Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was one of a wave of pie-eyed freshman Republicans swept into office in the 2010 midterm election, the consequences of which, we will all be paying for, for quite some time. Upon squeaking his way into office, Governor Walker immediately cut a billion dollars from the state’s education budget, another half a billion from the Medicaid budget, and effectively stripped all of the state’s labor unions of all traditional collective bargaining rights.
| Wikimedia Commons |
| Governor Scott Walker (R-WI) |
By refusing to participate in the Affordable Care Act, enacting a malevolent voter ID law to discourage voting, and by paying for tens of millions of dollars’ worth of corporate tax breaks by firing unprecedented numbers of teachers, police and firefighters, Governor Walker has earned his spot as a Republican front runner, and serves as an example, rather than a shame, for his colleagues.
So it should come as no surprise that when President Obama recently spoke out about the dangers of alcohol versus the dangers of weed, Walker had to pipe up.
“If I’m at a wedding reception here and somebody has a drink or two, most people wouldn’t say they’re wasted,” Walker recently told a reporter from The Cap Times. “Most folks with marijuana wouldn’t be sitting around a wedding reception smoking marijuana.”
What the hell does that even mean, Governor?
How many drinks did you have before that interview?
Logic be damned, he continued, “Now there are people who abuse [alcohol], no doubt about it, but I think it’s a big jump between someone having a beer and smoking marijuana.”
This Reefer Madness mentality of Walker’s relies on the same talking points put in place by fellow Republican, Richard Nixon, when he launched the laughable “War on Drugs” during his tumultuous term as president over 40 years ago.
Walker made his comments fresh off of a meeting with the Badger State Sheriffs Association in the state capitol of Madison, where they allegedly begged him not to succumb to the impending wave of cannabis reform that the rest of the country is experiencing. Their reason is the same as always, the easily debunked myth of the “gateway drug”.
Walker doubled down on his ‘pot is more dangerous than booze’ stance in a CNN interview with host S.E. Cupp, effectively repeating his new punchline that “there’s a huge difference out there” between the two substances, and that by his estimation, the people of Wisconsin are not “ready” for the legalization of weed.
Helpful hint: anytime a politician uses the phrase “the people of _______”, a string of bullshit usually follows. You see, “the people” of Wisconsin do support marijuana legalization to the tune of 49% in favor versus 44% opposed. “The people” of Wisconsin, ironically, give Walker the same exact favorability margin as pot – 49% think he’s beneficial, and 44% want him uprooted.
Walker has historically been against any and all forms of marijuana legalization in the state, and his henchmen in the Republican-controlled state legislature made Wisconsin one of the only states in the U.S. to enact tougher pot laws in 2014.
A current petition on Change.org encourages citizens to co-sponsor LRB 3671 to legalize the recreational use of marijuana in Wisconsin, and has gathered over 12,800 signatures.
Yet, still, the “experts” waver.
Richard Brown specializes in substance abuse as a professor at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and while he admits that he does not support legalizing weed, he is smart enough to scoff at the old wive’s tale that marijuana use inevitably leads to harder drugs.
He sides with President Obama by saying that alcohol use is definitely more dangerous than pot use, but reveals his close-mindedness when asked why, if it is so potentially harmful, is alcohol not banned?
“We know that prohibition did not work and cannot work because of the way our culture has developed (around alcohol),” is his answer.
The good doctor, the bad Governor, and any other ignorant pot prohibitionists might want to take a look around. The very same studies that weed-hating “experts” are waving around to show that marijuana legalization leads to higher instances of use among our nations’ teens, also show that our nations’ teens are putting down the bottle to pick up the bong.
The culture is developing, with or without straight-edge careerists and politicians.