Even by that already low standard, the new response from the White House regarding a petition to allow states to decide the legal status of marijuana is a truly pathetic. From the White House:

Thank you for participating in We the People and speaking out on the legalization of marijuana. Coming out of the recent election, it is clear that we’re in the midst of a serious national conversation about marijuana.

At President Obama’s request, the Justice Department is reviewing the legalization initiatives passed in Colorado and Washington, given differences between state and federal law. In the meantime, please see a recent interview with Barbara Walters in which President Obama addressed the legalization of marijuana.

Barbara Walters:

Do you think that marijuana should be legalized?

President Obama:

Well, I wouldn’t go that far.  But what I think is that, at this point, Washington and Colorado, you’ve seen the voters speak on this issue.  And as it is, the federal government has a lot to do when it comes to criminal prosecutions.  It does not make sense from a prioritization point of view for us to focus on recreational drug users in a state that has already said that under state law that’s legal. [...]

The official “response” from the White House is that they have no response, but in the meantime try to guess what Obama may have been implying in past interviews. Why even bother to issue a response if you aren’t even going to address the petition?

The small silver lining is that a meaningless non-response is better than a negative one. Since voters in Washington State and Colorado overwhelming approved marijuana legalization the administration seems to be going out of its way to ignore the issue as much as possible.

According to scientists at the National Institutes of Health- the world’s largest source of drug abuse research – marijuana use is associated with addiction, respiratory disease, and cognitive impairment. We know from an array of treatment admission information and Federal data that marijuana use is a significant source for voluntary drug treatment admissions and visits to emergency rooms. Studies also reveal that marijuana potency has almost tripled over the past 20 years, raising serious concerns about what this means for public health – especially among young people who use the drug because research shows their brains continue to develop well into their 20′s. Simply put, it is not a benign drug.

Like many, we are interested in the potential marijuana may have in providing relief to individuals diagnosed with certain serious illnesses. That is why we ardently support ongoing research into determining what components of the marijuana plant can be used as medicine. To date, however, neither the FDA nor the Institute of Medicine have found smoked marijuana to meet the modern standard for safe or effective medicine for any condition.

As a former police chief, I recognize we are not going to arrest our way out of the problem. We also recognize that legalizing marijuana would not provide the answer to any of the health, social, youth education, criminal justice, and community quality of life challenges associated with drug use.

*emphasis mine

Given that the main “criminal justice” problem related to marijuana use is that marijuana is illegal, I can definitely say legalization would provide an answer to that problem. For the Obama administration to say otherwise is both a lie and high disrespectful to the basic intelligence of the over 70,000 people who signed the petitions.

Here is a link to the responses to the White House’s insultingly dismissive statement on the petitions from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition and NORML.

As a result of receiving only a single dismissive response to seven different petitions, a new petition on the We the People site has been started asking Obama to “Actually take these petitions seriously instead of just using them as an excuse to pretend you are listening.”  That petition  already has over 7,000 signatures.

President Obama has again demonstrated that instead of using the executive powers to greatly advance marijuana reform he has restated the decision to use his power to wage war against medical marijuana. On the issue of marijuana policy Obama is not only radically out of step with the young voters he’s depending on to win in 2012, but increasingly out of step with the mainstream of the country.

Students across the country hit the ground running this fall semester, collecting hundreds of petition signatures to legalize marijuana. One month ago, we launched the Just Say Now Campus Challenge for our chapters to compete against each other to see who can gather the most signatures. Through this competition, over 150 SSDP chapters are competing for prizes such as hemp t-shirts, flip video cameras, and other Just Say Now merchandise.

Let’s take a look at which schools are leading the pack…*

1. Northern Virginia Community College: 423
   Woodbridge, VA
2. University of Cincinnati: 255
   Cincinnati, OH
3. West Virginia University: 214
   Morgantown, WV
4. Albert Einstein High School: 142
   Silver Spring, MD
5. University of Connecticut: 114
   Storrs, CT
6. SUNY Canton: 108
   Canton, NY
7. University of Utah: 105
   Salt Lake City, UT
8. University of New Mexico: 58
   Albuquerque, NM
9. University of Maryland: 45
   College Park, MD
10. Seton Hill University: 33
    Greensburg, PA

* as of noon EST 9/14/10. Congratulations to members of these 10 SSDP chapters on your hard work. If your school hasn’t gotten the ball rolling on campus yet, don’t worry it’s certainly not too late! All of our chapters should have received their Just Say Now campaign materials in the mail, so get out there and show us what you can do! And as always, feel free to contact your regional outreach director for advice or with questions.

As students head back to school this fall semester, and as we get closer to Election Day, I know the competition will only grow more and more intense, so stay tuned. To learn more about the Just Say Now Campus Challenge visit this page.