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Gary Johnson: Face reality, legalize pot

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bloomington-lib Donating Member (513 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 08:17 PM
Original message
Gary Johnson: Face reality, legalize pot
Edited on Thu Jul-07-11 08:18 PM by bloomington-lib
Gary Johnson is a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination and served as governor of New Mexico from 1994-2003.


In 2002, I became aware of a woman who had already served more than six years of a 25-year prison sentence. Her crime? She was addicted to codeine, and she had fraudulently written herself more than 100 prescriptions for Tylenol III.

It seemed to me that this woman had already served far too much time in prison -- in fact, more than a person would likely serve if convicted of second-degree murder -- so I used my authority as governor of New Mexico to release her.

This sort of real-life example might have been difficult to envision 40 years ago, when President Richard Nixon publicly declared his intention to wage "a new, all-out offensive" against drugs. Back then, many Americans believed that tougher enforcement of drug laws would put an end to drug abuse in the United States once and for all.

But some, even within his own party, thought Nixon was going too far by involving the federal government in personal, private behavior. Raymond Shafer, for example, was the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and Nixon's choice to lead his handpicked National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse. Composed almost entirely of anti-drug conservatives, this commission was expected to issue a report supporting Nixon's new policies...

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/07/07/johnson.legalize.pot/index.html?iref=NS1

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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 08:28 PM
Response to Original message
1. I think the government should legalize it and tax it robustly.
Not onerously, robustly. And if you get caught without a tax stamp, you pay a hefty fine.

Want to grow your own? You'd better buy your tax stamps!

Now there's a "Tea Party" a lot of people might be able to get behind....
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saras Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 08:50 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. If you provide enough good jobs for everyone who uses it for underemployment-related depression...
And no, in general, I don't see why it should be treated as a privilege for the wealthy. Is there any solid evidence that they manage it better?
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MADem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 09:11 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. The tobacco industry has all those cigarette making machines that could be put to good use...
I think the manufacture and sale of the product could help out all sectors of the economy.

Use certainly wouldn't be restricted to the wealthy, but odds are good that some people would get rich as a consequence of being in on the manufacturing/distribution ground floor.

The price point for the stuff would probably be more expensive than alcohol, but cheaper than the current going rate.
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abq e streeter Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 08:40 PM
Response to Original message
2. He's absolutely right about this. But I caution any progressive who's thinking of supporting him
just because of his stand on this issue, that it's coming from his extreme libertarianism, which in this case, leads him to the right conclusion. Notice he also calls Milton Friedman, extremist laissez-faire capitalism exponent, and perhaps THE chief architect of the shock doctrine that has destroyed so much and so many,including of course his enthusiastic support of Pinochet, a "respected conservative intellectual" and "a great thinker". That's where Gary Johnson is coming from, and while he's right on this, and occasional other issues, please do not be blinded to his extreme libertarianism. And I say this as someone who knows him, (only slightly, but I do know him) and likes him personally.
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RainDog Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 09:39 PM
Response to Original message
5. people who want to stop spending state and local money
on what is, essentially, a victimless crime need people to speak up from all along the political spectrum.

He has the ear of the CNNistas with this one.

If conservatives want to apologize for setting Palin loose on the world, they should end the war on drugs. After all, they started it.
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Harry J Asslinger Donating Member (93 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jul-07-11 10:00 PM
Response to Original message
6. I do hope
That marijuana legalization and the WOD itself becomes a discussed and important issue of the 2012 elections. Having to face this issue with some force behind it is probably the only thing that can get Obama moving in the right direction on this issue, even if only as a re-election ploy. In fact, I would think it absurd if he did not - was there ever an internet "Ask Obama" event where something related to marijuana legalization or the WOD was not the top question?
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bamacrat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-10-11 09:24 AM
Response to Reply #6
7. Yes there actually was...
He had a town hall and let people submit questions from various ways. The most popular internet question was 'Will you legalize marijuana?" To which he replied, "I guess we know what the internet crowd is doing," and said no. Very upsetting that he mocked a strong contingent of his. He knows that it should be legal and the WOD is stupid and ineffective but he can't say that.
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