Pubdate: Sun, 17 Oct 2004 Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA) Copyright: 2004 The Fresno Bee Contact: http://www.fresnobee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161 Author: Eric Stern, Bee Capitol Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) CANDIDATE ENDORSES DRUG REFORM 'Marijuana Activist' Bufford Runs Against Radanovich. The history of America's love-hate relationship with marijuana shows George Washington grew hemp on his plantation. Now there's a bong salesman running for Congress. James "Lex" Bufford, owner of the Strawberry Alarm Clock smoke shops in Merced and Madera, is the Democratic candidate in the 19th Congressional District, which stretches from Fresno to Modesto. He's campaigning on a drug-reform platform against five-term Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, who grows wine grapes. "If you want to call me a drug dealer, you have to call him a drug dealer, too," said Bufford, 52, who lives in Chowchilla. A self-described "marijuana activist" and "former medical marijuana supplier," Bufford beat a marijuana possession for sale charge in 1992 in Madera County when the judge threw out his case for lack of evidence. Police accused Bufford and three others with planning to sell 31/2 pounds of marijuana. Two of the others were convicted; the charge against another person was dismissed after she went into a drug program, according to court officials. As an activist, "I wouldn't have any credibility if I didn't have an arrest," Bufford said, comparing himself to Jesse Jackson and other civil-rights protesters who have gone to jail for civil disobedience. "I'm not ashamed of it," he said. "I'm proud of it. It's like a feather in the cap." Bufford's campaign has drawn the attention and praise of pot culture magazines. And he speaks with outrage about a recent U.S. Justice Department crackdown on drug paraphernalia that snared pothead icon Tommy Chong last year. "I own a system of shops right now where John Ashcroft, the attorney general of the United States, would like to put me in prison," Bufford said. He wants marijuana decriminalized, then taxed and licensed like tobacco. An acknowledged long shot in the heavily Republican district, Bufford's message to get supporters to the polls is, "tune in, turn on and turn out." He says Radanovich is too in lockstep with the Republican agenda, and Bufford ticks off a list of issues he would support in Congress: providing greater access to health insurance, withdrawing troops from Iraq, supporting stem cell research, restoring the Hetch Hetchy Valley, building light-rail lines to Yosemite and cleaning the San Joaquin Valley's air. But back to marijuana -- "the 'M' word" that Bufford says makes some mainstream Democrats nervous. Bufford remains cautious about revealing too much. "I'm not going to sit here and tell you I did this or I did that if it might have been illegal," he said. He went into the legal water-pipe trade in 1996, opening a store in Madera. The second shop opened in 2001 in Merced, and he's starting a record label. Bufford said the war on drugs has been a "colossal failure." "It's the most expensive and longest war we've had," he said. "They've gone after marijuana, which is relatively benign and harmless." Attention needs to be focused on dangerous drugs such as methamphetamine and heroin, and rehabilitation programs, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake