Ron Paul's Least Controversial Idea: Legalizing Drugs

I've been so busy marveling at the disturbingly idiotic drug policy positions of various republican presidential candidates that I've largely failed to comment on the candidate who is actually fighting for drug policy reform. Iowa doesn't even have medical marijuana yet, but a guy who wants to end the drug war entirely went in there and shook things up so hard that many were relieved when he only pulled 21.4% of the vote.

A lot of people have a lot of problems with Ron Paul, but when the poo starts flying in his direction, it's never because he wants to legalize marijuana, or even meth. That's not the debate his critics want to have with him. If anyone really believes that Ron Paul's ideas about drug policy are a non-starter with voters, they sure are reluctant to point it out.

Face it, Ron Paul's belief in changing our drug laws is easily the least controversial position for which he is known. It's the one thing no one ever challenges him on, a fact which, by itself, ought to completely bury forever the notion that politicians who support things like the legalization of marijuana are engaging in a act of overt political suicide.

No one will ever make an attack ad saying that Ron Paul wants to legalize drugs, because saying that about Ron Paul would just make him more popular. You can't burn someone by reinforcing what their supporters love most. It's a principle Obama seems to have forgotten and would do well to remember before November.

(This article 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.)