Want to End the War on Marijuana? Then Sign This Petition.

Oregon's medical marijuana backers can light up (with joy) about a new national campaign while they're busy campaigning locally for an initiative this fall to create a system statewide of dispensaries.

Bloggers and students are waging a national battle for marijuana legalization with a petition to President Obama asking the federal government to end its opposition to legalizing the drug.

Jane Hamsher, founder and publisher of firedoglake.com, has announced the website's Just Say Now campaign, launched with grassroots organization Students for Sensible Drug Policy. Since last week, almost 35,000 people have signed the petition, says Just Say Now online campaign manager Michael Whitney.

While it's unlikely Obama would respond to an online petition, the pro-pot effort's goals are broader than than just that objective. The goal of Just Say Now, Whitney told WW today, is to not only urge Obama to join the international debate on marijuana legalization, but to get marijuana initiatives on state ballots by 2012.

“I think it can help spark a discussion to show what's really happening with the federal government's really misplaced priorities with the war on marijuana,” Whitney said of the petition. “There's tremendous momentum that's being passed around. It's not something that's going to go away.”