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Blowing Smoke 
Posted by FoM on August 26, 2000 at 14:52:39 PT
Politicians’ Attitudes, Drug Laws at Odds
Source: ABC News 20/20
When asked in 1992 about his drug use, then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton said, “I have never broken the laws of my country.” That might have technically been true, but when another reporter asked him about laws in other countries, Clinton issued his famous lines about not inhaling.   “The answer to that question is I have never broken a state law. And that when I was in England, I experimented with marijuana a time or two, and I didn’t like it and didn’t inhale.”
  20/20 Correspondent John Stossel finds Clinton’s attitude, and the attitudes of other public political figures who sometimes even chuckle about their own drug use, hypocritical. Why do these leaders strike a serious tone about drugs to the public when so many have experimented with drugs like marijuana themselves? Stossel asks why more Americans than ever — about 1.5 million a year — are being arrested on drug charges when so many politicians seem so flippant about their own past drug use. Possession Can Lead to Prison:Public figures like Vice President Al Gore, Sen. Bill Bradley, former White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry and former Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt have all admitted to smoking marijuana at some point in their lives. “Didn’t seem like a big deal at the time,” Babbitt said. The biggest category of drug arrests in America, however, is possession of marijuana. Eight out of 10 drug arrests, according to a 1997 FBI report, are for possession of drugs, not for dealing.   And for some of those arrested, contrary to Bruce Babbitt’s comments, it is quite a big deal.   Joanne Tucker, who owned a hydroponic garden store in Norcross, Ga., with her husband and brother-in-law, was given 10 years of prison for a first-time marijuana offense. Will Foster of Texas was originally sentenced to 93 years of prison after he was caught growing marijuana, although his sentence was reduced to 20 years. “I’ve never beat up anybody,” Foster says. “I’ve never raped nobody. I haven’t molested a child.”   Yet he sits in jail while politicians quibble about inhaling?   John Stossel says, “Give Me a Break!” to this hypocrisy.  20/20’s John Stossel says, “Give Me a Break!” to the way politicians talk tough on drugs while so many have admitted marijuana use themselves. (ABCNEWS.com)Contact: John Stossel   ABCNEWS.comWelcome to a frank and fair discussion of ideas about society, economics and freedom. If you’re interested in debunking conventional wisdom and scrutinizing the sacred cows of contemporary life, let’s talk.http://boards.go.com/cgi/abcnews/request.dll?LIST&room=stosselPosted: August 25, 2000Copyright ©2000 ABC News Internet Ventures.Free Will Foster http://www.gnv.fdt.net/~jrdawson/willfoster.htm  CannabisNews Articles - John Stosselhttp://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Stossel
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Comment #1 posted by Lehder on August 27, 2000 at 10:24:49 PT
leadership
You and I know that Clinton knows better too. By taking thirty minutes on television to tell the truth about drugs and the war on drugs, Clinton could rescue his presidency from history's condemnation, not to mention ridicule, and open a real debate of issues by the public and the main media that would be unstoppable and make this election interesting and useful. But it ain't gonna happen. It would be regarded as unprincipled and traitorous to the party, causing, it would be claimed, Bush's certain victory. And his message would be dismissed at first as the drug-hazed ravings of a sex maniac. So what else is new? But there would be a real debate. Think about it, Clinton: "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose."
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