Pubdate: Fri, 17 Jan 2014
Source: Day, The (New London,CT)
Copyright: 2014 Boston Globe
Contact:  http://www.theday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/293
Author: Joan Vennochi, Boston Globe

CYNICAL POLITICAL MOTIVE DRIVES POT LEGALIZATION

Hope and change are yesterday's buzz words. Today, Democrats are 
turning straight to drugs to generate buzz.

"Legalization of marijuana is going to become an issue," said veteran 
Democratic strategist Tad Devine. "I believe it's an issue that will 
absolutely activate a voter base, of young people in particular."

Maybe it will energize the party's liberal base-if those voters 
aren't too stoned to get to the polls. But whether it's aimed at the 
2014 midterm elections, or at 2016, there's something 
desperate-looking about the Democrats' latest smoke signals.

Watching Republican Gov. Chris Christie try to extricate himself from 
the still-unfolding tale of vengeance and the George Washington 
Bridge apparently isn't reassuring enough for a party determined to 
keep the White House after President Obama exits. Neither is the 
Democrats' commitment to immigration reform and gay marriage versus 
the Republicans' counter-commitment to sequester and government shutdown.

In an obvious pitch to the jobless and underemployed, Democrats are 
now pushing to extend unemployment benefits and raise the minimum 
wage. Even if you agree with those policies, you must acknowledge 
that a weak economy is driving the need for them. While the country 
has recovered from the worst of the recession, the gap between rich 
and poor is greater than ever and the jobless and the underemployed 
are getting more frustrated with the status quo.

Many of those hardest hit by the slow recovery are young people. So 
what better way to motivate them than a march on Washington for the 
latest civil right-the right to get high?

If Democrats need pot to get out the vote-especially the youth vote- 
they really do have something to worry about. Already, national polls 
highlight the problem. Young people are turned off by politics in 
general and by the president in particular. A poll of more than 2,000 
18- to 29-year-olds, taken by Harvard's Institute of Politics, 
revealed that half of those surveyed would recall Obama if they 
could. The president has a 41 percent job approval rating with these 
young voters, who are worried about the cost of college and the 
personal debt attached to it. Some 57 percent said they disapproved 
of Obamacare; 40 percent said they believe health care will worsen 
under the federal health reform law; and 51 percent said they believe 
health care costs will increase under Obamacare.

Those voter concerns play out against the backdrop of a still-weak 
economy. The national unemployment rate is 6.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts has been targeted by advocates who favor the 
legalization of marijuana.

"In 2016, Massachusetts will find itself in the crosshairs for 
cannabis reform," promised Allen St. Pierre, executive director of 
NORML, a national group that is vying to get a question on the 2016 
ballot calling for the drug's legalization.

If you can't find them jobs, give them pot.

I rarely agree with Michael Graham, a conservative columnist at the 
Boston Herald, but as he points out, it would be ironic for Bay State 
liberals to ban Styrofoam cups, bottled water, and smoking in parks, 
yet embrace a libertarian view when it comes to marijuana.

Of course, it hasn't happened yet. And so far, none of the candidates 
running for governor are getting behind the push to legalize pot. But 
the candidates are getting their pot-smoking confessions out of the 
way. Republican Charlie Baker and Democrats Donald Berwick, Steve 
Grossman, and Juliette Kayyem said they used marijuana. Democrats 
Martha Coakley and Joseph Avellone said they haven't.

Back in the day, the Age of Aquarius was naturally aligned with 
Democrats. But the motivating issues were peace, love, civil rights, 
and gender equality. In this day and age, young people are going to 
align themselves with the political party offering the clearest path 
to work and upward mobility.

People want jobs, not jobless benefits. An increase in the minimum 
wage is preferable to one that stays the same, but who wants to 
settle for earning the minimum wage?

There's not enough Purple Haze to obscure the grimness of that reality.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom