URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n191/a01.html
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Author: Janese Heavin
FORMER GOP GOVERNOR WANTS POT LEGAL
A former New Mexico Republican governor on a national campaign to push for the legalization of marijuana found support yesterday in Columbia at the Muleskinners Democratic Club.
Gary Johnson, an entrepreneur-turned-two-term governor, was making the rounds in Columbia this week. He spoke to University of Missouri School of Law students Thursday and addressed the Muleskinners at their weekly luncheon before heading to a meeting last night of the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the ACLU.
Johnson dubbed himself the only elected official to have voiced support for legalized marijuana while in office from 1995 to 2003. That said, he has talked to lawmakers from both political parties who said privately that they support the idea.
Johnson said he began speaking out against the war on drugs as governor after he tried to crack down on drunken driving in his state. He was told law enforcement didn't have the resources to significantly curtail the problem and the court system was too overburdened to deal with an influx of cases involving driving while intoxicated.
Come to find out half of what police were doing and half of what law enforcement was doing and half of what the courts were doing was drug related," he said.
Johnson said he began looking into legalization of pot as an alternative. "Little did I know the compelling reasons for legalizing it," he said.
Just as Prohibition did not stop people from drinking alcohol, keeping marijuana illegal doesn't make sense, he said, noting that it turns otherwise law-abiding, taxpaying citizens into criminals.
Ninety percent of drug problems are prohibition related, not use related," he said.
Johnson -- who admitted to using alcohol and marijuana in the past -- said he considers pot the safer substance.
Legalizing it, he estimated, would bring in between $7 billion to $11 billion in taxes annually. That's noteworthy in light of the fact that the country is bankrupt, Johnson said, blaming the steep deficit on recent wars as well as programs such as Medicare.
Although Columbia's Democratic group embraced his support for legalizing marijuana, partisan lines were quickly drawn at the mention of health care. One audience member countered that Medicare was necessary because elder Americans could not get affordable insurance.
A free-market proponent, Johnson suggested that no American actually goes without health care.
"You're delusional if you think everyone has health care," audience member Kay Callison interjected, adding that waiting until someone needs a trip to the emergency room doesn't count.
To Johnson's repeated warnings that the nation is bankrupt, Muleskinners member Eleanore Wickersham quipped: "Maybe the solution is to tax marijuana and put it toward our health care system."
Other audience members also tried to keep the discussion focused on marijuana, an issue on which both sides agreed.
Audience member Steve Skolnick questioned whether conservative lawmakers over the past three decades have turned the debate into a moral issue rather than a public health issue.
"It's the tail wagging the dog," he said. "How do we, as rational people, look at the issue and have rational discussions when a very dedicated minority sets policies?"
A recent poll showed 44 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, Johnson replied.
"That's the highest it's ever been," he said. "We're close to a tipping point."
Source: Columbia Daily Tribune (MO)
Author: Janese Heavin
FORMER GOP GOVERNOR WANTS POT LEGAL
A former New Mexico Republican governor on a national campaign to push for the legalization of marijuana found support yesterday in Columbia at the Muleskinners Democratic Club.
Gary Johnson, an entrepreneur-turned-two-term governor, was making the rounds in Columbia this week. He spoke to University of Missouri School of Law students Thursday and addressed the Muleskinners at their weekly luncheon before heading to a meeting last night of the Mid-Missouri Chapter of the ACLU.
Johnson dubbed himself the only elected official to have voiced support for legalized marijuana while in office from 1995 to 2003. That said, he has talked to lawmakers from both political parties who said privately that they support the idea.
Johnson said he began speaking out against the war on drugs as governor after he tried to crack down on drunken driving in his state. He was told law enforcement didn't have the resources to significantly curtail the problem and the court system was too overburdened to deal with an influx of cases involving driving while intoxicated.
Come to find out half of what police were doing and half of what law enforcement was doing and half of what the courts were doing was drug related," he said.
Johnson said he began looking into legalization of pot as an alternative. "Little did I know the compelling reasons for legalizing it," he said.
Just as Prohibition did not stop people from drinking alcohol, keeping marijuana illegal doesn't make sense, he said, noting that it turns otherwise law-abiding, taxpaying citizens into criminals.
Ninety percent of drug problems are prohibition related, not use related," he said.
Johnson -- who admitted to using alcohol and marijuana in the past -- said he considers pot the safer substance.
Legalizing it, he estimated, would bring in between $7 billion to $11 billion in taxes annually. That's noteworthy in light of the fact that the country is bankrupt, Johnson said, blaming the steep deficit on recent wars as well as programs such as Medicare.
Although Columbia's Democratic group embraced his support for legalizing marijuana, partisan lines were quickly drawn at the mention of health care. One audience member countered that Medicare was necessary because elder Americans could not get affordable insurance.
A free-market proponent, Johnson suggested that no American actually goes without health care.
"You're delusional if you think everyone has health care," audience member Kay Callison interjected, adding that waiting until someone needs a trip to the emergency room doesn't count.
To Johnson's repeated warnings that the nation is bankrupt, Muleskinners member Eleanore Wickersham quipped: "Maybe the solution is to tax marijuana and put it toward our health care system."
Other audience members also tried to keep the discussion focused on marijuana, an issue on which both sides agreed.
Audience member Steve Skolnick questioned whether conservative lawmakers over the past three decades have turned the debate into a moral issue rather than a public health issue.
"It's the tail wagging the dog," he said. "How do we, as rational people, look at the issue and have rational discussions when a very dedicated minority sets policies?"
A recent poll showed 44 percent of Americans are in favor of legalizing marijuana, Johnson replied.
"That's the highest it's ever been," he said. "We're close to a tipping point."
Richardson's not so bad, either.
