>From: "Peter McWilliams" >Subject: Ventura praises Johnson >Date: Sat, 15 Jan 2000 00:20:58 -0800 >X-Mozilla-Status: 8001 >X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000 > >Pubdate: Wed, 29 Dec 1999 >Source: Duluth News-Tribune (MN) >Copyright: 1999 Duluth News-Tribune >Contact: newstrib@duluth.infi.net >Address: 424 W. First St., Duluth, MN 55802 >Website: http://www.duluthnews.com/ >Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?duluth >Author: Jim Ragsdale, Saint Paul Pioneer Press > >VENTURA APPLAUDS CALL TO LEGALIZE MARIJUANA > >ST. PAUL -- Gov. Jesse Ventura, who has long questioned whether laws >against marijuana make sense, had words of praise Tuesday for a fellow >governor who has called for the legalization of all drugs. > >In an interview on Minnesota Public Radio, Ventura talked about the >failures of laws against prostitution and marijuana use, and then added a >boost for New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson. Johnson provoked outrage from >fellow politicians and police officers this summer when he said the >legalization and regulation of heroin, cocaine, marijuana and other illegal >drugs would be a better alternative than the failures of the current war on >drugs. > >``I'm very pleased that Gov. Johnson of New Mexico has come out very >strongly in support of stopping the war on drugs and going after it a >different way,'' Ventura said in the interview. > >Elaborating on his views on drugs and prostitution, Ventura said, >``Prohibition doesn't mean something's going to go away.'' He added that he >thinks it is not good policy to arrest prostitutes. ``In light of our >situation, where we have an overflow of prisoners right now, and our beds >are full in all our prisons, I don't see where it does any good to arrest >people for prostitution and put them in jail for that,'' Ventura said. > >Asked about marijuana, he said, ``I view that as no different than alcohol, >or tobacco, for that matter.'' He said alcohol and tobacco ``buy their >legality'' by producing tax revenues. > >``You've got two very deadly drugs that buy their legality, simply by >paying taxes,'' Ventura said. ``They pay the government tobacco pays the >government, and alcohol pays the government, and therefore they are legal >where all the other ones are not allowed that flexibility, to pay for >legality.'' > >While Ventura has mused off and on about whether marijuana and prostitution >should be legalized, his statement in support of the New Mexico governor >takes his libertarian approach a step further. > >Johnson, a Republican in his second and last term, crystallized his views >in a speech to the Cato Institute in Washington in October. He said the war >on drugs, costing $50 billion for police, courts and jails, has been ``an >absolute failure,'' and added, ``Should you go to jail simply for doing >drugs? I say no.'' > >Johnson said ``by legalizing drugs, we can control them, regulate them and >tax them. If we legalize drugs, we might have a healthier society.'' He >added, ``We need to make drugs a controlled substance just like alcohol. >Perhaps we ought to let the government regulate it; let the government grow >it; let the government manufacture it, distribute it, market it; and if >that doesn't lead to decreased drug use, I don't know what would!'' > >John Wodele, a spokesman for Ventura, said he does not think Ventura and >Johnson have spoken about the issue, although the two have met at national >gatherings of governors. He said he is unsure if Ventura would go as far as >Johnson has gone but said Ventura appreciates that Johnson is raising the >issues. > >``The governor has always been very receptive to ideas that take issues to >the edge,'' Wodele said. He said Ventura thinks ``a huge amount of our tax >dollars are misdirected'' in the fight against illegal drugs but added that >he expects no legislative proposals in this area from the governor this >year. > >Public Safety Commissioner Charlie Weaver, a Ventura appointee and former >legislator and prosecutor, declined to comment on Ventura's remarks. He did >say that despite Ventura's libertarian leanings, the governor has been >sensitive to law enforcement concerns about the use of marijuana for >medicinal purposes and the growing of industrial hemp as a cash crop. > >Sen. Allan Spear, DFL-Minneapolis, chairman of the Senate Crime Prevention >Committee and a veteran of drug-policy debates, said after years of >increasing sentences for drug crimes, no one in the Minnesota Legislature >is talking about legalization. But he said he thinks marijuana should not >be ``lumped together with the harder drugs,'' and added that there has been >some discussion about reducing sentences for lesser drug offenders. > > > >================================================================ > >This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to > the mailing list . >To unsubscribe, E-mail to: