Pubdate: Fri, 15 Feb 2013
Source: Steamboat Today, The (CO)
Copyright: 2013 The Steamboat Pilot & Today
Contact: http://www.steamboattoday.com/submit/letters/
Website: http://www.steamboattoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1549
Author: Rob Douglas

REEFER MADNESS

Steamboat Springs -- As noted by Wikipedia, "Reefer Madness" is a 
"1936 American propaganda exploitation film revolving around the 
melodramatic events that ensue when high school students are lured by 
pushers to try marijuana -- from a hit-and-run accident, to 
manslaughter, suicide, attempted rape and descent into madness.

"Originally financed by a church group under the title 'Tell Your 
Children,' the film was intended to be shown to parents as a morality 
tale attempting to teach them about the dangers of cannabis use. ... 
The film did not gain an audience until it was rediscovered in the 
1970s and gained new life as a piece of unintentional comedy among 
advocates of cannabis policy reform."

Why start a column by referencing a 1936 film about marijuana that 
now is considered ridiculous by rational Americans? Because there are 
irrational individuals still peddling that 1936-era alarmist tripe 
about marijuana, including a former White House drug policy adviser 
who claims Coloradans are too stupid to realize they've been tricked 
into legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.

Dr. Paul Chabot, who served in the presidential administrations of 
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, including a stint as White House 
senior adviser for law enforcement, justice and drug control 
programs, thinks the 1,291,771 Coloradans who voted for Amendment 64 
last November were deceived by ads with tricky words.

In an interview with HuffPost Denver last week, Chabot, who lives in 
California and holds a doctorate in "executive leadership," 
pontificated that Colorado -- especially kids in Colorado -- will be 
destroyed by marijuana.

"Look, in California we've got a medical marijuana train wreck, and 
we now have over 200 cities that have banned these pot shops," he 
told HuffPost Denver. "And I think local governments in Colorado, 
responsible local governments, are looking at this and saying this is 
not something we want in our communities. And at the end of the day, 
we've got to repeal these kinds of drug legalization efforts to 
really save Colorado and their youth."

But opining on how Colorado will fall into the abyss was not enough. 
Chabot, who is on record equating marijuana with child pornography, 
thinks Coloradans are so stupid they were hoodwinked by bamboozling 
billionaires.

"Look, when the population hears both sides equally they'll make the 
right choice. The problem is we're being out-funded and out-gunned by 
wealthy billionaires who are buying ad campaigns and using trickery 
in their words talking about all this nonsense. And look, what we 
have to come back to is one solid point. What kind of community, what 
kind of state, what kind of nation do we want to raise our kids in today?"

Chabot -- inebriated from delusions of grandeur -- sees Colorado as a 
state inhabited by dunces who spend the day responding to unsolicited 
emails from Nigerian widows seeking to share their fortune. Of 
course, the 12-year history of marijuana legalization in Colorado, 
from medical use to recreational use, proves Chabot's insulting 
allegation that Coloradans have succumbed to the "trickery" of 
"billionaires" is the real sham.

In 2000, Amendment 20 to the Colorado Constitution, legalizing the 
medical use of marijuana, passed by a margin of 53.8 percent to 46.2 
percent. In 2012, Amendment 64, legalizing the recreational use of 
marijuana by those 21 and older, passed by an even larger margin -- 
54.8 to 45.2 percent. Significantly, recreational marijuana was 
favored by a bipartisan majority as the amendment garnered more votes 
than President Barack Obama.

Most important, if Chabot lived in Colorado, he'd be aware of the 
extensive media coverage and civic debate concerning the explosion of 
medical marijuana shops throughout the past several years. There can 
be no doubt that Coloradans were well-informed and gave serious 
consideration to the potential impact of legalizing recreational 
marijuana before passing Amendment 64.

The next time Chabot has the urge to lecture a dupe about marijuana, 
he should bloviate before a mirror in California. Coloradans can take 
care of Colorado, and Colorado parents can educate their children 
about marijuana with honesty instead of hysteria.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom