With President Barack Obama showing up to Iowa City on the 25th in order to supposedly rally youth voters toward his reelection this November, it seems that his main tactic is to talk about student debt accrued by federal loans. Though I know that this is an important topic in the media lately with protests on campuses across the nation, with the known drug association with today's date, I would rather he discuss his confusing stance on medical marijuana.
Though Obama's stance on medical marijuana when he was campaigning for presidency in 2007 being that of a shift away from the Bush era federal crackdowns on dispensaries, stating that there was no logic in punishing the sick, the recent highly-publicized raid on the Oakland-based trade school Oaksterdam seems quite contrary to that statement. According to Oaksterdam University's website, the school was founded in 2007 by longtime medical-marijuana user Richard Lee to educate and train students in the cannabis industry, with classes on Horticulture, Trade, Legal Issues, Politics, and Cooking. The school's mission is to end the prohibition on marijuana through utilizing skilled, intelligent, community and globally-conscious individuals. They now have satellite schools in Michigan, Los Angeles, and Sebastopol, California.
In April 3rd's raid, federal agents took computers, plants, files, records, and curriculum, without arresting anyone. It is seen by Lee as a tactic for intimidation and attempt to cripple their program.
So, Mr. Obama, tell me why this needed to happen. Clearly, if this school was doing anything overtly illegal, the state of California would have shut it down before it even opened its doors. Why was it necessary to punish those whose sole intent is to educate individuals to be able to more efficiently and professionally help those who are terminally ill and find relief only through medical marijuana?
These kind of two-faced actions from politicians is probably the main reason I didn't vote four years ago.
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