Republican Governor Gary Johnson of New Mexico has recently spoken out about his belief that the war on drugs has been a failure, and he has proposed the legalization of marijuana. His willingness to challenge the establishment, especially the leadership of his own political party, has stimulated a growing national debate on marijuana policy that was long overdue, and broken the myth of consensus -- that all responsible elected officials support marijuana prohibition.
Interestingly, when Governor Johnson was first a candidate for governor, he publicly acknowledged that he had smoked marijuana, and that he had also experimented with cocaine. The voters of New Mexico apparently felt his prior drug use was unimportant, as they elected him to two successive terms as their governor. Governor Johnson is currently a tri-athlete who runs several miles each day, and avoids all drug use.
| For more information, contact Robert Pfountz at (479) 387-2318 or [email protected] |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 21, 2010
CONTACT: Mason Tvert, SAFER executive director, 720-255-4340
Alcohol Industry Contributions Net Anti-Marijuana Spokesman on the Hill
Congressman speaking out against marijuana and Obama's approach to it has received at least $20,000 from the beer and liquor industry this cycle
DENVER -- A national marijuana advocacy organization is calling on U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) to explain why he is speaking out against marijuana and accusing the current administration of encouraging its use when he is in fact receiving money from the alcohol industry, which produces, distributes and promotes a far more harmful substance. Late last week, revelations that the alcohol industry is funding the campaign to defeat a marijuana legalization initiative in California resulted in a number of headlines nationwide and sparked outrage amongst supporters of marijuana policy reform. See <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/21/this-buds-not-for-you-bee_n_732901.html?ref=fb&src=sp for the whole story.
According to a blog post published this afternoon on The Hill's website:
"The administration is clearly sending the message that they don't think it's bad to use marijuana," Smith said on Fox News. "So they're encouraging the use of marijuana. And that simply is not a good thing to do."
See: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/120035-top-republican-obama-administration-encouraging-use-of-marijuana for the whole story.
"Marijuana is becoming more acceptable and the alcohol industry is defending its turf," said Mason Tvert, executive director of Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation (SAFER), a non-profit organization that highlights the relative safety of marijuana compared to alcohol. "The booze industry and its good friends in Washington recognize that marijuana legalization is imminent and it is fighting to maintain alcohol's status as the only legal intoxicant. This, despite the fact that it is far more harmful than marijuana to the user and society."
SAFER and marijuana reform supporters nationwide are now calling on the congressman to explain his opposition to marijuana in light of his acceptance of campaign contributions from the alcohol industry. According to OpenSecrets.org, his current campaign has received at least $20,000 from the beer, wine, and liquor industry, including a $10,000 donation from the National Beer Wholesalers Association, a $5,000 contribution from the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, and $5,000 from Constellation Brands Premium Wine and Spirits Company.
"For Rep. Smith to accept money from the alcohol industry and then work to stifle that industry's competition is unethical and hypocritical," Tvert said. "It's time he explained his reason for preferring adults use alcohol -- a substance whose use alone kills more than 30,000 Americans per year -- instead of marijuana, which has never resulted in a single death in history.
"Unlike marijuana, alcohol use contributes to domestic violence, sexual assaults, and other serious problems," Tvert said. "If Rep.
Smith is so concerned about public safety, why is he helping Big Alcohol drive Americans to drink? He should be thrilled that more Americans are making the rational, safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol when they relax and recreate."
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SAFER (Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation) is a national non-profit organization based in Denver and dedicated to educating the the public about the fact that marijuana is safer than alcohol for the user and society. Its social welfare lobbying arm, the SAFER Voter Education Fund, advocates for laws and policies that reflect that fact and no longer steer people toward drinking and away from making the safer choice. For more information visit http://www.saferchoice.org/
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Marijuana prohibition has once again been proven to be a failure by our own government with the release of two reports this week. While the FBI's Uniform Crime Report showed marijuana arrests rising to 858,408 in 2009, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health indicated an eight percent rise in marijuana use among Americans. Given this kind of clear evidence that marijuana prohibition is not stopping marijuana use, why does our government want to continue to enforce policies aimed at arresting marijuana users? 
In what some may argue is a telling sign of their fear, the California Beer and Beverage Distributors made a $10,000 contribution to a committee opposing California's Prop. 19, a ballot initiative to tax and regulate marijuana in California. The alcohol lobby joins a large part of the state's law enforcement in opposing the bill, which could bring in more than $1 billion in revenue for the state. It would seem that having a safe alternative to alcohol and preventing the arrests of thousands of Californians each year just doesn't seem to be a priority for these groups. 
Kenneth Wells, a 57-year-old St. Charles man with no criminal record who was facing 5-15 years in prison for felony marijuana cultivation charges, has had the charges against him dropped. Mr. Wells suffers from chronic seizures and had been using marijuana to treat his symptoms with his doctor's recommendation. Although it was ruled that his doctor could not testify on his behalf, the charges were dropped when the prosecution determined it would be difficult to keep the details of his condition from the jury. 
In what can only be described as a step back for patients in Rhode Island, the health department there announced that it had rejected all 15 applications to open the state's first medical marijuana compassion centers. Among reasons cited for the rejections were that some applications had exceeded the allowable page limit. Setting and following guidelines can certainly be important in a process such as this, but should Rhode Island really be disqualifying applicants for being thorough? 
Marijuana Policy Project executive director Rob Kampia recently wrote a piece featured in the Huffington Post looking at how we frame the issue of medical marijuana policy reform in America. Rob points out that we have been successful not by promoting marijuana's safety or efficacy as medicine to many people, but rather because we've focused on what this issue is really about: compassion for people. 
In January 2003, 19-year-old Webster Alexander of Alabama received a 26-year prison sentence for selling $350 of marijuana within three miles of a school.