Pubdate: Thu, 30 Jan 2014
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Page: A1
Copyright: 2014 The Washington Times, LLC.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Seth McLaughlin

REPUBLICANS START TO OPEN UP TO LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA

Republicans eyeing the White House in 2016 are pushing their party to
change its stance and accept a softening of federal marijuana laws - a
dramatic shift from the GOP's most recent contenders who railed
against the drug and questioned its medicinal value.

Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has arguably been the most vocal on the
subject, saying the federal government should leave the issue entirely
to the states. Texas Gov. Rick Perry also argues that marijuana's
legal status should be a state issue, and he points to drug courts in
his state that he said have helped move Texas toward
decriminalization.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, has vowed to scrap the
"failed war on drugs" altogether - more than four decades after
President Nixon, a Republican, set it into motion by naming drug abuse
as "public enemy No. 1 in the United States."

"Certainly, the Republican Party has been a lot slower moving on this
issue than on the Democratic side, but particularly in the past
several months some prominent figures have sort of recalibrated
themselves when it comes to the issue of marijuana," said Erik
Altieri, a spokesman for the National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Laws.

"This is something that probably would have been unimaginable in 2008:
that GOP frontrunners for president would be talking in terms of being
smart on crime rather than hard on crime." In 2012, Republican
presidential nominee Mitt Romney promised to fight "tooth and nail"
against marijuana legalization, even for medical use, and the 2008
nominee, Sen. John McCain, said scientific evidence shows that pot is
a "gateway drug."

Mr. McCain, though, signaled an attitude change in September by saying
that "maybe we should legalize" marijuana.

The shift has happened in both parties. In a New Yorker interview
published this month, President Obama - who has acknowledged using pot
in his youth - said marijuana may be less dangerous as a drug than
alcohol.

But some are imploring both parties to hold firm.

"Let's protect our kids and communities. Do we want a massive dumbing
down of our young people in our country?" said Calvina Fay, executive
director of Drug Free America Foundation and Save Our Society From
Drugs. "There are many solutions to this problem that do not include
giving up and legalizing and normalizing drug use."

Public opinion is headed the other direction, however. Voters in two
states - Colorado and Washington - have approved referendums allowing
people older than 21 to possess a limited amount of marijuana for
personal use, and more than 12 states have decriminalized possession
of small amounts. Since 1996, when California became the first state
to enact legislation allowing medical marijuana, 20 other states have
followed suit.

Sixteen states have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of
marijuana, and some are positioned to follow Colorado and Washington
by allowing recreational by adults.

In states that permit medical marijuana, it is commonly prescribed for
chronic pain, nausea from cancer chemotherapy, glaucoma and some other
conditions.

An NBC/Wall Street Journal Poll released this week found that 55
percent of those surveyed would support efforts in their states
similar to those in Colorado and Washington.

Under federal law, marijuana is classified as a Schedule I substance,
making it illegal for anyone to manufacture or distribute the drug.

But the Obama administration has said it will give states leeway as
long as they don't see evidence that criminal gangs are trafficking
the drug or that children are increasingly gaining access.

That makes pot an issue in states that will be important in the 2016
elections, including New Hampshire, which hosts the
first-in-the-nation presidential primaries and where dozens of
Republicans in the state legislature helped pass a bill legalizing
marijuana for recreational use.

Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, the Republican sponsor of the bill, said he
is "absolutely ashamed" that Republicans opposed same-sex marriage
when it passed in New Hampshire and hopes they will not be on the
wrong side of history again on the marijuana issue.

"Republicans have been a little slow to come around, but in a few
years, I think, Republicans will overwhelming be supporting this kind
of stuff," he said.

Mr. Paul has said that smoking marijuana is not a good idea and could
shave a few points off a person's IQ.

Still, he said, states should be able to legalize marijuana if they
want and it does not make sense to send nonviolent pot smokers to prison.

Mr. Perry told an audience at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, last week that he opposed legalization but said his job
as governor is to pursue policies - such as drug courts - "that can
start us on the road towards decriminalization."

Mr. Christie used his inaugural address this month to say the "war on
drugs" was based on the misguided notion "that incarceration is the
cure of every ill caused by drug abuse."  
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D