Further Evidence That Drug War Politics Are Changing
As public attitudes surrounding the war on drugs continue to evolve, we’ll begin to see more of this type of thing:
So will the candidates start arguing over who’s going to do more to end the drug war?
There you have it folks! The first candidate for public office to ever get called out for not trying hard enough to reform drug policy. This is not a coincidence, this is a sign of the times. It won’t be over tomorrow -- we’d be foolish to think that -- but we are entering a phase where we’ll begin to see and hear the drug policy debate in new forums. Once reform enters the mainstream political curriculum, the tone changes, the pot jokes start sounding immature and the things that actually matter can finally be discussed.
(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
Containing parts of Kirkland, Redmond, Woodinville, and points east, the 45th Legislative District is hardly a hotbed of radicalism. But the two candidates for one of the district's two House seats share a position well out of the political mainstream: They both advocate wholesale changes to the War on Drugs.
In his time away from the capital, incumbent State Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) heads the King County Bar Association's Drug Policy Project, where he works on moving drug policy's focus from crime and punishment to public health. His challenger, Toby Nixon (R-Kirkland), who held the seat from 2002 to 2006 before leaving to run for the state Senate (he lost his bid for an open seat to Eric Oemig), has spoken out in defense of Washington's medical marijuana law and pushed a bill requiring performance audits of drug-enforcement policies. [Seattle Weekly]
So will the candidates start arguing over who’s going to do more to end the drug war?
Noting that "some have observed that it's unfortunate that we're running against each other," Nixon adds that he's not sure he and Goodman have any disagreements on drug policy reform. But he wishes Goodman had followed his lead and pushed more drug policy reform bills as a legislator.
There you have it folks! The first candidate for public office to ever get called out for not trying hard enough to reform drug policy. This is not a coincidence, this is a sign of the times. It won’t be over tomorrow -- we’d be foolish to think that -- but we are entering a phase where we’ll begin to see and hear the drug policy debate in new forums. Once reform enters the mainstream political curriculum, the tone changes, the pot jokes start sounding immature and the things that actually matter can finally be discussed.
(This blog post was published by StoptheDrugWar.org's lobbying arm, the Drug Reform Coordination Network, which also shares the cost of maintaining this web site. DRCNet Foundation takes no positions on candidates for public office, in compliance with section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and does not pay for reporting that could be interpreted or misinterpreted as doing so.)
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hoping for a change
everybody is hoping for a change.. a change for the better results. seems like we are affected on this situation so much and it is getting more legal. we hope the government has something to do with this.
Neither of the two morons
Neither of the two morons running for prez are going to be effective at either the destruction of the dollar nor will they do a thing for us pot smokers.
Carl Olsen will. he is a specialist in federal injunctive relief actions and is a very serious pot advocate.
Bob in Des Moines wishes you well, our friend!
Oh, and sen Grassley, you are an unscientific, lying ass moron and you are on the losing side of it all. enjoy watching the prez election drug warriors because the bell is tolling for you when it gets to be your turn for being so very rotten and out of touch with us. how many little kids have you helped enter the state's "care" from crying mommies who smoke pot? you have done evil calling yourselves moral leaders.
last year you hurt 873,000 of us and the drug czar says it didnt happen. your people will be made accountable. your dispicable crimes against us for our smoking pot will be revealed in the clear light of history!
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