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January 23, 2008
What Explains Our Drug Policy Inertia? (Logical, Historical, Political
If there’s one current circumstance that should convince an overwhelming majority of Americans that their drug policy is a serious national problem, it’s the fact that the only presidential hopeful to even raise it as an issue has been Dennis Kucinich, a man respected by many for his candor and intelligence on several collateral issues, but (realistically) given no chance of being around at the end. In some ways, Kucinich personifies the liberal wing of the ineffective drug policy reform “movement,” while Texas physician Ron Paul is the darling of its more conservative wing, primarily through his tepid endorsement of “medical marijuana.”
In fact, I’ve long suspected that Paul’s surprising fund raising ability reflects anonymous donations from closeted pot smokers whose fear of exposure has long prevented them from realizing their own numerical strength.
That acceptance of their lot by closeted pot smokers is also consistent with my original formulation; an overwhelming majority of Americans are overcome by inertia when it comes to our (their) drug policy. They have been as paradoxically tolerant of its global failures as they have been willing (thus far) to accept the calamitous foreign policy, environmental, and economic record of George Bush without calling for his impeachment. Just a few years earlier, they had, also paradoxically, allowed Bill Clinton to undergo the second-ever Presidential Impeachment in our history for lying about a sexual indiscretion during a period of unusual economic prosperity.
Go figure...
Doctor Tom
Posted by tjeffo at January 23, 2008 07:17 PM