Legal Commentary

Obama Used to Favor Decriminalization of Marijuana

By Jeralyn

During the October 30, 2007 presidential debate, Barack Obama raised his hand to say said he opposed decriminalizing marijuna.

In 2004, he supported it. Video here.

"I think we need to rethink and decriminalize our marijuana laws," Mr. Obama said during a debate at Northwestern University. "But I'm not somebody who believes in legalization of marijuana.

So, which is it?

When confronted with the statements on the video, Obama's campaign offered two explanations to The Times in less than 24 hours. At first, Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor said the candidate had "always" supported decriminalizing marijuana, suggesting that his 2004 statement was correct. Then after The Times posted copies of the video on its Web site yesterday, his campaign reversed course and declared he does not support eliminating criminal penalties for marijuana possession and use.

He flip-flopped the wrong way.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 02, 2008 (boomark / email).