16th Oct 2002
Marijuana Politics
Incredibily, marijuana would appear to be emerging as an issue in the NY governor’s race.
On Monday, I listened to the debate among the candidates for NY governor on WNYC. Or at least I had it on in the background while I did other stuff. The whole thing was kind of a circus. There were seven candidates debating: Republican incumbant Governor George Pataki, Democrat hopeful Carl McCall, Independence Party challenger Tom Golisano and then the really fringe candidates from the Right to Life Party, the Libertarian Party, the Green Party and the Marijuana Reform Party. While the two major party candidates sounded like what you expect in a debate — avoiding the questions and sniping at each other — the fringe candidates were hilarious.
The Marijuana Reform Party candidate was the best, in that he was able to bring every issue thrown at him back to pot. Health care? Pot cures all. Crime? Decriminalize pot and free up judicial resources. The economy? Tax pot, stop wasting money enforcing pot laws, build huge industries on hemp production, etc. The Mid-East crisis? Switch to hemp oil and be done with the dependence on petrolium (I’m not making this up). The family farm? Let them grow pot! Etc.
What was more surprising was that he was not alone among the candidates advocating a pro-pot platform. The Libertarian also had several policy stances that similarly came back to pot. In one memorable exchange, the Marijuana Reform candidate was saying how taxing pot would be the answer to the state’s economic woes, and he suggested “This is one tax that every pot smoker would be happy to pay,” to which the Libertarian responded, “Well, I’m one pot smoker who doesn’t want to pay more taxes.”
It was confusing who was speaking some of the time, as the order of speakers changed with each question and I was only half paying attention, but it seemed that even more of the candidates might have also held pro-pot positions (possibly the Green?). I haven’t seen the transcipt or I’d get my facts straight. In any event, for each question the panel of journalists asked about any topic, there was guaranteed chorus of marijuana-related perspectives in the replies. The result made it seem as if pot were the most burning issue of the campaign, if you will.
Now I see that the Independence Party candidate, Golisano, who actually sounded halfway intelligent during the debate, today has continued to make pot an issue, pledging in a new TV ad to legalize medical marijuana if elected.
As if that weren’t enough, the federal government has its knickers in a twist over Canada’s new proposal to decriminalize the herb.
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