All Political Parties Need To Be Aware That The Marijuana Community Is A Force
Ellen Rosenblum’s victory yesterday in the Oregon Democratic Primary will go down in history as a major turning point in marijuana reform. Ellen Rosenblum ran on a pro-marijuana platform and won convincingly. Dwight Holton and the ignorant media outlets that endorsed him are already trying to spin his loss into a ‘drug reformers bought this election’ story. To show how warrant-less such a claim is, look at how much money each candidate raised. Drug reformers didn’t buy the election – they evened the playing field. Once all things were about equal, Dwight Holton got DOMINATED.
In one of Dwight Holton’s fundraising e-mails, he made the claim that Ellen was essentially committing political suicide by aligning with the marijuana community…What was the final tally in the election you ask? Ellen beat Holton by a LANDSLIDE (64-36). I would give anything to talk to Dwight Holton today, and see how he feels about his campaign strategy. When a candidate with Holton’s resume gets punked on Election Day to the tune of almost 30% points, I think it’s obvious who committed political suicide yesterday. DON’T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU IN THE ASS DWIGHT! I can almost guarantee Dwight’s political career is over, because after all, who wants to support a candidate that had every major media endorsement, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, yet couldn’t even crack 40% on Election Day!?
Let this be a lesson to all political strategists in America, as well as marijuana opponents that the candidates they are thinking about fielding. Times have changed drastically. The days when a pro-marijuana candidate doesn’t get any respect are over. If you are a smart politician (oxymoron?), you will realize that you will get more votes supporting marijuana reform than you will fighting it. By all measures Ellen won this race due in large part to her support of the marijuana community. I guarantee this will become a trend going forward. In case anyone out there didn’t see it, below is an interview from March 23rd that Ellen Rosenblum did for The Weed Blog. From what I can tell, it was the first interview of her campaign, which if it’s true, would be a pretty cool thing:
Q: If marijuana is confiscated from a medical marijuana patient, and it is determined that the patient committed no crimes, would you instruct law enforcement to return the medical marijuana that was seized?
Yes. The law on the books in Oregon currently requires the return of seized marijuana under certain limited circumstances. As Attorney General, if those circumstances exist, I would advise law enforcement agencies to return marijuana to card-holding patients.
Q: Last year many medical marijuana gardens were raided, and many threatening letters were sent to medical marijuana businesses. Should we expect similar actions if you are elected, or will you take a different approach?
I will take a different approach. I strongly support the right of patients to obtain the medicine they need to help them cope with their medical conditions. The voters of Oregon enacted the Oregon Medical Marijuana Act (OMMA), and I support their decision. Additionally, I do not see the enforcement of laws against marijuana an effective use of our limited public resources. The priorities of the next Attorney General should be protecting children, families, and the elderly from abuse and fighting for consumers by taking on criminals, scammers, and corporations that break the law — not marijuana enforcement.
Q: Oregon will likely join Colorado and Washington with a marijuana legalization initiative on the ballot in the 2012 election. What are your thoughts on this type of initiative?
Marijuana should be the lowest priority of law enforcement. My position would of course depend on the language of the initiative, but I support directing our scarce public safety resources towards other purposes.
Q: If Oregon voters approved marijuana legalization at the ballot box, would you respect the will of the voters, or would you uphold the will of the federal government?
As Attorney General, I will defend the laws of Oregon adopted by the voters or the Legislature.
