Pubdate: Tue, 30 Mar 2010
Source: Daily Democrat (Woodland, CA)
Copyright: 2010 Daily Democrat
Contact:  http://www.dailydemocrat.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3030
Author: Patrick May

CANDIDATES HUFF AND PUFF OVER POT VOTE

BERKELEY -- To legalize pot or not?

That's the question California voters will face in the fall now that 
the ballot measure has qualified for the November election.

The state's political candidates got to face it this past weekend. 
And their answers -- more or less -- were no, no, no and no.

Asked whether any of them had ever smoked marijuana, the answers 
were, again: No -- except for the occasional "dunno."

"I am not supporting the initiative," said Republican U.S. Senate 
candidate Tom Campbell, unable to comment at length because he was 
driving at the time. Before hanging up, though, he was able to add: 
"I've never smoked marijuana in my life."

GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's spokeswoman, Sarah Pompei, 
reiterated her statement this week that Whitman was "absolutely 
against legalizing marijuana for any reason. She believes we have 
enough challenges in our society without heading down the path of 
drug legalization."

Asked whether Whitman had ever smoked it, Pompei said, "I've never 
asked her, and I would have no idea."

Jarrod Agen, spokesman for Whitman's GOP opponent, Steve Poizner, 
replied in an e-mail: "Steve has said that he's never used drugs."

Still, Poizner had one of the more interesting takes on the 
initiative, which would allow licensed retailers to sell up to an 
ounce of marijuana, generating as much as $1.4 billion in new taxes, 
according to proponents.  Agen said that "like electing Jerry Brown, 
the idea of legalizing drugs is one more bad idea from a bygone era. 
Steve Poizner feels we need an across-the-board tax cut to reignite 
our state's economy, not an attempt to smoke our way out of the 
budget deficit."

Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jerry Brown's spokesman, Sterling 
Clifford, said that because the candidate, as attorney general, is 
"the state's top law enforcer, and because he has to write the title 
and summary of the ballot initiative, he's not going to discuss the 
merits of the initiative until that's done."

Has Brown used marijuana? "I haven't the slightest idea," said 
Clifford. "And I'm not sure he can be reached today. He and his wife 
were going hiking."

A spokeswoman for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer said she would ask 
her boss about the initiative, but had not responded by press time. 
And Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina "opposes the 
legalization of marijuana," said spokeswoman Amy Thoma.

Chuck DeVore, the conservative California assemblyman trying to 
unseat Boxer, said he had never used marijuana and that he opposed 
legalizing it. As he drove through from one tea party rally to 
another Saturday in Nevada, DeVore raised a number of potential 
problems, including how challenging it would be to come up with 
roadside tests to weed out people who were intoxicated behind the wheel.

"What can the police officer do?" DeVore wondered.  "Pull out a plate 
of brownies, and see if you take one?" 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake