Congressman Ron Paul is the most conservative, grandfatherly man to ever be admired by America’s marijuana enthusiasts. On Friday night’s episode of HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, he reminded those who may have been suffering an impaired short-term memory at that late hour why, exactly, they should like him.
Speaking live from Clute, Texas, the libertarian-leaning Republican did what few other members of Congress will and openly called for the United States’ War on Drugs to be abolished.
“What about when FDR came to office in ’33,” asked Maher. “One of the first things he did was repeal prohibition. He said we can’t afford this anymore. Well, we have prohibition in this country. … When he was making radical changes he said look, we’re serious now. We’re going to make serious changes and people like liquor.”
“Well, in this country, people like pot,” said Maher to a wave of cheers and applause. “If we ended that prohibition, that would be a giant pooling of money.”
“I don’t like pot,” said the congressman. “But I hate the drug war, so I would repeal all of prohibition. But, I wouldn’t even bother taxing it. People have the right in a free country to make important decisions on their own lives. If they want to make mistakes, they can. They just can’t come crawling to the government to get bailed out or taken care of if they get sick.
“I believe in freedom of choice in all that we do, as long as the individual never hurts anybody else. So that means I would get rid of all the federal laws. I would dispose with the drug war. We’re spending tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on this, then we march into places like California, override state law, arrest sick people and put them in prison.”
“It makes no sense whatsoever,” he insisted.
“Amen, stoner,” joked Maher.
This video is from HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, broadcast Feb. 20, 2009.
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The walls are beginning to crumble. In recent weeks, Argentina, Colombia and Mexico have all taken steps to decriminalize drug possession and treat drug abuse as a health issue, not a legal problem. In August, Mexico decriminalized the “personal use” of drugs including marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine. Those caught with amounts under the designated limit will be encouraged to seek treatment, with treatment mandatory only for those caught three times. Five days later, Argentina’s Supreme Court decriminalized the possession of marijuana intended for personal consumption, and this month, the Colombian Supreme Court also ruled that possession of illegal drugs for personal use should not be treated as a criminal offense. Portugal decriminalized all drugs in 2001 with the only complaints coming from Law Enforcement labor unions who were losing jobs.
The US War on Drugs is nothing more than a Govt. employment program that costs 15,000 deaths and over $50 billion dollars annualy in the USA alone. The US has 5% of the worlds population and 25% of the worlds prisoners, of which over 50% are directly drug related.