GOP Presidential Candidates Debate Drug Legalization

Perhaps it's not surprising to see longtime reform supporters Congressman Ron Paul and Governor Gary Johnson talking about the benefits of legalizing marijuana and other drugs, but it sure is nice to see the discussion take place in the context of last night's Republican presidential debate on Fox News.

Here's the video:

Grassley Says Webb Commission Should "Do What We Tell Them To Do"

Sen. Charles Grassley, author of the censorship amendment to the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, was asked about his anti-speech tendencies by a reporter on a conference call today. The full transcript is below, but here's the most interesting part of what Sen. Grassley said: "[T]he point is, for them to do what we tell them to do. And one of the things that I was anticipating telling them not to do is to -- to recommend or study the legalization of drugs."

Also of note,the reporter then follows up to ask if his amendment would also ban discussion of medical marijuana by the commission, and the senator says "yes."

The best part just might be where Sen. Grassley tells the reporter that, "you want everything on the table." Yeah, except for sensible policy options like legalization, right?

Read on, and enjoy...

QUESTION: I hear there was an amendment to a bill tomorrow that would legally prevent some of the government's top advisers from -- according to some of the memos we've seen -- even discussing the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing drugs.

Can you talk a little bit about that? I understand that you pulled that amendment, but, nonetheless, I wanted to ask you what your intent is with that.

GRASSLEY: Well, my intent on that amendment isn't any different than any other amendments that are coming up. The Congress is setting up a commission to study certain things. And the commission is a -- is an arm of Congress, because Congress doesn't have time to review some of these laws.

And -- and -- and the point is, for them to do what we tell them to do. And one of the things that I was anticipating telling them not to do is to -- to recommend or study the legalization of drugs.

Their -- their program would be what we tell it it is. And one of the reasons that maybe there's -- there are several amendments that I floated around. And I probably only anticipated offering two or three of them anyway. You always circulate more amendments than you want to offer because you want everything on the table because once the agenda goes out, then it's too late to put something on the table without unanimous consent.

So -- and this isn't one of them.

But, getting back to what I started to say -- I got -- digressed there a little bit on explaining how the system works -- and that is that one of the things I think is going to come up is whether or not this commission on making recommendations has to have a simple majority or a super majority or maybe even by consensus. And the extent to which you get a larger percentage, particularly if it's consensus recommendations, you're probably going to get more reasonable and -- recommendations, and probably a narrower set of recommendations.

Actually, this is similar to, for instance, you probably don't remember this, but I was involved in rewriting the bankruptcy laws. Well, we set up a commission in the early 1990s, or maybe it was mid 1990s. They studied for two or three years and made recommendations. And -- and that was the basis for our legislation.

And so, this commission that Webb is suggesting would be a -- a basis for possible legislation in the future.

QUESTION: Would your amendment have even stopped the discussion of legalized marijuana for medical purposes?

GRASSLEY: I think that would not -- let's see. Yes, the extent to which it would be decriminalization, the answer is yes.

QUESTION: OK. OK.

GRASSLEY: Yeah.

QUESTION: OK. Thank you. Thank you, Senator.

GRASSLEY: Yes, you bet.

The good thing is that Sen. Grassley seems to indicate that he is going to withdraw his amendment, but let's not take that for granted; please contact your senators right now and tell them to oppose censorship if they have to vote on this.

Audio of the senator defending his censorship amendment can be found here.

Press Release: U.S. Senate to Vote on Censoring Legalization Debate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 3, 2009
CONTACT: Tom Angell -- (202) 557-4979 or media //at// leap.cc

U.S. SENATE TO VOTE ON CENSORING DRUG LEGALIZATION DEBATE

Cops and Judges Urge Judiciary Committee to Allow Decriminalization Discussion

WASHINGTON, DC -- A group of police and judges who support legalizing drugs after witnessing the failure of the "war on drugs" is urging the U.S. Senate to reject an amendment that would prohibit government policy advisers from even discussing legalization or decriminalization.

The censorship amendment, authored by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), could be voted on as soon as this Thursday, Nov. 5. If adopted during the Judiciary Committee markup for Sen. Jim Webb's National Criminal Justice Commission Act (S. 714), the rider would ban the commission from conducting any activities that "involve, support, or otherwise discuss the decriminalization of any offense under the Controlled Substances Act or the legalization of any controlled substance listed under the Controlled Substances Act."

"Senator Grassley’s censorship amendment would block what Senator Webb is trying to achieve with this bill," said Jack Cole, a retired undercover narcotics detective who now heads the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). "All along, Senator Webb has said that in the effort to fix our broken criminal justice system 'nothing should be off the table.' That should include the obvious solution of ending the 'drug war' as a way to solve the unintended problems caused by that failed policy."

LEAP is urging people to visit http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/censorship and take action by sending a letter to their senators urging them to oppose the censorship amendment.

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) is a 15,000-member organization representing cops, judges, prosecutors, prison wardens and others who now want to legalize and regulate all drugs after witnessing horrors and injustices fighting on the front lines of the "war on drugs." More info online at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.

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Update: For this press release we also have a Digg submission that links directly to the form letter. Please visit this link and Digg the story (this is in addition to the Digg button below... it's sort of a two for one deal this time around.)

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Don't Let Congress Censor Legalization Discussion

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee could vote as soon as this Thursday, November 5 on an amendment that will legally prevent some of the government's top advisers from even discussing the idea of legalizing or decriminalizing drugs as a solution to the failed "war on drugs."

Yes, you read that right. The Senate just might censor its own policy advisers from giving science-based advice.

The censorship amendment's author, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), is trying to attach the speech prohibition onto an otherwise positive bill that will create a blue ribbon commission to study our nation's failed criminal justice and drug policies. The commission is supposed to make recommendations for ways to improve the system, but how can they do that with the blindfold that Sen. Grassley's wants to put on them? Please take action at http://www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com/censorship and tell your senators to oppose the censorship amendment!

The text of the Grassley censorship amendment can be viewed as a PDF here.