Posted on 09/10/2001 10:12:54 PM PDT by kattracks
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Reuters) - New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, the highest-ranking Republican to advocate legalizing marijuana, argued his case on Monday in a debate with Drug Enforcement Administration chief Asa Hutchinson, who said legalization would introduce another harmful element to society.
While Johnson called the U.S. war on drugs an ``absolute, miserable failure'', Hutchinson, a fellow Republican and former Arkansas congressman, said the national effort against drug trafficking needs to be re-energized.
``The law is a master teacher that guides conduct in this country,'' Hutchinson said, arguing that drug use should be discouraged through ``persistent education, treatment programs and law enforcement.''
``(Marijuana legalization is) harmful and wrong and should not be the direction we go in this country,'' Hutchinson said. Legalization only introduces ``one more harmful element into society,'' he added.
Johnson rocked his state's political establishment two years ago by becoming the only Republican governor and highest-ranking GOP elected official to call for legalizing instead of penalizing marijuana and other drugs.
In the debate at the University of New Mexico, Johnson repeated his arguments that the war on drugs had made no significant dent in drug use while costing billions of dollars and overcrowding prisons with people convicted of non-violent drug possession crimes.
He urged that marijuana be legalized and that other drugs such as heroin and cocaine be dealt with more as a public health matter than a criminal issue.
``There's not a bigger issue we have our heads in the sand about than drugs,'' Johnson said. ``I know from personal experience that marijuana is far more benign than alcohol,'' he added, drawing one of several rounds of loud applause.
Johnson, a triathlon athlete who acknowledges he used drugs in college but says he has sworn off them and alcohol for years, has said he believed many politicians agree with him in private but refuse to come out in public.
The debate -- ``Directing America's Drug War: Which Way to a Safer Society?'' -- was organized by National Public Radio and taped for broadcast on the NPR program ``Justice Talking'' later this year
This is quite possibly the single most stupid statement I have ever seen attributed to a politician from any party in my entire life.
L
Oh I don't know, this one comes very close.
"I'm an ass." - Asa Hutchinson, drug warrior
I thought good libertarians wanted drugs legalized but NOT treat addicts as "ill" victims?
Just for the record, I put the statement you quoted as the second stupidest thing ever uttered by a politician.
Apparently, Mr. Hutchinson has never actually read the Constiution of the United States of America. If he had, he would find that there is no mention of drugs, or rehabilitation of drug users is mentioned as a Federal responsibility in there anywhere.
It's sad really. It's hard to figure who is stupider really. Is it Mr. Hutchinson for uttering such drek? Or is it the voters who sent him to office, thus allowing him to be hired for this wholly Unconstitutional office? Or is it the President who continues to waste taxpayer money paying a Federal salary for a position contemplated nowhere in the Constitution?
Yep, there's a whole lot of stupid going on around here.....
L
Do try to keep up, will you?
L
Yes, it is.
That is the foundation dogma of every established tyranny on the planet.
What do you suppose Hutchinson means by re-energize?
More un-Constitutional confiscations of property?
More disregard for the Constitution in general?
More misguided nation-building drug-prohibition based foreign policy?
More prison space for non-violent offenders?
More police corruption?
More no-knock raids but fewer wrong addresses?
More drug testing?
More road blocks?
More propaganda?
More government?
Then I am sure that you are outraged that the good Gov. is supporting treating addiction as a public health issue?
I would guess that it means "kicking ass and taking names". Now, what do you suppose the Governor meant by treating Hard dug addiction as a "public health issue“?
L
And a little frightening, actually...
You mean ASA of Mena fame?
Yes.
My copy of the Constitution doesn't contain the words 'public health' either.
L
L
I've known casual drug users who had honest jobs, paid taxes, were decent people and never harmed a soul. Mr. Hutchinson, by contrast, feeds at the public trough and dreams of new ways each day to destroy liberty in this country.
I would agree with that statement.
I am probably not a "good" Libertarian, but I consider drug laws as idiotic and an invasion of rights. I merely have to point to prohibition and state, "history repeats itself"..
But I am hardcore about it. It's not an "illness", it's simply non-survival behaviour.
And, as a Libertarian, I think it's just fine if You want to kill Yourself.
Just less competition.
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