cannabisnews.com: Varied Views On Pot Use





Varied Views On Pot Use
Posted by FoM on March 30, 2001 at 07:11:29 PT
By Dan Janison, Staff Writer
Source: NewsDay
Yes, says Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who as a Queens assemblyman called a quarter-century ago for legalizing marijuana: He once smoked pot, but didn't like it. Among the mayoral candidates, Hevesi isn't lonely. Herman Badillo, the City University chairman, gives a similar answer. And another candidate, Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, says he smoked it too -- while "young and foolish.” 
Public Advocate Mark Green won't say, but 30 years ago he did call the "joint-to-junkie myth” a "scare tactic.” Only City Council Speaker Peter Vallone said he'd never used the stuff, and added through a spokesman that as a youth counselor decades ago, he saw the damage that drugs in general could do. These pols, most now with gray hair, came up in a different era -- only to find that in 2001, the joint no longer jumps at admissions of toke-taking. The older-but-wiser confessions blend into the current scene. President George W. Bush confessed to former errant behavior and even former House Speaker Newt Gingrich once copped the same plea. Strategists watching and playing in the nascent mayoral campaign say privately that only the potential hypocrisy and public misbehavior seem to make pot any kind of issue at this point. After all, it was the credibility-wrenching "didn't inhale” claim of former President Bill Clinton that gave that story "legs,” as political pros call it. And former Rep. Susan Molinari's publicized admission a few years ago wouldn't have so resounded if she hadn't attacked Democratic staff for admitting to former drug experimentation. But municipal policy on marijuana, decades after possession of a small concealed amount was reduced to a criminal violation -- the equivalent of a speeding ticket -- remains relevant. Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pushed it into play with a policy of making arrests for minor offenses such as pot possession. The ex-prosecutor has attacked "romanticizing” marijuana or viewing it as harmless as he held forth on drug abuse. Running for senator against Hillary Clinton, the mayor seized on her campaign's use at one event of Billy Joel's song "Captain Jack” -- even sneeringly enunciating the words at a press conference: "Captain Jack will get you high tonight... Just a little push and you'll be smiling.” While the candidates to replace him posture against drug abuse, none definitively declares support for the way the Police Department's sweeps are conducted. Most say police officers should determine the disruptiveness of the suspect and make arrests if appropriate. The fatal shooting of unarmed security guard Patrick Dorismond came amid a botched police marijuana sting. Even Badillo, a Giuliani ally, said he'd consult his police commissioner on such policies. "Like sex, there is no apparent danger to the normal use of marijuana,” Green wrote in an essay in the early 1970s. He did add that "psychological difficulties can occur” for the "chronic user.” The extent of chronic use creating a "stylistic dependence on the weed and its subculture... is wholly speculative,” he said then. Campaign spokesman Joe DePlasco said yesterday that Green never advocated its use. "Mark is an elected official and candidate, and parents and other leaders all have a responsibility to talk about the hazards of marijuana and all other drugs,” DePlasco said. "If someone smoking pot in public is abusive or there's any kind of misconduct, the person should be put through the system.” Whether Green ever used it has "no bearing” on the mayor's race, DePlasco said. Among political professionals, the New York Observer, a Manhattan weekly, got discussion and spin machines rolling this week by pointing to Hevesi's advocacy in 1975 of establishing a "marijuana control authority” that would license and regulate growers, producers and distributors. Yesterday, Hevesi spokeswoman Cathie Levine said Hevesi would not now support legalization of marijuana. The Forest Hills Democrat has said he could de-emphasize prosecution of small amounts, but says he discourages its use and favors crackdowns on sale and distribution. Staff writer Robert Polner contributed to this story. Note: Some candidates admit to lighting up.Source: Newsday (NY)Author: Dan Janison, Staff WriterPublished: March 30, 2001 Copyright: 2001, Newsday Inc.Address: 235 Pinelawn Rd., Melville NY 11747Contact: letters newsday.comWebsite: http://www.newsday.com/homepage.htmForum: http://www.newsday.com/forums/forums.htmCannabisNews - Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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