Showing posts with label william f buckley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label william f buckley. Show all posts
Friday, November 7, 2014
To the new Republican majority
Congratulations on your victory Tuesday night. You say you want to oppose Obamacare and that is great because that is why we voted you in. But you've been wrong on other issues. I've been hearing some things that have me concerned. One of them is that you want to undo the efforts of the movement to legalize marijuana. That would be very unwise. The marijuana pro-legalization movement enjoys support from across the political spectrum. I myself am a marijuana smoker and I lean toward the right because I've noticed their methods worked. But to continue the failed policies of prohibition don't work. All they have done is jailed millions of otherwise law abiding citizens thus overloading our jails and prisons. Where has this war on drugs gotten us? A militarized police force,the fourth amendment being trampled on and corrupt agents of the government taking our property. Private property that belongs to their respective owners and not the government. Are there conservatives that favor legalization? Yes,the late William F. Buckley was one of them. I spell it out real well in this post. There is more on marijuana here. Like I've said continuing the failed policies of the past accomplishes nothing. Nothing but tragedy nothing but grief so let's change directions. Like I said I would rather smoke a joint than hug a tree and so do a lot of other people.
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Say no to pot prohibitionist Ron Nehring
Anti-Pot Rhetoric Out of Step With California Voters
Steven Greenhut | March 21, 2014
SACRAMENTO — As the state Republican Party searched for new ways to reach California’s young and independent-oriented electorate during its weekend convention outside of San Francisco, its main lieutenant governor candidate has chosen to run on an increasingly unpopular issue: opposing the decriminalization of marijuana.
At a press conference on Saturday, former party chairman Ron Nehring of San Diego argued that the advancing movement to decriminalize pot is endangering children: “Anyone who thinks that this is only going to be limited to adults needs to put the crack pipe down because that is simply not reality.”
Nehring seeks support from voters who don’t like Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support for marijuana decriminalization. Oddly for a GOP convention, Nehring praised Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who recently suggested that a stoned populace is bad for the state’s economy as he criticized legalization efforts similar to those in Washington and Colorado.
Nehring said he favors the approach taken by a group called Project SAM. Its “Smart Approaches to Marijuana” are short on specifics, but are mainly about keeping marijuana illegal. In a Huffington Post article last April, Nehring even criticized the use of medical marijuana, which has been legal in California since Prop. 215’s passage in 1996.
He’s got an uphill battle, not just with his candidacy but in gaining traction for this issue. A December Field poll found that most California voters, by a 56 percent to 39 percent margin, favor a proposed marijuana-legalization initiative, with opposition coming mainly from Republicans and self-identified conservatives. Voter preferences can change as campaigns heat up, of course, but attitudes are shifting in the legalization direction over time.
Supporters of legalization say it’s better to regulate it than to fight a drug war. Despite what the governor said at a district attorneys’ event in 2010, marijuana legalization will not help the Mexican cartels. The last thing drug lords want is legal competition.
In his Huffington Post piece, Newsom argued that “Californians must renew our push for common-sense marijuana policy by developing a state level regulatory system and lead the national effort to end draconian laws that favor incarceration over education.” But the latest effort to develop such a system is sponsored by the police chiefs’ association and the California League of Cities – two groups that are trying to clamp down on dispensaries. Authored by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), SB 1262 would give state authorities the power to license those facilities that sell medical pot, but it would also make it harder for patients to get doctor recommendations to buy it.
This seems counterproductive given fiscal realities. The state’s prison system is so overcrowded that officials are releasing inmates who have committed serious crimes. Cities are cutting their public-safety budgets as pension costs consume more dollars. One would think that police chiefs and city-government advocates would have other priorities.
Pot foes complain that it’s too easy for anyone to get a marijuana “card” for medical uses and that such drugs are harmful to kids for recreational uses. Legalization supporters say the question is not whether marijuana is good or bad, but whether maintaining a prohibition is a wise use of resources. Legalizing a substance does not necessarily mean that it will be more widely used, as Portugal’s drug-decriminalization efforts suggest.
Both sides of the debate insist that they want to downplay incarceration and focus on drug treatment, which might be a good place for a little common ground. But sensible solutions will no doubt get lost in a statewide political campaign where voters can expect sound-bites and hit mailers about crack pipes and potheads.
In 1983, conservative icon William F. Buckley argued that “The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents.” On the political level, not much has changed after three decades. But voters seem to be moving beyond the scare tactics.
Source
Prohibitionism is a bad position as I have pointed out before. With medical marijuana or legal dispensaries money goes out of the pockets of organized crime which deprives them of a source of revenue. I don't usually endorse Democrats but on this one I have to. The Republican challenger is bringing up the bad old days of police raids and organized crime getting rich again. The War on Marijuana is a failure. The people have spoken and our elected leaders are duty bound to obey the will of the people.
Steven Greenhut | March 21, 2014
SACRAMENTO — As the state Republican Party searched for new ways to reach California’s young and independent-oriented electorate during its weekend convention outside of San Francisco, its main lieutenant governor candidate has chosen to run on an increasingly unpopular issue: opposing the decriminalization of marijuana.
At a press conference on Saturday, former party chairman Ron Nehring of San Diego argued that the advancing movement to decriminalize pot is endangering children: “Anyone who thinks that this is only going to be limited to adults needs to put the crack pipe down because that is simply not reality.”
Nehring seeks support from voters who don’t like Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support for marijuana decriminalization. Oddly for a GOP convention, Nehring praised Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who recently suggested that a stoned populace is bad for the state’s economy as he criticized legalization efforts similar to those in Washington and Colorado.
Nehring said he favors the approach taken by a group called Project SAM. Its “Smart Approaches to Marijuana” are short on specifics, but are mainly about keeping marijuana illegal. In a Huffington Post article last April, Nehring even criticized the use of medical marijuana, which has been legal in California since Prop. 215’s passage in 1996.
He’s got an uphill battle, not just with his candidacy but in gaining traction for this issue. A December Field poll found that most California voters, by a 56 percent to 39 percent margin, favor a proposed marijuana-legalization initiative, with opposition coming mainly from Republicans and self-identified conservatives. Voter preferences can change as campaigns heat up, of course, but attitudes are shifting in the legalization direction over time.
Supporters of legalization say it’s better to regulate it than to fight a drug war. Despite what the governor said at a district attorneys’ event in 2010, marijuana legalization will not help the Mexican cartels. The last thing drug lords want is legal competition.
In his Huffington Post piece, Newsom argued that “Californians must renew our push for common-sense marijuana policy by developing a state level regulatory system and lead the national effort to end draconian laws that favor incarceration over education.” But the latest effort to develop such a system is sponsored by the police chiefs’ association and the California League of Cities – two groups that are trying to clamp down on dispensaries. Authored by Sen. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), SB 1262 would give state authorities the power to license those facilities that sell medical pot, but it would also make it harder for patients to get doctor recommendations to buy it.
This seems counterproductive given fiscal realities. The state’s prison system is so overcrowded that officials are releasing inmates who have committed serious crimes. Cities are cutting their public-safety budgets as pension costs consume more dollars. One would think that police chiefs and city-government advocates would have other priorities.
Pot foes complain that it’s too easy for anyone to get a marijuana “card” for medical uses and that such drugs are harmful to kids for recreational uses. Legalization supporters say the question is not whether marijuana is good or bad, but whether maintaining a prohibition is a wise use of resources. Legalizing a substance does not necessarily mean that it will be more widely used, as Portugal’s drug-decriminalization efforts suggest.
Both sides of the debate insist that they want to downplay incarceration and focus on drug treatment, which might be a good place for a little common ground. But sensible solutions will no doubt get lost in a statewide political campaign where voters can expect sound-bites and hit mailers about crack pipes and potheads.
In 1983, conservative icon William F. Buckley argued that “The anti-marijuana campaign is a cancerous tissue of lies, undermining law enforcement, aggravating the drug problem, depriving the sick of needed help, and suckering well-intentioned conservatives and countless frightened parents.” On the political level, not much has changed after three decades. But voters seem to be moving beyond the scare tactics.
Source
Prohibitionism is a bad position as I have pointed out before. With medical marijuana or legal dispensaries money goes out of the pockets of organized crime which deprives them of a source of revenue. I don't usually endorse Democrats but on this one I have to. The Republican challenger is bringing up the bad old days of police raids and organized crime getting rich again. The War on Marijuana is a failure. The people have spoken and our elected leaders are duty bound to obey the will of the people.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
