Saturday, September 20, 2008

What's up with the New Democratic Party of Canada? Link The federal New Democrats have lost their second pro-marijuana B.C. candidate in a matter of days. Vancouver-Quadra candidate Kirk Tousaw, a lawyer and former campaign director for the B.C. Marijuana Party, resigned Friday afternoon. [...] Marijuana advocate Dana Larsen resigned as the NDP's candidate for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast this week after online videos surfaced showing him smoking marijuana and dropping LSD. [...] [Gerry Scott, the NDP's B.C. campaign director] said the party has no issue with candidates advocating less restrictive laws for marijuana, but felt there was a distinction when videos of a candidate using the drug were freely available. Um, Gerry, I'd like to introduce to you the Republican governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hmmm... Looks like the U.S. doesn't hold the patent on silliness in political campaigns. Only difference is that our politicians admit to doing drugs and then never talk about drugs again. 8:14:53 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

Pathetic Massachusetts is considering a mild decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana, so the drug warriors are out in force, lining up to proclaim disaster and the end of the world, as they seek to protect their piece of the drug war pie. There must have been 30 of them. Standing on the steps of the New Bedford Superior Court like a phalanx of armed guards, ready to protect the public against the enemy. Protect us against what? The notion of any kind of relaxation of marijuana laws, of course. These are the folks who are currently in charge of this so-called battle against drugs, the war that the country has failed to win for half a century. They were competing with each other for most alarmist comment of the day. "This will lead to more violence," said Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter, dismissing out of hand the views of many mainstream citizens that prosecuting marijuana possession is both unreasonable and prohibitively expensive. Mr. Sutter is nothing if not determined to prove he's tough on crime. "This ridiculous initiative would put our children and young people in dangerous situations" with violent marijuana dealers, he intoned. Marijuana. Violence? No. Drug war. Violence? Yes. I guess we should outlaw Mr. Sutter. But it gets worse: And "I don't want to hear," he said, those "specious" and "bogus" arguments that marijuana is like alcohol. Alcohol, he informed the media event, can have health benefits. Talk about specious and bogus! I'm sure when Mr. Sutter has finished his long day of prosecuting pot smokers who were watching Harold and Kumar, and he and his friends pop open a couple of six-packs while they watch the New England Patriots, it's just for the health benefits. People drink to get high. People smoke pot to get high. People do a lot of things to get high. And as long as they're not abusing it or hurting anyone else, it's not Mr. Sutter's business to go and harm them. But wait, it got even more pathetic: And tobacco? Why, that takes a long time to do damage, he informed. Right. Better to outlaw something that will never cause cancer than something that will take a long time to cause cancer. ot to be outdone, Fall River Mayor Bob Correia trotted out the time-tested "gateway" argument. "Marijuana," he said, is "the one they start our children off with!" Well, that sounds like a good reason to oppose decriminalization and go straight to legalization and regulation. Jack Spillane at South Coast Today did a great job ridiculing these buffoons, while giving me the opportunity to pile on. 4:57:20 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []