What's up? Pat Robertson Calls for Marijuana Legalization

[midnight]

Once a fervent drug warrior, Robertson told the Times “that there had been no single event or moment that caused him to embrace legalization. Instead, his conviction that the nation ‘has gone overboard on this concept of being tough on crime’ built up over time, he added.”

Robertson had made a similar argument in 2010, telling 700 Club viewers: “It got to be a big deal in campaigns. Lock 'em up, you know. That’s the way these guys ran, and they got elected. But that wasn’t the answer.” Then, as now, he maintained that imprisoning people for 10 years for possessing a marijuana joint is “costing us a fortune and it’s ruining our young people,” who enter prison “as youths and ... come out as hardened criminals.”“We’ve just got to change the laws,” he declared. “We cannot allow this to continue. It is sapping our vitality.”

It is also sapping our constitutional liberties. Federal drug laws are inherently unconstitutional. Prohibiting alcohol, after all, required a constitutional amendment; why shouldn’t prohibiting marijuana, cocaine, heroin, or any other substance? Moreover, the enforcement of drug prohibition has eviscerated the Bill of Rights, militarized local law enforcement, and embroiled the United States in illegal foreign wars.

Once a fervent drug warrior, Robertson told the Times “that there had been no single event or moment that caused him to embrace legalization. Instead, his conviction that the nation ‘has gone overboard on this concept of being tough on crime’ built up over time, he added.”

http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/11155-pat-robertson-calls-for-marijuana-legalization

[Sanity Claws]

1. Hell Hath Frozen Over

[Dawson Leery]

2. The Modern Conservative movement that began in the 1970's,

placed into power in the 1980's, and rose to it's zenith during the 2000's (Bush's tenure) has fallen apart.

[Drale]

3. Someone in his family probably got arrested for possession

Right wingers never do anything unless it personally helps them.

[Mopar151]

4. Maybe he's acquired a taste for the Wildwood Flower

He always did look a little like Chuck Barris

[JHB]

5. So how is this going over in evangelical circles?

Is this something he says every now and again, or has he started to use his media empire to reverse this very thing that he helped promote for decades?