Newsbrief: Barr Booed for Anti-Pot Remarks in Home District Event 5/17/02

Drug War Chronicle, recent top items

more...

recent blog posts "In the Trenches" activist feed

SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!!

Congressman Bob Barr (R-GA), a former prosecutor, occasional libertarian, and hard-line opponent of any drug law reform, got less than a warm welcome from attendees at a debate in conservative west Cobb County in his home district Monday night. Barr, who among other accomplishments, can personally claim credit for blocking Washington, DC voters' wishes to implement a medical marijuana regime in the District, was greeted with repeated catcalls and boos during his debate with radio talk show host and avowed Libertarian Neil Boortz.

"Just say no to drugs," said the congressman. "Just say no to Neil Boortz. There is no legitimate use whatsoever for marijuana," claimed Barr, ignoring a growing mountain of evidence that suggests just the opposite. "This is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft," he fulminated. "It has no place in medicine, no place in pain relief, and it has no place around our children."

Barr also repeated the discredited "gateway drug" mantra, arguing that legalization of even medical marijuana would open the door to the "anarchy" of increased drug use and the "scourge of mind-altering drugs." And he rejected treating marijuana like alcohol or tobacco, saying that would be "comparing apples to oranges." He explained: "The difference is that people can take alcohol in modest amounts without it hindering their abilities."

It seems that even in conservative Cobb County, people are growing tired of the mélange of half-truths, distortions, and outright lies Barr and his ilk have to resort to in order to defend their failed drug war. Boortz, whose show is syndicated nationally, got a much more positive reaction from the crowd, which ranged from high school students to people in their 70s, according to the Marietta Daily Journal.

"I own my own mind, the government does not. I control how I use it," said Boortz. "If I want to use it to do nothing but put Armor All on the wheels of my house trailer all day, that's my decision."

-- END --
Link to Drug War Facts
Please make a generous donation to support Drug War Chronicle in 2007!          

PERMISSION to reprint or redistribute any or all of the contents of Drug War Chronicle (formerly The Week Online with DRCNet is hereby granted. We ask that any use of these materials include proper credit and, where appropriate, a link to one or more of our web sites. If your publication customarily pays for publication, DRCNet requests checks payable to the organization. If your publication does not pay for materials, you are free to use the materials gratis. In all cases, we request notification for our records, including physical copies where material has appeared in print. Contact: StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network, P.O. Box 18402, Washington, DC 20036, (202) 293-8340 (voice), (202) 293-8344 (fax), e-mail [email protected]. Thank you.

Articles of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of the DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Issue #237, 5/17/02 Medical Marijuana Wars Heat Up: Activists Announce Day of Direct Action Against DEA, Plan Emergency Response to Expected Raids | Anti-Drug Ads a Flop, Says Drug Czar, Please Give Us Money for More | MarijuanaInfo.org: New Medical Marijuana Web Site Provides Forum for Warring Views, In-Depth Exploration of Issue | Budget Crunch I: As Oklahoma Goes Broke, Drug War Fuels Ever-Increasing Prison Budgets | Budget Crunch II: Massachusetts Vote Imperils All of State's Methadone Clinics, Supporters Mobilizing | Prison Reform Advocates Blast 7 UP Commercial for Trivializing Prison Rape, Call for Boycott of Cadbury Schweppes Product | Newsbrief: Nevada Petition Drive to Legalize Marijuana Possession Underway | Newsbrief: Madison Suspends Raves at County Venue | Newsbrief: Barr Booed for Anti-Pot Remarks in Home District Event | Newsbrief: Canadian Mounties Follow US Lead, Discover Drug-Terror Connection | Newsbrief: Canada Prisons Propose Ignoring Inmate Cannabis Use | Newsbrief: Afghan Warlords Allied to US Growing Rich Off Opium Trade, Says Expert | Newsbrief: Dionne Warwick Busted for Marijuana at Airport Amidst Heightened Airline Security | Newsbrief: Pipe Bong Found in Rural Illinois Mailbox | Clarification from Dana Beal | Articles and Resources | The Reformer's Calendar

This issue -- main page
This issue -- single-file printer version
Drug War Chronicle -- main page
Chronicle archives
Out from the Shadows HEA Drug Provision Drug War Chronicle Perry Fund DRCNet en Español Speakeasy Blogs About Us Home
Why Legalization? NJ Racial Profiling Archive Subscribe Donate DRCNet em Português Latest News Drug Library Search
special friends links: SSDP - Flex Your Rights - IAL - Drug War Facts

StoptheDrugWar.org: the Drug Reform Coordination Network (DRCNet)
1623 Connecticut Ave., NW, 3rd Floor, Washington DC 20009 Phone (202) 293-8340 Fax (202) 293-8344 [email protected]