Pubdate: Sun, 11 Sep 2005
Source: Memphis Flyer (TN)
Copyright: 2005 Contemporary Media, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.memphisflyer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2403
Author: Jackson Baker
Cited: Drug Policy Alliance ( www.drugpolicy.org )
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mmj.htm (Cannabis - Medicinal)

COHEN: BREDESEN WAGING A 'KATRINA' AGAINST THE POOR

State Senator also swipes at Rep. Ford for hoping to "do nothing, except at
a higher level."

State Senator Steve Cohen upped the ante in his ongoing verbal combat with
Governor Phil Bredesen Sunday, accusing Bredesen of waging "a Katrina, a
war, for political expediency, on poor people" by his paring of the TennCare
rolls, a process which, said Cohen, would "deprive 200,000 people of health
care and cost many of them their lives."

Speaking at a seminar on "Rethinking the War on Drugs" sponsored by the
Public Issues Forum of Memphis, the Midtown Democrat also took an indirect
swipe at U.S. Senate hopeful Harold Ford Jr., the Memphis congressman whom
Cohen unsuccessfully opposed in the 1996 Democratic primary for the 9th
Congressional District seat.

Cohen noted that no Tennessee congressman had voted for a bill in Congress
that would have prevented federal law enforcement authorities from arresting
medical-marijuana users in states where they were entitled to use marijuana
by law. "And I submit to you that it'd be a popular thing for one of our
congressmen to do, because it would say to the state of Tennessee that we
had a congressman who had a brain and who had a vision and who had a heart
and was trying to make a difference and not just to promote themselves to
another office to do nothing except at a higher level."

Said Cohen: "There's a purpose to being in office and that's to try to do
things to make your society better and not just to advance yourself.
Basically what I've seen in my life, most politicians are just there for the
next office. They're there for the next fundraiser, for the next round, for
the next whatever. And I see it when I look to Nashville, and I see it when
I look to the 9th District. And it's very, very disheartening."

The full context of Cohen's remarks about Bredesen went this way: "The
people are so far ahead of the politicians on so many issues, it's a shame,
and you don't see a whole lot of politicians put their neck out on issues to
make society better.I have a lot of despair right now=85when I look at our
president. To be honest, when I look at our governor, who is bringing about
a Katrina in Tennessee. It's just that the 200,000 people he's depriving of
health care aren't put in front of The Pyramid for the public to see it.
They're spread out throughout this state. That is a Katrina -- a war, for
political expediency on poor people who can't afford health care themselves
and for the political agenda of a multi-millionaire who wants to be
something else in life rather than the provider and giver of health care and
a better, more progressive society, but wants to advance himself.

"He's going to deprive 200,000 people of health care and cost many of them
their lives. That's cruel, and it's Katrina in Tennessee, and it's happening
now at our governor's level."

Cohen, the sponsor of pending legislation that would legalize medical
marijuana use for specified classes of patients, appeared at the Forum
meeting along with Dr. Ethan Nadleman, founder and executive director of the
Drug Policy Alliance, which opposes the federal "War on Drugs" as both a
wrong-headed policy and a failure.
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