cannabisnews.com: Ventura Lauds Call to Legalize Marijuana





Ventura Lauds Call to Legalize Marijuana
Posted by FoM on December 29, 1999 at 08:57:27 PT
Jim Ragsdale Staff Writer 
Source: Pioneer Planet
Gov. Jesse Ventura, who has long questioned whether laws against marijuana make sense, had words of praise Tuesday for a fellow governor who has called for the legalization of all drugs.In an interview on Minnesota Public Radio, Ventura talked about the failures of laws against prostitution and marijuana use, and then added a boost for New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. 
Johnson provoked outrage from fellow politicians and police officers this summer when he said the legalization and regulation of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal drugs would be a better alternative than the failures of the current war on drugs.``I'm very pleased that Gov. Johnson of New Mexico has come out very strongly in support of stopping the war on drugs and going after it a different way,'' Ventura said in the interview.Elaborating on his views on drugs and prostitution, Ventura said, ``Prohibition doesn't mean something's going to go away.'' He added that he thinks it is not good policy to arrest prostitutes. ``In light of our situation, where we have an overflow of prisoners right now, and our beds are full in all our prisons, I don't see where it does any good to arrest people for prostitution and put them in jail for that,'' Ventura said. Asked about marijuana, he said, ``I view that as no different than alcohol, or tobacco, for that matter.'' He said alcohol and tobacco ``buy their legality'' by producing tax revenues.``You've got two very deadly drugs that buy their legality, simply by paying taxes,'' Ventura said. ``They pay the government -- tobacco pays the government, and alcohol pays the government, and therefore they are legal -- where all the other ones are not allowed that flexibility, to pay for legality.''While Ventura has mused off and on about whether marijuana and prostitution should be legalized, his statement in support of the New Mexico governor takes his libertarian approach a step further.Johnson, a Republican in his second and last term, crystallized his views in a speech to the Cato Institute in Washington in October. He said the war on drugs, costing $50 billion for police, courts and jails, has been ``an absolute failure,'' and added, ``Should you go to jail simply for doing drugs? I say no.'' Johnson said ``by legalizing drugs, we can control them, regulate them and tax them. If we legalize drugs, we might have a healthier society.'' He added, ``We need to make drugs a controlled substance just like alcohol. Perhaps we ought to let the government regulate it; let the government grow it; let the government manufacture it, distribute it, market it; and if that doesn't lead to decreased drug use, I don't know what would!''John Wodele, a spokesman for Ventura, said he does not think Ventura and Johnson have spoken about the issue, although the two have met at national gatherings of governors. He said he is unsure if Ventura would go as far as Johnson has gone but said Ventura appreciates that Johnson is raising the issues.``The governor has always been very receptive to ideas that take issues to the edge,'' Wodele said. He said Ventura thinks ``a huge amount of our tax dollars are misdirected'' in the fight against illegal drugs but added that he expects no legislative proposals in this area from the governor this year.Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver, a Ventura appointee and former legislator and prosecutor, declined to comment on Ventura's remarks. He did say that despite Ventura's libertarian leanings, the governor has been sensitive to law enforcement concerns about the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes and the growing of industrial hemp as a cash crop.Sen. Allan Spear, DFL-Minneapolis, chairman of the Senate Crime Prevention Committee and a veteran of drug-policy debates, said after years of increasing sentences for drug crimes, no one in the Minnesota Legislature is talking about legalization. But he said he thinks marijuana should not be ``lumped together with the harder drugs,'' and added that there has been some discussion about reducing sentences for lesser drug offenders.Published: December 28, 1999© 1999 PioneerPlanet / St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on December 29, 1999
 at 11:09:03 PT
Ventura Lauds Call to Legalize Marijuana 
Ventura Lauds Call to Legalize Marijuana Ventura Lauds Call to Legalize MarijuanaDecember 29, 1999 Here is the comment section on Lucianne.com about above article. I hope some will post a few good responses on this very conservative board! It is great to see this on this board!http://www.lucianne.com/http://www.lucianne.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/028380.html
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