cannabisnews.com: GOP Stands Firm Against Drug Legalization!





GOP Stands Firm Against Drug Legalization!
Posted by FoM on June 23, 1999 at 06:08:10 PT
Source: Miami Herald On Line
WASHINGTON A free-wheeling debate on drug legalization broke out in Congress this week, but only after Republican leaders made it clear that a hard-line approach to drug issues -- including the medical use of marijuana -- still prevails on Capitol Hill.
Several members of a House Government Oversight subcommittee, chaired by Republican John Mica of Winter Park, Fla., pressed federal drug-control director Barry McCaffrey at a Wednesday hearing to redirect much of a $185 million TV and radio anti-drug ad blitz to counter campaigns in several states to allow the medical use of marijuana. ``Why can't we target these states?'' asked Rep. Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark. McCaffrey resisted. He pointed out that the ad campaign, which is in several languages, is an important part of wide-ranging anti-drug efforts that have energized many communities. ``We're going after youth attitudes. We're not going to shift money around chasing George Soros' $15 million,'' said McCaffrey, referring to the international financier who has helped fund marijuana initiatives in several states.Republican attacks on Clinton administration drug policy dominated much of the hearing, and it wasn't until later that other views were heard. Representatives of the libertarian Cato Institute and the American Civil Liberties Union critiqued the nation's drug policy as a failed experiment that wasted billions of dollars and eroded states' rights and civil liberties. ``For years, drug-war bureaucrats have been tailoring their budget requests to the latest news reports,'' said David Boaz, executive vice president of the Cato Institute. ``When drug use goes up, taxpayers are told the government needs more money so it can redouble its efforts against a rising scourge. When drug use goes down, taxpayers are told it would be a big mistake to curtail spending just when progress is being made.''Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's director of drug control, James McDonough, stoutly defended the drug war, insisting that any decriminalization would be a mistake. He cited surveys showing that drug use among Florida's children is 20 percent higher than the national rate. ``The legalizers are wrong, and their advocacy for the legalization of drugs threatens the well-being of the nation,'' McDonough said. Wednesday's daylong hearing was billed by Mica as a ``civil discussion of a complex issue,'' and several subcommittee members pushed for more money for treatment and rehabilitation. Some conservatives, including former judges and William F. Buckley, have questioned the underlying assumptions of the drug war.But several subcommittee members questioned the legitimacy of the debate itself.``We don't debate the pros and cons of rape or child abuse,'' said Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind. ``We don't bring rapists in here to explain their views.''
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