Although I haven't studied this issue deeply, I suspect the MAIN reason Ron Paul is popular with a few younger people is his stance on drug legalization. Bluenote puts the right words on this: Faux Freedom. It is a laudable position to take, to say that free people have the god-given right to eat and drink and smoke what they want to. But that isn't a workable solution to crackheads who break heads to get what they need. Drug legalization, I suspect, is Paul's manner of keeping the young people who adore him tuned in. I doubt that many of them are aware of the rest of his program. As Bluenote mentions, there is a wide range of objectionable ideas swimming around in that septuagenarian mind of his, most of them stolen from other "thinkers" like Ayn Rand, who's philosophy is often summed up as Survival of the Fittest. Most weed people I know are progressive people, not Objectivist animals, and most have probably never heard of Ayn Rand.

There is no possible way that drugs are going to be legalized in the U.S. and that includes cannabis. The sooner people come to grips with this fact of life, the sooner we can move towards real reform of the laws. Even so mild a "drug" as cannabis could never be comprehensively legalized across this American nation, any more than alcohol, or heroin, or meth could. Maybe these young Paul People expect that weed will become as legal as drinking water. I'd like to get a little of what they've been smoking. None of these drugs, including cannabis, is associated with high-level human behaviors. A brief tour of the marijuana forums reveals people who can barely write, and they seem proud of it. They spell words that look like gang graffitti, and make about as much sense. This isn't putting the best foot forward. The other half of America that opposes legal weed will not tolerate zombied young Paul People wandering their streets with blunts hanging out of their mouths. I'm just saying.

To work for real reform of the marijuana laws, I believe it is important to distinguish between weed and the other drugs. The only reason Weed got put on Sched 1 is because of the rightwing hatred for hippies back in the day. That is what needs to change, and nothing much more. Move weed off Sched 1 so that states can comfortably regulate it themselves. Leave the the very harmful drugs where they are, and keep enforcement going against them. It is very possible, even probable, that Obama will make this move next year, or once the political environment will support it. So, ManOBuds, I hope you won't waste your vote on a dead-end like Ron Paul. The only viable path towards cannabis reform is Obama.
allwx Reviewed by allwx on . NM Politics & The NMMCP I've just returned from a visit to the round house as the New Mexico legislature prepares for their thirty-day special session. Working with the DPA, the New Mexico Medical Cannabis Coalition and various other entities surrounding the cannabis industry, we were able to meet with a great many legislators to discuss our successful medical cannabis program here in New Mexico. We wanted to update legislators on the progress of the program and to get a feel for how the level of support may have Rating: 5