By Derek Rosenzweig - 12/15/2008
PhillyNORML Co-Chairman

On December 12th, something interesting happened. A couple days before, the incoming Presidential Administration asked the American people to expand on what kind of change they think is necessary for our country. They wanted to know what Americans think is important for our country, and the results have been surprising.

Among the 10,303 questions submitted by 20,468 people, 978,947 votes were counted. In first place, with 7,947 'Yes' votes (92.6%) and 634 'No' votes (7.4%), was the question:

"Will you consider legalizing marijuana so that the government can regulate it, tax it, put age limits on it, and create millions of new jobs and create a billion dollar industry right here in the U.S.?"

Not only do people want marijuana to be legalized, but they want it with a higher 'Yes' to 'No' ratio than any other Top 10 question asked. The question on everyone's mind now is what kind of response can the public expect to see from the incoming Administration?

The Past

Barack Obama so far has given numerous answers to marijuana related questions. In 2004, he

called for its decriminalization

, and claimed that he was not interested in legalizing it. At the New Hampshire Democratic Primary debate, he promised that if elected he would put an end to the raids on medical marijuana dispensaries, growers, and providers in states where medical marijuana is legal. In September 2007, PhillyNORML managed to get the moderators at the

Debate at Drexel University

to ask the candidates who were against decriminalization to raise their hands, and Obama half-raised his, indicating that he wasn't sure how to respond. Since then, he has stated support for drug courts, and his appointments to the Administrative Cabinet have not been very promising.

The Future

The Transition team website, change.gov - where the questions were posted - has stated that the Top 10 questions will be addressed by the team within the next couple of days. Since the beginning of his primary campaign, he has stated that change must come from the ground up, from the grassroots. That method of thinking sure worked - it got him elected to the Presidency. Now, his official website's very first Open for Question session has marijuana legalization as it's number 1 question. Barack has to be asking himself how he will reconcile his past comments about legalization with the public's obvious support for it. The rest of us sure are.

Realistic Expectations

The US public does not expect the President-elect to outright support legalization and regulation. That would be political suicide, even as popular as legalization is, and most people know this and use it as justification for nothing changing. What this is, is a huge opportunity for Obama to show that he truly wants to hear what America has to say, will take our ideas seriously, and see just how passionately we take this issue.

What the public really wants is to have an open and honest dialog with state and Federal government on the issue of marijuana policy. Those of us in the grassroots movement to legalize cannabis are constantly recanting myths, half-truths, and outright lies that had been spread specifically by politicians and bureaucrats to influence public opinion and force our legislators to criminalize this plant. These myths, half-truths, and outright lies were then repeated ad-nauseam by a hypocritical and complacent media for more than 70 years, even in the face of scientific evidence. The public deserves to hear the truth, and that will only happen if an open and honest dialog between the incoming Administration, Congress, and US public can begin. If the government starts to address it, then the media and the pundits will bring the debate - and the truth - right into the homes and workplaces of everyone in the US.

A Second Wave

To add to this sudden pro-cannabis surge, independently owned change.org (not affiliated with the Obama transition) is holding its own vote. Voting takes place in 2 rounds, with the first round (top 3 Ideas from each Cause) ending December 31 and the second (top 10 ideas total) ending January 15. They will be presenting its own list of Top 10 questions to the President and Congress on Inauguration Day, in addition to committing to a starting a full, national campaign for each Idea. As of this writing, the top rated idea with 3,086 votes and 986 comments is Legalize the Medicinal and Recreational Use of Marijuana:

"Marijuana has been proven to relieve the suffering of the chronically ill, as well as disabled patients undergoing chemotherapy, and other forms of medical treatments, yet using it for medical purposes continues to be a crime in most of the country.  We should make it legal not only in medical cases, but for recreational use as well."

With such blatantly high support, it's no wonder that so many have such high hopes for this Administration. The highest hope is that an open and honest discussion about marijuana policy will be held. Lets hope we get the chance.

The Top 10 questions can be seen at http://change.gov/page/content/20081211_openforquestions and https://www.change.org/ideas?order=top#listSection.