Newsbrief: Ed Thompson Does Weedstock, Says Legalize It 5/31/02

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Ed Thompson, brother of former Wisconsin governor and current Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and Libertarian Party candidate for the state governorship this year, stopped by central Wisconsin's annual Weedstock celebration Monday afternoon in Beaver Dam long enough to reiterate his call for the legalization of marijuana, according to the local newspaper the Daily Citizen.

While Tommy Thompson is one of the nation's most powerful Republicans, brother Ed's career has included stints as bar owner, prison guard, boxer and grocery store owner. Ed Thompson, campaigning on a typical Libertarian platform -- one that calls for an end to imprisoning nonviolent drug offenders but doesn't explicitly include marijuana legalization as one of its 10 "Top Wisconsin Issues" -- got explicit at Weedstock, the annual marijuana reform bash sponsored by longtime Madison activist Ben Masel.

Thompson told a crowd of 200 that marijuana should be legalized and regulated like alcohol and tobacco. "I'm a strong proponent of legalizing medical marijuana," said Thompson, adding that he also favored broader legalization. Legalization, he said, would lead to underage children having less access to it. "Gangsters don't have a problem selling drugs to our children," he said.

Thompson, who is running at about 10% in recent polls, has been the subject of articles in the Economist, the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, as well as numerous Wisconsin outlets.

(The Weedstock web site is http://www.weedstock.com and the Thompson campaign web site is http://www.EdThompson.com online.)

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