POTUS pot poll: Obama vs. the internet.

• Author: Riggs, Mike
• Position: Citings - President Barack Obama - Brief article

PRESIDENT Barack Obama has turned to social media several times in his presidency to learn what Web-savvy Americans want from their president. In January 2011 he participated in a YouTube forum in which questions were determined by user votes; in the summer of 2011, the White House unveiled its own e-petition website. In both cases, the Internet spoke loud and clear: legalize pot.

According to the Drug War Chronicle, "of the top 200 most popular questions submitted" to YouTube's "Ask Obama" forum, "nearly all were on drug policy." Twenty-six minutes into the interview with Obama, YouTube noted the frequency of questions about the drug war--which caused Obama to giggle for several seconds--then introduced a question by Law Enforcement Against Prohibition member MacKenzie Allen, who asked if there would come a time to "discuss the possibility of legalization." Obama replied, "I think this is an entirely legitimate topic for debate, but I'm not in favor of legalization," adding, "I am a strong believer that we have to think more about drugs as a public health problem."

Last September the issue reared its hempy head...