| Graphic: Proud Smoke |
Most major candidates for California attorney general are lining up against the state’s marijuana legalization initiative, reports Seth Hemmelgarn at Bay Area Reporter.
Even supposedly liberal, but quite spineless, Democratic candidates disagree with those who say it’s time law enforcement got out of the marijuana business.
“As a career prosecutor, I believe that drug selling harms communities; it is not a ‘victimless crime,’ as some contend,” said San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who is running in the Democratic Primary for California attorney general.
“While I support the legal use of medical marijuana, and personally know people who have benefited from its use, I do not support the legalization of marijuana beyond that,” Harris said.
Another Democratic candidate for attorney general, Chris Kelly, former chief privacy officer for Facebook, also opposes the measure.
“I think we have to make sure we have a regulatory regime in place around medical marijuana and compassionate use of marijuana before we consider any further steps toward decriminalization or legalization,” Kelly said.
| Photo: smartvoter.org |
| CA Attorney General candidate Mike Schmier, a Democrat, supports legalizing marijuana |
At least one Democratic candidate favors legalization.
“I see no reason that it should be illegal,” said candidate Mike Schmier, based in Emeryville. “The old reasons that I have read why it is illegal make little sense to me and do not persuade me.”
John Eastman, a Republican candidate, said he opposes the legalization measure, in part because it would be “completely ineffectual.”
“This is a feel-good initiative,” Eastman said. “We can’t make something legal here that is illegal under federal law,” he said, seemingly unaware of anything that’s been happening in California regarding marijuana in the past 14 years, since medical marijuana was legalized.
But that’s not the only reason Eastman opposes pot, it turns out. Eastman said even if pot weren’t against federal law, he’d still oppose it because it is “addictive” and legalizing it would be “a pretty dangerous thing.”
From where I stand, it would be a “pretty dangerous thing” to elect an ignorant moron like John Eastman as attorney general.
Minor party candidates Peter Allen (Green), Bob Evans (Peace and Freedom) and Tim Hannan (Libertarian) all said they support the measure. Allen, however, said the wording of the initiative seems “complicated,” and “the more complicated legislation is, the more likely it is to have problems in implementation.”