Pat Robertson: Decriminalize Marijuana (Yes, THAT Pat Robertson) Politics Daily / Dec 23, 2010 David Gibson So, California voters defeat a ballot effort to legalize medical marijuana and now Pat Robertson, founder of the Christian Coalition and leader of the religious right, is advocating the repeal of criminal penalties for possessing small quantities of pot?
Something seems wrong with this picture, but we've got _the video_ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQi7A5MW2kQ&feature=player_embedded) to prove it: On his Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) show the other day, Robertson was talking about his long experience in prison ministry and the problem of locking up small-time offenders who then cost taxpayers to feed and house them. Which led to this monologue: We're locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing you know they've got 10 years -- they've got mandatory sentences and these judges, they throw up their hand and say "What can we do? It's mandatory sentences." We've got to take a look at what we're considering crimes, and that's one of 'em. I mean, I'm not exactly for the use of drugs, don't get me wrong. But I just believe criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of just a few ounces of pot, and that kind of thing, I mean it's costing us a fortune, and it's ruining young people. The young people go into prisons, they go in as youths, and they come out as hardened criminals, and it's not a good thing. Drug reformers are shocked but of course celebrating, and are wondering if this augurs a shift in conservative thinking on the war on drugs. "I suspect that Robertson has begun to realize that the War on Drugs is bad for family values," Ilya Somin _writes_ (http://volokh.com/2010/12/23/where-pat-robertson-and-i-agree/) at The Volokh Conspiracy, a legal blog. "It will take a lot of good works to make up for all the ridiculous and offensive things that Robertson has said over the years. But helping to end the War on Drugs would be a good start. "As the recent defeat of California's Proposition 19 shows, the opposition of social conservatives is one of the biggest political obstacles to curtailing drug prohibition. Hopefully, more conservatives will come to the same realization as Robertson and, before him, the far more intellectually respectable William F. Buckley." Pete Guither at _DrugWarRant.com_ (http://www.drugwarrant.com/2010/12/pat-robertson-voice-of-sanity-in-the-drug-war/) dares to hope "that a powerful coalition of Democratic voters, principled conservatives, libertarians . . . and Teapot Partiers" could change the political dynamic. "Not bad." But maybe not realistic. Robertson just doesn't have that much pull with influential social conservatives anymore, and tends to be viewed as a kindly old uncle who can go on a little too long once he gets the microphone. Then again, who knows? Maybe he'll now come out for the other great libertarian cause, gay marriage. He'd have the younger generation of evangelicals supporting him on that one. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
