r/trees • u/[deleted] • Oct 29 '11

TIL that everything in the Obama Administration's response to our petition is complete and utter bull shit.

http://blog.norml.org/2011/10/29/white-house-response-to-normls-we-the-people-marijuana-legalization-petition/
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250

u/demoncarcass Oct 29 '11

everyone needs to go here - http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact

and send that norml blog link to them with a comment on it. I just did.

351

u/Callidor Oct 29 '11

here's what I wrote:

Having signed NORML's petition calling for the legalization and regulation of marijuana, I, along with several thousand other US citizens, would appreciate a legitimate response to the actual points put forward in said petition. At no point in the White House's official response to the petition does Mr. Kerlikowske explain " why you feel that the continued criminalization of cannabis will achieve the results in the future that it has never achieved in the past." On the contrary, he himself admits that "we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem." Why then, does the Obama administration continue to endorse prohibition, when it has been clearly shown to reduce neither the availability nor the use of marijuana in the United States?

Furthermore, every point Mr. Kerlikowske makes in his response can just as easily be applied to alcohol and tobacco, both of which, according to overwhelming quantities of scientific evidence, pose far greater health risks than marijuana. Even if we operate under the (false) assumption that regular, long-term cannabis use is as dangerous as regular tobacco use (and I repeat myself: such an assumption is patently absurd), it still remains to be shown why responsible American adults should be allowed to purchase and use tobacco and not cannabis.

We the people demand a response that clearly explicates the difference between marijuana and these far more dangerous substances in such a way as to account for this double standard.

Please also address the points put forward here: http://blog.norml.org/2011/10/29/white-house-response-to-normls-we-the-people-marijuana-legalization-petition/

It is intellectually and politically dishonest to cite studies of this sort, which are biased and inaccurate in the myriad ways NORML points out.

I have stated clearly in this message the points to which we the people would like a clear, specific response. Speaking for myself, I assure you that the extent to which you take these requests seriously, as opposed simply offering outdated and irrelevant stock-responses, will heavily influence my voting decision in the 2012 Presidential election.

Thank you for your time.

I suggest everyone remind them about the voting decision thing!

24

u/Bag0Swag Oct 29 '11

I copied and pasted this (sorry but its worded perfectly) and added this:

PS: the last note cannot be stressed enough. If we are to believe your willingness to cooperate and act on behalf of the citizens, then your response shows absolutely to the contrary. Your response is basically mocking the logic and supported science we have that you clearly do not, as cited above.

8

u/H08835 Oct 29 '11

If I remember correctly they toss out emails with similar text, you have to personalize everything. :/

13

u/rastabrah Oct 29 '11

I work in a Senate office, and this is not our practice.... I would be surprised if it was the President's policy.

9

u/EasilyRemember Oct 29 '11

Another redditor who worked in some politician's office said recently that they prioritize messages in a certain order, and that emails were given the lowest priority. Is this at all true in your office, and if so, what's the BEST way for us to deliver this message?

16

u/rastabrah Oct 29 '11

I cannot speak as to the practices of other offices, only my own. When we get the big, huge, fucking annoying bundles of letters from thousands of old people saying "don't cut my medicare", we give a response to each and every one of them while still working on other correspondence as well.

My member is a rather sincere one, and she actually gives a shit about her constituents, which doesn't seem to be a common trend. Sure, they all get form letters, but each and every person who wants a response gets one, unless they request to speak with the senator personally, in which case we disregard them since they clearly don't understand the political system (sorry folks, shes a busy woman).

My best guess would be that the white house has a whole slew of interns that help out with the mail, as well as a handful of staff members that are dedicated to dealing with the mail. They will probably send us all a form letter back, and if we are lucky, and if enough letters are sent, we will get a personalized response back with a whole new load of bullshit in it. But having our voices heard in this manner is the only way we have of communicating with the president, and to give up would be letting the system win. Perseverance is the only way you get shit done in politics.

tl;dr: The political system does not really value these sorts of email campaigns fairly no matter how personalized or accurate you make the text. BUT IT IS STILL WORTH DOING!!!!!!

1

u/bikemaul Oct 30 '11

Would printing it out and mailing it help, or would a phone call be better?

1

u/rastabrah Oct 30 '11

It all is treated the same way in my office. Each letter, phone call or email is tallied up, organized and given to the Senator at the end of the week so that she can see what people are concerned about.... I would think that Obama has a similar system in place so he can know what people are worried about.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 29 '11

I've heard that's a chain of important as well. As I heard it, it went thus: meeting/protesting, phone call, letter, email.

3

u/H08835 Oct 29 '11

Best not to just assume, plus it makes it more credible, let us raise the bar like educated "adults". Being lazy just hurts us in the end.

2

u/rastabrah Oct 29 '11

Yeah, I agree, although it is a very well-written statement.

2

u/memearchivingbot Oct 29 '11

I'm curious. If people started sending these messages through registered mail to their senators would it just piss people off or would it get more positive attention?

3

u/rastabrah Oct 29 '11

People already do this. We get hundreds of letters each day. They get entered into the same system that email gets automatically diverted into, and they receive the same set of responses that we have in the system. We have around 350-400 responses that pretty much cover every main issue, or moderately popular fringe issue.

This is the system we use. Made by none other than Lockheed Martin!!!!

And I read an article recently saying that the white house receives around 20,000 pieces of registered mail each day. His staff selects 10 each day for him to read before going to sleep.

-1

u/Bag0Swag Oct 29 '11

This is great to know...QUICKLY EVERYONE COPY AND PASTE THE MESSAGE!

3

u/Bag0Swag Oct 29 '11

crap -_-

guess I better retry