XPost: alt.support.marijuana, alt.law.enforcement, alt.economics   
   XPost: seattle.politics, or.politics   
   From: a425couple@hotmail.com   
      
   On 12/24/2017 11:59 AM, a425couple wrote:   
   > Liberty, Jobs, & Freedom: How Cannabis Became a Conservative Issue   
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   > BRUCE BARCOTT   
   >   
   > At a recent marijuana reform conference in Washington, DC, Rep. Tom   
   > Garrett, a freshman Republican congressman from Virginia, told a room   
   > full of cannabis activists that their beloved plant meant nothing to him.   
   > 'I don't care about marijuana. What I do care about is liberty, justice,   
   > and economic opportunity.   
   > Rep. Tom Garrett, (R-Virginia)   
   > “I really don’t care about marijuana,” he declared.   
   >   
   > No surprise there. Garrett, a former state prosecutor and winner of the   
   > American Conservative Union’s “Defender of Liberty” award, would never   
   > be mistaken for an avid dabber.   
   >   
   > But then Garrett, 45, reversed course.   
   >   
   > “What I do care about,” he said, “is individual liberty. What I do care   
   > about is justice. What I do care about is economic opportunity.”   
   >   
   > And that, he said, is why six months ago he introduced HR 1227, the   
   > Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017. Garrett’s bill would   
   > do just what its title says: remove cannabis from the federal list of   
   > controlled substances entirely and allow states to regulate it as they   
   > please.   
   >   
   > A generation ago, Garrett’s position would have been almost unimaginable   
   > for a conservative politician. At best he would have been treated as a   
   > harmless, eccentric outlier, a Ron Paul for millennials. At worst he   
   > might have been scorned by his own party.   
   >   
   > Freedom Caucus member Rep. Thomas Garrett, (R-VA), right, with Rep. Mark   
   > Meadows, (R-SC) speaks to reporters during a news conference in   
   > Washington, DC, on Wednesday, July 19, 2017, calling on the House to   
   > repeal the Affordable Care Act. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)   
   > But today Garrett is a rising star in conservative circles. And his   
   > public embrace of legalization is hardly eccentric. Garrett, along with   
   > Republican colleagues like Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Thomas Massie   
   > (R-KY), Justin Amash (R-MI), and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), have positioned   
   > cannabis legalization as an issue aligned with their core conservative   
   > values—and their outspokenness is allowing many fellow conservatives to   
   > rethink their long-held opposition to the issue.   
   >   
   > Consider these signs of change:   
   >   
   > Republican support doubled. Earlier this week, a Gallup poll found that   
   > 51% of Republicans now support cannabis legalization—the first time that   
   > support has crossed into a majority. Among Republicans, that’s a   
   > whopping 9-point jump from 2016 and a doubling of support since 2010.   
   > Orrin Hatch changed his mind. Hatch, the ancient senator who serves   
   > Utah, one of America’s most conservative states, came out as a medical   
   > marijuana advocate in dramatic fashion, giving a passionate defense of   
   > cannabis research and medicine on the Senate floor last month.   
   > Some conservatives are framing this as their issue. In September,   
   > right-wing Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), a longtime MMJ defender, wrote   
   > a Washington Post op-ed titled “My Fellow Conservatives Should Protect   
   > Medical Marijuana From the Government.”   
   > In red states, conservatives are pushing medical marijuana bills. Around   
   > the nation, conservative legislators are introducing medical cannabis   
   > legalization measures. In Georgia, Republican state Rep. Allen Peake led   
   > the passage of the state’s first CBD oil law last year. Indiana’s first   
   > medical marijuana bill was introduced earlier this year by Republican   
   > state Rep. Jim Lucas, whose voting record scores 92% from the American   
   > Conservative Union and 100% from the National Rifle Association.   
   > Those events came nearly a year after the surprising results of the   
   > November 2016 election. A data dive by Leafly shortly after that   
   > historic vote found that conservative Trump voters in historically red   
   > states and counties—places like North Dakota, Arkansas, and Florida—cast   
   > their ballots overwhelmingly in favor of medical marijuana legalization.   
   >   
   > As they have been for years, voters were ahead of politicians when it   
   > came to cannabis. Even conservative voters.   
   >   
   >   
   > RELATED STORY   
   > Data Dive: Legalization No Longer a Partisan Issue, Election Data Show   
   >   
   > More Cannabis Politics   
   >   
   > California Legalization Brings Host of Environmental Rules   
   >   
   > The Top 10 Cannabis Stories of 2017: Canada & Jeff Sessions Lead the List   
   >   
   > The Roll-Up #14: San Diego Is Winning the California Game   
   >   
   > Jeff Sessions Leaves the Cole Memo Intact, For Now   
   > Dana Rohrabacher's right-wing bona fides allowed him to pull a   
   > Nixon-to-China move on legalization.   
   > Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), left, speaks next to California Lt. Gov.   
   > Gavin Newsom at a news conference in support of the Adult Use of   
   > Marijuana Act ballot measure in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 4, 2016.   
   > (Jeff Chiu/AP)   
   > Seven years ago, legalization was largely a blue issue. A 2010 Newsweek   
   > poll found that 55% of Democrats supported state adult-use legalization,   
   > while 72% of Republicans opposed it. In late 2017, a Gallup poll found   
   > that Democratic support topped 72%, while Republican support had moved   
   > from the mid-20s to 51%.   
   >   
   > Seven years ago, 72% of Republicans opposed marijuana legalization.   
   > Today, 51% support it.   
   > That happened in part because legalization is moving into the mainstream   
   > of conservative thought. More to the point, it’s moving into the   
   > mainstream of young conservative thought. Rising Republican leaders like   
   > Tom Garrett aren’t advocating in favor of legalization despite their   
   > conservative values. They’re embracing the issue because of them.   
   >   
   > One of the main tenets of modern conservatism, Garrett says, is the idea   
   > that “people who aren’t hurting other people should be left alone.” And   
   > cannabis is not hurting people. “I refuse to concede that the   
   > recreational user is hurting anybody,” he says.   
   >   
   >   
   > Republican support is up 9% in less than a year. Source: Gallup Poll.   
   > There have always been rare conservative gadflies speaking up for   
   > legalization. Economist Milton Friedman was for it. William F. Buckley   
   > infamously sparked up on his sailboat beyond the territorial limit of   
   > federal law. But their positions often came off as theoretical and   
   > symbolic, not anything they’d fight for on the ground.   
   >   
   > Legalization’s blue tinge wasn’t merely a perception issue. It was   
      
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