Opinion

Pot shots


President Obama may have had a “first-term policy shift” back in 2009, but lately the “worm has turned” (“Spender in the Grass,” Michael Kane, PostScript, April 1).

In January 2011, the DEA released a paper called “The DEA Position on Marijuana,” and a month later the city of Oakland gave up its plans to license indoor facilities for growing medical marijuana because of the new strict interpretation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Two months after that, federal prosecutors threatened state employees in Washington with arrest because of recent “friendly” regulations in regards to pot dispensaries there.

While many medical-marijuana farmers are being arrested in California by the DEA, the IRS is scaling back standard tax deductions for pot dispensaries.

The president might be paying lip service to his liberal base, but his actions harken back to the hardline stance of the Bush era drug policies.

James Lautier, Windsor, Conn.

Cheery-O

April Fools to you, Peter Whoriskey (“Measuring Happiness,” PostScript, April 1).

There is no way that psychologists and economists could possibly come to a consensus on what subjective happiness might be. The narratives from these two groups couldn’t be more ridiculous.

A president whose mantra is “Hope and Change” might welcome the effort to define “gross national happiness,” but President Obama’s philosophies will never make us happy.

Theodore Miraldi, The Bronx

MLB’s strikeout

Big league pitcher Jim Kaat won more games than any other American League pitcher in the 1960s, had 283 career wins and, on top of that, was awarded 16 Gold Gloves. Yet he is not in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Thank you, George F. Will, for demonstrating that there is at least one American institution more dysfunctional than the US government: Major League Baseball (“Opening-Day Brain-Teasers, PostOpinion, April 2).

John J. Cox, Woodside

Open for business

“UWS Zone of Confusion” (Steve Cuozzo, April 3) suggests that the zoning would hurt businesses, but limiting frontage on Amsterdam and Columbus avenues will protect the neighborhood’s character.

One of the reasons why my business is so successful is that there are many different stores on my block and many reasons for shoppers to come here. This proposed zoning is both simple and flexible, and it would still enable my business to expand.

People don’t visit or move to the Upper West Side for the block-long stores and banks. This proposal will ensure the look and feel of the neighborhood for the future.

H. Tres Meyer, Manhattan

Bam bubble-bust

Peggy Noonan correctly points out that President Obama’s charisma, demonstrated so effectively in 2007 and 2008, has run its course and turned on him (“Losing His Mojo,” PostScript, April 1).

His shortcomings are never addressed. They’re spun to insinuate that it is the people who are too dense or racially motivated to appreciate his heralded leadership and genius.

Unfortunately for Obama and the nation, he is too narcissistic to understand the story of the emperor’s new clothes.

This is a recipe for disaster that befalls all leaders who refuse to change course.

Myron Hecker, New City