POT AND THE PRESIDENT

The following arrived from our pal Roldo…

“I find myself moved to explain to you why I've absented myself from the Doc40 club lest any misunderstanding cast a shadow on any future crossing of paths.
Fact is I totally disagree with you on two most salient points - which doesn't mean I think you're wrong! shit, I've found myself wearing my sphincter for a collar too many times to fall into that but I do see these two scenes quite the opposite to your view.
The really important one is the legalization of Marijuana, which I think would be the worst possible disaster. I'll attach a blog I wrote under one of my many altered-egos in case you're interested in my take on that subject.
My primary disagreement with your stance is the idea that the taxes from Pot would be used to cure economic ills whereas I figure they'd far more likely go buy more bombs for the War On Whatever and pepper-spray for the folks at home.
The second thing is Obama. Man, I just can't buy his act. Everything about this guy screams of the grifter. I'd love to trust him...people I admire and respect trust him - you. Ed Sanders, lots of others...but I just can't.
So I split Doc 40 'cause it seemed impolite to argue with you in your own house as t'were - its your blog site, not a forum - and since these are matters dear to my Head, I figured best if I remove me... like it says in the Texts, "One should never be where one does not belong". But don't, please, take this as any animosity towards you personally. Fuck - I genuinely hope you're right.”

After Faux Smoke’s input of yesterday it does seem like it’s forum time at Doc40, and that’s how it should be. Debate is always better than a soapbox. It also saddens me that our good friend Roldo should feel he needs absent himself from the general fun because he disagrees with some of the positions I adopt.
As to trusting Barack Obama, I have to say again that the brevity of a blog does allow the essay that I probably need to write about my reservations about Obama, but also his basic strengths that I sensed as early as the 2004 Democratic Convention. I can only reply that, first and foremost, Barack Obama is a politician, a lawyer, and a capitalist, and I have lived far too long in this wicked world to thrust any single part of that particular combo. On the other hand, I would have unreservedly supported Jack the Ripper if I thought he had a chance of unseating the asinine evil of Bush-Cheney and would prevent it being perpetuated by the blundering McCain and the idiot-psychotic Palin.
Trust is an odd concept. Would I trust (say) Bob Dylan, Miles Davis or Keith Richard? I’ve always trusted them to play the music and keep me entertained. But that’s the limit of it. In the same way, I trust Obama to attempt to clear up the mess left by blind cowboy madness of George Bush. My expectations are limited, but as long as he doesn’t seriously let me down, he will have my support. He is not a socialist or a revolutionary. I don’t expect him to be either. After the last eight years, an adequate and intelligent president will be more than enough.
I don’t perceive the aura of the hustler, but maybe Roldo has seen something I haven’t. Barack Obama is the product of democracy. As a process for selecting leaders, democracy is certainly better than the right of inheritance, or simply slaughtering all your rivals to power. And democracy is a popularity poll, and Americans apparently like their leaders with a certain trace of the hustler and the used car dealer. Maybe I’m naïve, but if Obama is the ultimate grifter, my hopes are still he’s grifting for us.

The question about marijuana is more complicated. I may be overly hopeful, but I feel that dope is closer to becoming legal right now than it has ever been in my lifetime. I sense the nation is undergoing a long overdue sea change. Gay marriage is suddenly happening, almost without comment, one state at a time, and pot could easily go the same route, while an Obama-led Fed looked the other way. If such is the case, though, we have to face some hard realities. Legal marijuana is a very cheap crop to produce. Prices running to hundreds of bucks an ounce are the product of illegality. Legalization could cut prices by as much as 90% and I’m sure there are growers in Humboldt and BC who would hate to see that happen.
I support legalization and taxation – while far from perfect – as the best chance of maintaining some kind of level playing field for both consumer and supplier – and maybe doing something positive for all the victims of prohibition and the War on Drugs. I would fight like a maniac to keep Pfizer or RJR from taking over the dope supply, but, at the same time, I have major misgiving about some nebulous condition of decriminalization, which seems tailor-made for racketeering and abuse. I’d like to see dope treated as a commodity no different from gin or gasoline (which are both taxed and regulated), and if those taxes go to military industrial repression, it’s a citizens responsibility to stand up and scream. I could, of course be wrong, but, hell, if legal dope doesn’t work out we can always turn to weed bootleggers without losing a damned thing.
So come back Roldo. Argument is strength.