Pubdate: Thu, 13 Aug 2015
Source: North Coast Journal (Arcata, CA)
Column: The Week in Weed
Copyright: 2015 North Coast Journal
Contact:  http://www.northcoastjournal.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2833
Author: Grant Scott-Goforth

TO TOKE, OR NOT TO TOKE

Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders made quite a splash 
on his southward West Coast tour last week, packing speaking venues 
in Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles and whipping up a fervor over 
his anti-corporate barbs and leftie proposals.

Bernie bashed Wall Street and income inequality and found cheers of 
support for his proposals for free public college tuition and raising 
the minimum wage. But he's also found common ground with his fellow 
senator Rand Paul, a small government social conservative contender 
for the 2016 Commander in Chief seat.

Both have evinced concerns over America's War on Drugs, though 
Sanders has done so with more eloquence and for seemingly grander 
reasons. (Paul's motivation seems to be to end the tyranny of the 
nanny state - a let-the-drug-addicts-kill-themselves-if-they-want 
creed - while Sanders has decried the social and economic harm of the 
decades-long policy.) Sanders was quoted in the Washington Post at 
his Seattle rally: "Too many lives have been destroyed by the war on 
drugs. Too many lives have been destroyed by incarceration."

But the Post also called him out for wishy-washiness on legalization 
in an article titled "On marijuana, Bernie Sanders is kind of a 
disappointing socialist ex-hippie."

What does that mean for Humboldt? Well, Sanders and Paul appear to be 
the only candidates who've said they would consider federal 
legalization of weed, for one thing. Both appeal to a young, 
educated, affluent - or at least middle class - white crowd (although 
Sanders has addressed the racial inequalities of the War on Drugs and 
doesn't share Paul's familial *ahem* legacy of looney racist rants). 
Both are longshots, as well. Despite Bernie's recent growth in 
recognition and popularity, he remains well behind Hillary Clinton in 
the polls and some suggest his surge is over - though he remains the 
only real challenger to Clinton in the Democratic Primary.

Paul's campaign hasn't gone much of anywhere; Politico reports that 
he's anxiously trying to rewrite party rules in his native Kentucky 
so he can simultaneously run for president and re-election to his senate seat.

So, at this early point, marijuana's national campaign in 2016 is 
still slim at best.

The New York Times recently re-doubled its previous editorial stance 
in favor of legalizing marijuana, calling out Congress and President 
Obama for being too timid on marijuana reform. In the call to action, 
the Times argues that the patchwork of statewide legal systems is 
going to create a tangled national mess of marijuana laws. "Direct 
democracy can sometimes produce good results. But it would be far 
better for Congress and the president to repeal failed laws and enact 
sensible drug policies."

A bud by any other name would smell as sweet.

In news that's sure to send a nation of drama kids spiraling into 
stonerdom, South African researchers discovered the residue of 
marijuana in pipes found in William Shakespeare's backyard.

Of course, if confronted by the law, the Bard would just say he was 
holding the stash for Christopher Marlowe.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom