http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/us/politics/despite-support-in-party-democratic-governors-resist-legalizing-marijuana.html?hp&_r=0 \tDespite Support in Party, Democratic Governors Resist Legalizing MarijuanaBy <span>ADAM NAGOURNEY</span> \tAPRIL 5, 2014 Photo\t<div> \t \tTracey Lampe staking marijuana plants at a RiverRock medical marijuana center in Denver. Although Colorado and Washington legalized recreational use, analysts say Democratic governors in other states are wary of being portrayed as soft on crime. <span>Credit Matthew Staver for The New York Times </span> </div>Continue reading the main story Share This Page <a>email</a> <a>facebook</a> <a>twitter</a> <a>save</a> <a>more</a> Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story<div>This story is included with an NYT Now subscription. Learn More » </div>Continue reading the main story LOS ANGELES - California voters strongly favor legalizing marijuana. The state Democratic Party adopted a platform last month urging California to follow Colorado and Washington in ending marijuana prohibition. The state's lieutenant governor, Gavin Newsom, has called for legalizing the drug. But not Gov. Jerry Brown. “I think we ought to kind of watch and see how things go in Colorado,†Mr. Brown, a Democrat, said curtly when asked the question as he was presenting his state budget this year. At a time of rapidly evolving attitudes toward marijuana legalization - a slight majority of Americans now support legalizing the drug - Democratic governors across the country, Mr. Brown among them, find themselves uncomfortably at odds with their own base. Even with Democrats and younger voters leading the wave of the pro-legalization shift, these governors are standing back, supporting much more limited medical-marijuana proposals or invoking the kind of law-and-order and public-health arguments more commonly heard from Republicans. While 17 more states - most of them leaning Democratic - have seen bills introduced this year to follow Colorado and Washington in approving recreational marijuana, no sitting governor or member of the Senate has offered a full-out endorsement of legalization. Only Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat in Vermont, which is struggling with a heroin problem, said he was open to the idea. Photo\t \t \tGov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado <span>Credit Cliff Owen/Associated Press </span> “Quite frankly, I don't think we are ready, or want to go down that road,†Dannel P. Malloy, the Democratic governor of Connecticut, which has legalized medical marijuana and decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, said in an interview. “Perhaps the best way to handle this is to watch those experiments that are underway. I don't think it's necessary, and I don't think it's appropriate.†The hesitance expressed by these governors reflects not only governing concerns but also, several analysts said, a historically rooted political wariness of being portrayed as soft on crime by Republicans. In particular, Mr. Brown, who is 75, lived through the culture wars of the 1960s, when Democrats suffered from being seen as permissive on issues like this. “Either they don't care about it as passionately or they feel embarrassed or vulnerable. They fear the judgment,†said Ethan Nadelmann, the founder of the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that favors decriminalization of marijuana. “The fear of being soft on drugs, soft on marijuana, soft on crime is woven into the DNA of American politicians, especially Democrats.†He described that sentiment as, “Do not let yourself be outflanked by Republicans when it comes to being tough on crime and tough on drugs. You will lose.†In Washington and Colorado, the Democratic governors had opposed legalization from the start, though each made clear that he would follow voters' wishes in setting up the first legal recreational-marijuana marketplaces in the nation. “If it was up to me, being in the middle of it, and having read all this research and having some concern, I'd tell people just to exercise caution,†Gov. John W. Hickenlooper of Colorado said in a recent interview. In Colorado, where recreational marijuana went on sale Jan. 1, revenue figures released in February suggested that taxes on drug sales could bring in more than $100 million a year for the state, a figure that made other states take note. Photo\t \t \tGov. Jerry Brown of California <span>Credit Jae C. Hong/Associated Press </span> Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main storyAdvertisement Washington has yet to let its first marijuana stores open - that is expected to happen later this spring - but Gov. Jay Inslee has made his position clear. “As a grandfather, I have the same concerns every grandfather has about misuse of any drug, including alcohol and marijuana,†he said in a telephone interview, adding, “All of us want to see our kids make smart decisions and not allow any drug to become injurious in our life. “I recognized the really rational decision that people made that criminalization efforts were not a successful public policy,†Mr. Inslee continued. “But frankly, I really don't want to send a message to our kids that this is a route that is without risk.†Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York has said he would oppose outright legalization of marijuana but would support legalizing, to some extent, medical marijuana in the state, and might be open to decriminalizing the drug. In New Hampshire, Gov. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat, invoked her state's struggle with heroin abuse in arguing against weakening marijuana laws. “Legalizing marijuana won't help us address our substance use challenge,†she said in her state of the state address this year. “Experience and data suggests it will do just the opposite.†Even in California, the first state to legalize medical marijuana and where marijuana advocates are moving to put a legalization initiative on the ballot in 2016, Mr. Brown has flashed a yellow light. “All of a sudden, if there's advertising and legitimacy, how many people can get stoned and still have a great state or a great nation?†Mr. Brown said in an interview on “Meet the Press†last month. “The world's pretty dangerous, very competitive. I think we need to stay alert, if not 24 hours a day, more than some of the potheads might be able to put together.†Photo\t \t \tGov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut <span>Credit Cliff Owen/Associated Press </span> The resistance comes as public opinion on the issue is moving more rapidly than anyone might have anticipated. Nationally, 51 percent of adults support legalizing the drug, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted in February, including 60 percent of Democrats, 54 percent of independents and 72 percent of young adults. Even 44 percent of Tea Party members said they wanted the drug legalized. In California, 60 percent of likely voters said they supported marijuana legalization in a poll conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California last year. In many ways, the shift in public sentiment toward the legalization of marijuana tracks the rapid change in views on same-sex marriage, again led by young adults and Democrats. But there is one key difference: Many elected Democratic officials have come to support same-sex marriage, and analysts said Democrats could pay a political cost for opposing it. “Very different than gay marriage,†Kevin A. Sabet, an opponent of legalization and a co-founder of Project SAM, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, said in an email. “People have strong feelings on gay marriage. It's a civil/human rights/religious issue for both sides. Not so with pot.†There is no obvious political upside to supporting legalization, analysts said, and politicians, as a rule, tend to be risk averse. “You don't hold these positions without having a sense of your own place in history,†said former Representative Patrick J. Kennedy, who joined Mr. Sabet in founding Project SAM, which strives to reduce marijuana use by emphasizing health risks. “They can honestly see that this is not a good move, that it's going to have huge consequences, not all of which can be foretold.†That said, there is little evidence in most states that a politician would pay a price for supporting legalization, said Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster. “We've moved into a frame that's not ideological, “ she said. “It's about a system being broken, not working, and that legalization involves strict regulation that would allow the state to collect revenues. That makes a lot of sense to the kind of voters that electeds are most concerned about. If that's the way it's being discussed, it isn't a liability for a politician.†At this point, the prospects for other elected officials jumping on the legalization bandwagon is likely to depend on what happens as the experiments in Washington and Colorado proceed. Among the questions are whether legalization will lead to more drug abuse by teenagers and how much it will fatten state tax coffers. “I don't tell other governors what to do,†Mr. Hickenlooper said, “but when they asked me, I said, ‘If I was in your shoes, I would wait a couple of years and see whether there are unintended consequences, from what is admittedly a well-intentioned law.'†Erica Goode contributed reporting from Denver, and Allison Kopicki from New York. A version of this article appears in print on April 6, 2014, on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Despite Support in Party, Democratic Governors Resist Legalizing Marijuana. <span>Order Reprints<span>|</span>Today's Paper<span>|</span>Subscribe </span>
Jerry brown is the biggest ass hat ever. He in our state into the ground. Not quit as easy as just voting them out like people say.
Private interests Private Interests PRIVATE INTERESTS Any time you see Kevin Sabet and his cronies running their mouth you know it's going to be private interest-backed misinformation. Of course politicians are feeling pressured to NOT support rightful access. How many of those politicians have ties to the alcohol, tobacco or pharmaceutical industries? Plus, groups like Project SAM can only stay in business if enough people fall prey to misinformation and believe that cannabis is actually harmful, as Sabet continuously implies. LOL slightly ironic part of this article is the comment from the Drug Policy Alliance. They comment "in favor" of legalization, but right now they are actively investing (via Soros et al) in places like Uruguay who will mass produce cannabis for USA. Somewhat related also is the big money behind the company Diego Pellicer - who plans to source cannabis from Mexico and sell it nation-wide across the USA - Big Marijuana style. So half the private interest groups want prohibition - because they financially gain from it, the other half wants legalization - because they will financially gain from it. Meanwhile We The People are in between, watching the Clash of the Political/Corporate Titans battle for victory of the major profits.