalize Marijuana Party 420 Event/Fundraiser

Every year NJweedman runs for office and this year (2007) is no different except this year. NJWEEDMAN plans to raise funds for a serious run for office. He needs money to run commercials on TV and to present the Issue of Marijuana Legalization to the Public. - NJweedman will be holding a 420 Reefer Raffle - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gistL7nzICI

OR: First Public Meeting of the New Willamette Valley NORML chapter

The first public meeting for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws new local chapter is scheduled for Saturday, November 11, at 5 o'clock. The meeting will be held at Spencer View Family Housing Center, 2250 Patterson Street, in the Community Center

Manufacturing consent and the drug war

I have analysed a recent debate between Aaron Smith and Calvina Fay for media bias. The post can be found here: http://www.glenstark.net/2010/05/manufacturing-consent-and-the-drug-war

What's the Point of Asking Obama to Legalize Marijuana? I'll Explain.

In comments, Giordano questions the value of constantly confronting the President about marijuana legalization:

In the end, it makes no sense at all to ask Obama for anything more than what he’s already done for medical marijuana.  His candor on the subject of cannabis will probably wait for the day he’s no longer president, just as Bill Clinton waited before scoffing at U.S. marijuana penalties.

All of this is certainly worth explaining to anyone who genuinely expects the President to abolish marijuana prohibition. Yes, it's helpful to understand that he's not going to do that, neither next week nor on his last day in office. But I don’t think any willingness on the President's part to publicly support legalization is necessary to justify the strategic efficacy of hounding him about it at almost every opportunity.

I think we score points simply by making ourselves visible. Our early success at saturating the President's web forums was followed by an unprecedented surge in favorable media coverage. By the time the Michael Phelps saga erupted, we'd already established marijuana reform as one of the leading political issues on the internet. Web trends are measured in dollar signs like never before and we're now witnessing the rewards of our proven ability to generate clicks.

Obama's new medical marijuana policy followed on the heels of an epic escalation in positive marijuana reporting from the mainstream press. The White House's decision to leak the story to the AP on a Sunday night was a powerful exhibit in their newfound faith that you could actually score political points by placating people like us. It's hardly the end of marijuana prohibition, but it shows that we're doing something right.

Obama, YouTube, and Marijuana Legalization

As I discussed last night, yesterday's special YouTube Interview with the President conspicuously -- though predictably -- excluded the top-rated questions from the contest, all of which had to with legalizing marijuana. So now everyone's calling out YouTube for censoring their own forum, the whole purpose of which was to ask Obama the questions that got the most online votes.

Since YouTube publicly credited itself with deciding which questions were asked, I guess it's only fair that they take the blame for blatantly ignoring the single biggest constituency that participated in their forum. But let's not forget that it's the President himself who has twice failed to form even one intelligent sentence in response to the marijuana questions that continue to dominate these forums. He's proven that he can't or won't discuss this issue seriously, so if YouTube sought to avoid another embarrassing controversy, it's at least partially the President's fault for setting such pathetic precedent.

Obama Avoids Questions About Legalizing Marijuana (Again)

Another online Q&A contest concluded Monday without any straight answers from the President about why marijuana remains illegal. YouTube, which sponsored the forum, declined to ask the President a single marijuana-related question, despite overwhelming public demand.

As was the case with every previous online forum of this sort, questions about marijuana legalization were not only prominent, they were by far the most popular vote-getters.

These are the top three highest-rated questions from the entire contest:

"Mr. President, When you asked the country to give you questions, one of the most asked was "Are you going to legalize Marijuana". When you read it, you laughed like it wasnt serious. Why is that?"
None, Florida
1,906 Votes

"What are your plans for cannabis legalization?"
Anonymous, Oklahoma
1,783 Votes                         

"Why don't you legalize marijuana, it seems like a great way to gain tax money, and people should have to right to use it if they please, and it would cripple gang activity? Do you plan to?"
Lussy Picker, Kentucky
1,766 Votes             

Sadly, none of these questions were answered. In contrast, the most popular question that wasn't about marijuana received 1,331 votes and, yes, the President answered that one. It was about net neutrality, which Obama says he supports. So, at least we'll continue to enjoy free speech on the internet, even as the White House pretends not to hear us.

Incredibly, this political popularity contest was broken up into categories including Jobs & the Economy, Health Care, Energy & Environment, Foreign Policy & National Security, Education, Financial Reform, and Government Reform, yet it was the "Other" section which drew the most votes, due entirely to its emphasis on legalizing marijuana. "Other" has become a de-facto euphemism for drug policy reform in several of these White House sponsored forums, which wouldn't keep happening if "Crime & Drug Policy" were given its own well-deserved category alongside the other issues that supposedly encompass the modern political landscape.

Instead, the whole online voting process has become a self-evident mockery, as the contest's democratic structure is violated time and again simply to avoid answering one simple question. But if you're frustrated by all of this, don't be. We're winning the online debate, and we're doing so at a time when online outreach is important enough to the White House that they keep coming back for more.

Obama Launches YouTube Forum on Legalizing Marijuana

Once again, the President wants to know what you think about marijuana policy. His latest online voting forum is sponsored by YouTube, and you can submit your questions about marijuana legalization either on video or in writing.

Participants are asked to focus their questions on how legalization will impact the following areas:

Jobs & the Economy
Health care
Energy & Environment
Foreign Policy & National Security
Education
Financial Reform
Government Reform

After looking around a bit, I've noticed that some internet trolls have been attempting to disrupt the dialogue by submitting questions that have nothing to do with the legalization of marijuana. Some of the categories include a number of non-marijuana-related questions, so please click over there and use your up and down votes to keep the conversation focused by making sure the marijuana questions stay at the top in each section.

With all the problems facing our nation, obsessively discussing marijuana legalization on the internet is more important than ever. After all, if people get sick of hearing about this, there's only one way to shut us up.

Update: Just kidding. I'm pretty sure the forum isn't intended to discuss marijuana legalization exclusively. But you'd almost think it was, considering how many people have questions for the President about why our marijuana laws haven't been fixed yet. I wonder how many more of these online votes we have to dominate before we get a straight answer.

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