President Obama Sparks Reefer Madness: Donations to NORML Spike

During President Obama's online townhall meeting this week, he fielded a question about legalizing marijuana, and offered a good-natured swipe at the interweb users who voted up the question. He said he didn't think legalization was a good way to stimulate the economy (Doritos shareholders be damned), and that he "wondered about" the WhiteHouse.gov users who made it the #1 question.

Now, NORML, a pot advocacy organization, reports that their donations have gone sky-high amid the buzz:

Obama's somewhat dismissive reaction to the prospect of legalizing marijuana has caused some Hawaiian-sized waves. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws-NORML- has seen its donations quadruple over the last 24 hours. Over half of these donations have attached comments referencing the President's comments.

I spoke to Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) about this last night (interview forthcoming),and he offered some encouragementon the decriminalization, if not outright legalization, of marijuana. He is leading a commission to examine law enforcement's role in drug policy. Eric Holder's shift on medical marijuana enforcement earlier this month was a tiny baby-step, but it looks like momentum is gathering.

The American people, meanwhile, haven't changed their views much on marijuana. A recent CBS News poll found 58% of Americans opposed to legalization (as opposed to 59% in a 2002 CNN poll), but the new poll didn't ask about medical marijuana. Historically, 75% to 80% of Americans support legalizing medical pot, with a slightly lower number favoring decriminalization.

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