TaftFan
04-09-2014, 06:57 PM
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/8/gop-congressman-empower-states-to-legalize-marijua/?page=1
Mr. Rohrabacher insists he has not touched marijuana since he was 23 and says he isn’t advocating its use.
But he said the federal government should not be in the business of deciding the issue and that the argument should be a central part of a broader Republican push to empower states, with an agenda that also includes scrapping the Department of Education.
“I think we ought to look for a presidential candidate who will make that part of his message,” the 13-term California Republican said. “Just transfer it all to the states. Now this government would have nothing to do with education, and how about, from now on, drug laws are considered criminal matters, which is what our Founding Fathers had in mind, and that is up to the states.”
He said it’s an issue his former boss, President Reagan, would have embraced.
“In about half of Ronald Reagan’s speeches, look real close and you see him saying, ‘Our goal is not to put people in jail’ — and I wonder who worked with him on the speech?” he said, alluding to his role as speechwriter in the Reagan administration.
“Reagan did not want to put people in jail,” he said. “He did not want to militarize our county in order to stop people from smoking weed.
“He oversaw the greatest reduction in the use of illegal drugs than any other time period, and it had nothing to do with enforcement. It had everything to do with ‘Just Say No,’” he said, alluding to the 1980s ad campaign that was part of the “war on drugs.” “It was cultural messaging. That is what made the difference.”
Mr. Rohrabacher made the comments as the Republican Party and the country as a whole shift stances on legalization.
Mr. Rohrabacher insists he has not touched marijuana since he was 23 and says he isn’t advocating its use.
But he said the federal government should not be in the business of deciding the issue and that the argument should be a central part of a broader Republican push to empower states, with an agenda that also includes scrapping the Department of Education.
“I think we ought to look for a presidential candidate who will make that part of his message,” the 13-term California Republican said. “Just transfer it all to the states. Now this government would have nothing to do with education, and how about, from now on, drug laws are considered criminal matters, which is what our Founding Fathers had in mind, and that is up to the states.”
He said it’s an issue his former boss, President Reagan, would have embraced.
“In about half of Ronald Reagan’s speeches, look real close and you see him saying, ‘Our goal is not to put people in jail’ — and I wonder who worked with him on the speech?” he said, alluding to his role as speechwriter in the Reagan administration.
“Reagan did not want to put people in jail,” he said. “He did not want to militarize our county in order to stop people from smoking weed.
“He oversaw the greatest reduction in the use of illegal drugs than any other time period, and it had nothing to do with enforcement. It had everything to do with ‘Just Say No,’” he said, alluding to the 1980s ad campaign that was part of the “war on drugs.” “It was cultural messaging. That is what made the difference.”
Mr. Rohrabacher made the comments as the Republican Party and the country as a whole shift stances on legalization.