"Pot and the GOP: Is the party of ‘Just Say No’ morphing into the party of ‘Just Say Grow’?"

The title of this post is the headline of this notable and effective new piece in Newsweek.  Here are excerpts:

You’d expect aging flower children to fight for the right to get high. But aging conservatives?  As the ideals of the Tea Party’s most vocal libertarians infiltrate the Republican ranks, and state and federal officials slash budgets even as they pump cash into an expensive war on drugs, some conservatives are making the case for legalizing marijuana.  It isn’t Nancy Pelosi who’s speaking out in favor of legalized pot — she’s been careful not to take a position on Prop 19 — but rather her Republican challenger in California, John Dennis.  And in Massachusetts, Barney Frank’s Tea Party–backed Republican opponent, Sean Bielat, has said he leans libertarian on the issue, and it hasn’t hurt his race against the longtime congressman, who strongly supports decriminalization of pot.  “As you see the liberty wing of the Republican Party grow, you’ll see more support for legalization,” says Dennis, who drew cheers during a campaign stop recently at the International Cannabis and Hemp Expo in San Francisco, where his staff altered his campaign sign to sport Rastafarian colors and a pot leaf.  Republican power broker Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, points out that legalization can make sense from a conservative perspective because it touches on issues of national security and fiscal prudence.  “First, there is the mess that is Mexico.  Narcoterrorism is made possible by our drug prohibition in the U.S.  Then there is the cost of incarceration,” he says.  Gary Johnson, the Republican former governor of New Mexico and a putative presidential candidate for 2012, says he believes that “Proposition 19 has the opportunity to be the domino that could bring about rational drug policy nationwide.”

Pundits like Fox News’s Glenn Beck and former judge Andrew Napolitano have also joined in the debate, on the pro-legalization side.  “You know what, I think it’s about time we legalize marijuana. Hear me out for a second…” Beck told viewers in April.  “We have to make a choice in this country.  We have to either put people who are smoking marijuana behind bars, or we legalize it.  But this little game we’re playing in the middle is not helping us, is not helping Mexico, and is causing massive violence on our southern border.”  Even Sarah Palin, who’s opposed to legalization, has called pot a relatively “minimal problem,” telling Fox Business Network this summer, “I think we need to prioritize our law-enforcement efforts.  And if somebody’s gonna smoke a joint in their house and not do anybody else harm, then perhaps there are other things our cops should be looking at to engage in and try to clean up some of the other problems that we have in society.”  (Palin has copped to trying pot during the time it was decriminalized in Alaska, but said she didn’t like it.)

Legalization may not carry the day in California: in a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, support has fallen to 44 percent in favor of Prop 19 from 52 percent in September.  Yet Prop 19 has sparked a surprisingly sober national discussion lacking in the hyperbole that has long surrounded marijuana.

Some related posts on pot policy and politics:

• Green tea party: will Glenn Beck or Sarah Palin or other professed liberty lovers support ending pot prohibition in California?
• Making the conservative case for ending pot prohibition in California
• "Would Legalizing Marijuana Cut Law Enforcement Costs?"
• "Tea Party = Pot Party?"
• Might Sarah Palin's sensible points about pot get Tea Party types to push for sensible drug reforms?
• Why doesn't the new Liberty Central website say anything about mass incarceration or the drug war or any criminal justice issues?
• "Why Parents Should Support Legalizing Pot"
• Top House Republican complaining that Obama administration is not fighting drug war hard enough
• American democracy getting a contact high from pot prohibition debate
• New "Just Say Now" campaign suggests growing marijuana legalization coalition
• Thoughtful academic thoughts on ending marijuana prohibitions
• How can and should we assess the "success" of medical marijuana and pot prohibition reform efforts?
• "Legally Loaded: Marijuana Today -- Cocaine and Heroin Tomorrow?"
• Obama Adminstriation promising to prevent states from expanding individual liberty and free markets