Tell President Obama it's time for a serious debate about marijuana prohibition.

Tell President Obama it's time for a serious debate about marijuana prohibition.

I pledge to...

<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="https://secure2.convio.net/dpa/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=341">https://secure2.convio.net/dpa/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=341</a><br /><br />
<p>"I don&rsquo;t know what this says about the online audience," joked President Obama during his first virtual town hall meeting. He was dismissing an idea submitted by tens of thousands of Americans:&nbsp;making marijuana legal.</p>
<p>This week, President Obama is visiting Mexico and seeing first hand the drug war violence that is spilling over our southern border,&nbsp;violence you and I know is fueled by marijuana prohibition.</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://dpa.convio.net/site/R?i=txSW3kCqwEOSI7cpkXtFYA..">Now that he&rsquo;s seen what&rsquo;s really happening, you have the chance to tell the president it's time for a serious discussion about the consequences of marijuana prohibition</a>.</strong></p>
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<p>Thousands of people have been killed in the drug war in Mexico in the last couple of years. The drug traffickers are stockpiling machine guns and grenades and now are operating in hundreds of U.S. cities. This level of violence is the inevitable result of policies that create a lucrative black market.</p>
<p>You and I understand that ending marijuana prohibition would reduce violence and corruption the same way ending alcohol Prohibition did. I hope now that President Obama has seen the grisly consequences of marijuana prohibition first hand, he will no longer joke about marijuana law reform. <strong><a href="http://dpa.convio.net/site/R?i=InomnQ86HJA-uKZPwqzpjg..">Join me in telling him: This issue is deadly serious, and it's time to put all options on the table</a>.</strong></p>
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<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Bill Piper<br />Director, Office of National Affairs<br />Drug Policy Alliance Network<br /><a href="https://secure2.convio.net/dpa/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=341">https://secure2.convio.net/dpa/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&amp;page=UserAction&amp;id=341</a><br /><br />At a recent town hall forum, you dismissed a question that millions of Americans were demanding you answer: when will you end the senseless prohibition of marijuana? Instead of actually addressing the issue, you made it into a joke.</p>
<p>Now that you are in Mexico, visiting the front lines of the war on drugs and witnessing the damage marijuana prohibition wreaks first hand, I think you'll agree there's nothing funny about it.</p>
<p>More than 7,000 people have died in the Mexican drug war in the last two years, including 200 Americans. Police officers, elected officials, and reporters are being beheaded. Civilians are being killed in the crossfire between drug traffickers and the Mexican military. The U.S. Military recently warned that the Mexico government is in danger of becoming a weak and failed state and could descend into chaos. The drug trafficking organizations are stockpiling machine guns and grenades, and they now operate in more than 230 U.S. cities.</p>
<p>The time has come to realize that our country was right 75 years ago, when we decided to end alcohol Prohibition. The drug war makes drug traffickers rich while destroying thousands upon thousands of lives, here in the United States, in Mexico, and elsewhere.</p>
<p>Please stop ignoring this issue -- it's time for an open and honest debate about ending marijuana prohibition. For the sake of our neighbors to the south, for the sake of our own communities, please answer this question: when will you end marijuana prohibition?</p>

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