Ron Paul Finds Supporters Among Medical Marijuana Advocates

[+mayorherb]

http://themorningsun.com/articles/2012/01/08/news/doc4f08b8319a4d7709393482.txt By MARK RANZENBERGER

@ranzenberger

theMorningSun.com

 

 

Click to enlarge

 

 

Richard Los, the treasurer and a founder of the Clare Compassion Club holds a bumper sticker up during a regular meeting of the club in the Pere Marquette District Library in Clare Saturday. Sun photograph by LISA YANICK-JONAITIS

 

While traditional Republicans were meeting at Clare’s Doherty Hotel, a volunteer for presidential hopeful Ron Paul was finding a largely receptive audience a block away before a very non-traditional audience.

 

“Conservative government, smaller government, less intrusive government,” Paul volunteer Race Williams told members of the Clare County Compassion Club. “That’s what we need.”

 

The compassion club is a group of medical marijuana patients, caregivers and supporters. They meet twice a month at the Pere Marquette District Library in Clare to discuss the issue and offer insight and support.

 

“He is not saying he’ll legalize drugs,” Race told the approximately 50 people gathered for the meeting. But the Republican Texas representative and one-time Libertarian Party candidate for president is highly skeptical of the long-time “war on drugs.”

 

“The drug war, prohibition, it’s clear that doesn’t work,” Williams told the patients and caregivers.

 

Michigan voters approved the limited cultivation and use of medical marijuana under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act, passed in 2008. But Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette – who was the keynote speaker for the weekend’s 4th District Republican Roundup at the Doherty – has made strict enforcement of the act one of his priorities.

 

Many of the medical marijuana supporters said the enforcement is too strict, and oversteps boundaries they say should govern law enforcement.

 

“Bill Schuette’s driving me nuts,” said patient Todd Billman of Roscommon. The law is “being used to persecute us,” Billman said.

 

Schuette, in an attorney general’s opinion released last year, noted that possession of any amount of marijuana is illegal under federal law, and that the Michigan Public Health Code still makes possession or cultivation illegal. The Michigan Medical Marihuana Act doesn’t legalize the drug, but is designed to prevent prosecution of registered patients and caregivers, who may grow a limited amount of the drug for their patients.

 

In 2002, Paul introduced a bill that would make it clear that the federal prohibition on possession, sale or cultivation of marijuana would not interfere with states’ rights to permit the medicinal use of cannabis. The bill went nowhere. Continued...

 

 

[+Annnie]

NICE Picture of Richard!!

[maxmax]

As a long time member of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program, I can tell you first hand that most of the medical marijuana community in Oregon is not happy with Barack Obama. In fact I would go as far as saying that most of the OMMP hate Obama for flip flopping on medical marijuana enforcement policy, and that to truly capture how they feel would require to many curse words for an opening paragraph. From all the e-mails I get, comments we receive on TWB, and what I read on the blogosphere, it sounds like the disdain for President Obama extends to most of the medical marijuana communities nationwide, and rightfully so.

 

I have heard countless members of the medical marijuana community state emphatically that they will not vote for President Obama again, no matter what. Being the political scientist nerd that I am, I always ask them who they plan on voting for instead? I’m not asking that question to ruffle feathers, as I do not like Barack Obama either. However, I dislike all but one of the other options even worse. On the Republican side of the ticket, Ron Paul is the only guy that I would ever vote for. I personally feel that Mitt Romney would be the most anti-marijuana President we have ever had, which is why I gave Mitt Romney an F- for his ‘marijuana report card.’ Click the link and see the videos if you need any justification.

 

The other current ‘top GOP frontrunner of the week’ is Rick Santorum. According to a post on Talking Points Memo, Rick Santorum admits he doesn’t know much about marijuana policy, yet he still opposes it…I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Rick Santorum is a tool, and that the definition of his name on the internet is fitting. If you don’t know what I mean, just Google his name and look at the number two return…That only leaves Newt Gingrich, since Rick Perry and John Huntsman’s campaigns are on life support. If you think Newt is anything short of a neo-con, I invite you to explain in the comments below. If given the chance, Newt would personally stab a medical marijuana patient in the back if it got him one vote.

 

It’s Ron Paul or bust in the 2012 Election. I don’t personally see him getting the GOP nomination, but then again, it’s still early and the lack of solidarity just might help him pull of a miracle. However, if Ron Paul doesn’t get the GOP nod, chances are he will be the representative for Americans Elect, which will put him on every state ballot in America. I’m in the works on an Americans Elect article right now, so I will save my thoughts about that topic until later.

 

There was a great article on the Huffington Post site that I will copy and paste below. It has great quotes from medical marijuana community members and their thoughts about the 2012 Election:

 

http://www.theweedblog.com/will-the-medical-marijuana-community-vote-republican/