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Ron Paul-The Pot Candidate
Ron Paul-The Pot Candidate
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Although the two major political parties won't even discuss legalization as a
means of dealing with "the drug problems," there is one presidential candidate
on the ballot who is calling for legalization of all drugs as a major part of his
campaign platform. If you plan to vote in
the upcoming elections, you should read
this profile of Ron Paul, Libertarian Candidate for president.
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y the lim e you read thi s. the 1988 presidential electi on will
only he a few weeks away. If vou're a ca n na bis co ns ume r;
voti ng in this el ect ion will pm ba hlv be on e of th e must diffi -
cult decis ions YO U'H > ever mad e . Afte r all . the contende rs from
both major parties aTC call ing for an expande d " War e n Drugs."
Ho wever, there is o ne cand idate who wan ts 10 le gal ize AI..! . drugs.
His na me is Dr. Hem Pau l and he represent s the Libert ari an Par ty.
Pau l's Hallie will appear on ball ots ill al most every sta le .
"" do n't think there s hou ld be any laws outlawing the use of
dru gs," says Paul , 5:-( "It's always heen amazi ng to me how h ypocritica l the members of Congress have I W (' I1 , ta lking ab out dru gs,
and getting political ben efit 0 111 of the issue, giving s peec hes on
the HUIISC n (~or abou t hard d ru gs. while so me of them have been
half-ine bri ated on alco hol. I th ink dru g laws are the nu mber one
reas on why we have so much crime in th is country. an d if we se riously want to talk about reducin g cri me. we must get rill of d rug
laws. The people who like the dru g laws are the peop le making
money off the drugs, the Mafia-t ype organi zations."
He mea ns it. As a four-t erm Hepuhlican Congressman from
Texas between 1976 and 1984. Paul voted again st all fed era l legisla tion de s igne d to give governme nt more power to fight dru g use .
" My voting reco rd could be c ha ract erized as libertaria n-free mar ket," he Si.lYS , " I prefer the term non -interv entioni st. "
In Novembe r, Paul will be on rhe ballot in at least 45 s tales , and
possibl y all 50 . along with the District of Columbia . if hallot access efforts are suc cess ful. His running male is Andre Marron. a
one-time Libertaria n stat e legisl ator from Alaska, the on ly stale
By Greg Kaza
HIGH TIMES 33
he l.ibe- rta riun Partv ha s uttrart e-d r-on se-rva tives , tudi rul.
a nd lilu-ral s. Its pla tform is a swee pin g iudic-tnu-nt o! gO H'rJI4
Tilt' libe rta rian opposi tion to d ru g laws is twofold. First . they
moral grou nds . A cen tral te net of Iibertariunis m l'xp lai n{'d hy Hothbanl is th at (" Try pc rstm is th e owne r of
OPPO~t drug laws o n
the ir own hod y: S(e-o IHll y. libcrt a ri uns ut ili ze an f'('(JflOm ic a rgume nt to show th ai dr ug laws c-reat e scan 'i ty hy artific iall y restri ct -
)(. NlJVIMIl(R / 18
Li Lertarian Republican Organizing Committee (LHOC )eve n defected and de cid ed to work within the Republi can party. "T he
Libertaria n Part y, lik e virtually every oth er third party in Americ a , had its place in history," arg ues Eri c Garri s. nat ional di re ct or
of th e tROC. "The LP was a ph enomenon cre ated as a result of
Water gate and the Vietna m War. 'fclda)', however, the batt le betwe en th e forces of peace and war, and fre edom ver sus gove rn ment
c ontrol, is going 011 in the Hepuhlir -an Part y," In 19 78. Garri s was
an org a nize r in Sa n Francisco Proposition W, an ini tiat ive ordering th e loca l dist rict a ttorn ey a nd poli ce to nol e nfo rce or PIDS Ccute indi viduals in volved in usin g, cu lti va tin g or se ll ing mari ju ana. Th e mea sure passed with 57 percent of the vote . but a more
rad ical measure organized by Ga rr is in 19HO that soug ht ab oliti on
of the vice squad rec eiv ed onl y :m percen t of the vote.
Libertarians dis agree . Wa ry of its decl ine , the part y nominat ed
Paul as the ir presidential candidate in Seatt le last Septe mbe r. In
1988 . the Libert ari an s expe ct to fiel d 250-500 c andidates for
public office at th e fed eral , state and locallevels . \Vhile the party
is down , it is by no means out. Nationa l Dire ctor Paul jacob notes
more than 80 members c ur re ntly hold elective a nd appointed positions nat ion wide . He expects tha t number to increa se thi s year,
alon g with membership, whic h c urre ntly total s 7.000.
For tho se who do join the part y. runn ing for office is not always
as easy as it sounds . Ballo t a ccess laws erected by the Democrats
and Republic an s force the Lib ertarians a nd othe r minor parties to
spend most of the money th ey rai se on petition drives , instead of
adv erti sing and promotion. "O ur limited resources have to be
spe nt on ballot ac cess , and that mak es it very difficult." Paul noted . Fundin g ca n a lso be a problem . In keepin g with their oppo sition to govern me nt, the Libertarian s refuse to 'acce pt federal
mat ching funds. " A third party that refuses to take government
money on pri nciple ha s to ra ise money from other sources," Paul
sai d. "Th e spec ia l inte res ts ce rta inly a re n' t going to provide that
money be cause the y're only lookin g for spec ia l favors. a nd the y
kno w those favors won't co me from us ." Paul expe cts to rai se 85
million from private c itize ns.
t first gla nce. Ron Paul appears to be jus t another poli tician . His hair is Sh 0l1, his suits a rc three -piece and his
dra wl is Texan . But whe n Paul ope ns his mouth it is cl ear he
advo cat es rad ical soc ia l c ha nge for Ame rican society.
" It's a fa rce, a total failure and it should he abandoned ." Paul
says of Rea ga n's \Var On Dru gs . " Nancy Reagan ca me out a nd
sai d ' Anyone who bu ys a ma rijuana cig arette c ontribute s to the
dru g wars an d killin g: a nd therefor e they creat ed the drug dealers. I think that's turned up side down. Th e drug dealer is c reated
by the law. 'Ii)say that IWl"sOr) S who usc drugs creat e thi s system is,
I thi nk. comple tely wron g." Ja cob adds , " Rona ld and Nancy
Hca gan are hypocrites. Th e y've blown th e dru g issue into mass
hysteria. hut tolerate-d :\Iichael Deaver, someone with a ve ry se rious problem. Basically, Deaver 's a drunk . So how did the Reagan's
respond ! Did the y te ll h im to see k cou nsel ing for hi s al cohol problem ! Did they launc-h a nationwide war a ga inst alcohol use? No.
The y went on the supposit ion that alcoh ol us e by the Republi can
cou ntr y cluh set is le gitimat e , e ven when it lea ds to alcoholism ,
while a ny kid ca ught with a j oint should he thr own in the sla mme r.
That certainl y qu alifi es , in my book. as hypocri sy"
Paul and Jacub. who is 2 7. compleme nt e ac h other nicel y.
Paul's a p pe-al a ppea rs greate r when dealing with older audien ces ,
while .lucoh breaks ground with younge r crowd s . But one episode
illustrates the pair's (om mitmenl.
On Jul y 4 .198 1, J acob, th en 2 1, went underground to fight
draft registration. In Se pte mbe r 1982 , he was indict ed for refu sing
to regi ster with the Se lective Se rvice Sys te m. Libertarians oppose
registration and th e draft as infrin gem ent s on indi vidual rights .
But by the time he was ind icte d , Ja cob was long gone . Unde rground. he dre w payments from a s peci a l fund and worked odd
ow
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jobs lin ed III' hy Libertarian suppo rte rs . j acob a voided the FBI for
over two ye ars . hut was ultimatel y ca ptu red in December 19 84.
Other politi cal parties would have dis owned any member indicted
for resi sting the draft, hut not the Lib ertar ian s. Th ey united behind Jacob. During a two-day trial in Jul y lY85 . in Littl e Rock ,
Ark a nsas , Paul testified in Jacob's defen se . Asked by a defense
attorn ey if he supporte d Ja coh's pos it ion on th e draft . Paul respond ed , " Abs ol ute ly, I me an . it is the pos ition tha t on ly countgeous peopl e can hold and act ion on ly courageou s pe opl e c an
tak e." Und er <.TO:-;S e xamina tion . a pro se cu tor. Assistant US AttorIWy Sandra Che rry. showed Paul a c opy of Ja cob's vote r registration c ard. On it, jacob had writte n "G o Sma sh Th e Sta te. "
" Is that a n opinion or an atti tude that you think finds support
among people of your ph ilosoph y'!" Che rry asked.
" We ll. you know, as far as I'm concerned th e state is massi ve,"
Paul responded. "The las t couple yea rs I was in Congress I vote d
a ga inst 99 percent of the ex pen dit ures of the sta te main ly be cause
we' re bein g driv en int o a bankrupt state. I don 't lise tha t typ e of
lan guage. I don't use those words . But if you took my voting record , I ce rta inly would reduce the state in a ve ry significa nt man ner. because the sta te now is e nc roac hing on ou r personal
lib erti es . It's enc roac hing thro ughout th e world on a dail y basis on
what the y a re doing and a lso in the e conomy, a nd for thi s rea son, I
think the state itself is a thr eat to us. It's a thr eat to the individual
lib erti es , not on ly of Paul .lacoh but to eve ry s ing le so litar y per son
in this country. So th er efore, I th ink the verb is one that I wouldn't
have chosen , hut I ce rta inly w ould choose word s lik e 's ignifica ntly
redu ce " the role of government over our lives : ' Despite the testi mon y, Jacob was co nvicted and ultimatel y served four month s, 27
da ys in pri son .
Th ere is an adage part y act ivists rep eat. Libert ari an s go to jail
before the y are el ect ed to office ; Demo cra ts a nd Republicans to to
jail ofte r they have been el ect ed . In rece nt years . othe r Lib e rtarians have been incarcerated. for resist in g w ha t "they te rm "the
Sta le.... Tim Lewis . thc part y's 1984 vice -pres ide nt ia l candidate,
was convicted on fed eral c harge s of willfu l failure to file a federal
income ta x return and se nte nce d to one yea r in pri son. J.ibertarians support a bolition of the incom e la x as un con stitutional.
Norma J ean Almodovar. who ran for Ca liforn ia lieutenant governor in 1986. was con victed la st yea r of solic iting. Almodovar is a
former pol icc meter mai d turned ca ll gi rl. She maintains her harsh
three- year pri son sentence is an att empt hy Ca lifornia a utho rities
to sil en ce her for writin g a book 011 poli ce corruption in Los
Angeles. Other libe rtarians have tak en up the cause of Lewi s and
Almodovar. " We don' t abund un our fallen," says .\lark Ford. national d irect or of the Libert a rian Stude nt Network (I.SN I. the la rges t libertar ian you th grou p in th e co u ntry,
.on Pau l's rad icalism extends be yond legali zing dr ugs a nd
abolishing the DEA. Paul says he would cons ider using execu tive clem ency to pardon persons co nvicted under fede ral victi mle ss crime law s.
Pau l o pposes mandatory ra nd om dru g testing. He condem ns
form e r De la ware G ove rnor Pi erre S. " Pete" Du l 'on fs p rop osal 10
tes t teen agers. l Iul'o u t, a former ca nd ida te for the Republican
presi dent ia l nomina tion . advoca tes tes tin g teen s a nd la king a way
the ir driver's licen ses -if they d OIl'1 pass. " 1 thin k Dul'on t's idea is
horrib le," says Pau l. "Drug tes tin g tee nagers is another example
of politicians not rejecting the idea that govern ment power makes
peop le bet ter;" Iron ically, Dul'ont's abortive campaign for the Hepublican nomina tion dr ew the support lIf Ed ward H. Cra ne II I.
presiden t of the Ca to Ins titute. a neo-libert ariu n th ink tank in
\\.'a sh in ~t on. Crane is an ex-party member;
Paul ch ar acterizes Gt'orge Bush. the He puhlir -an ca ndid ate. as
"the e pitome of the Establ ishm en t. Hush would do absolute ly
noth ing to move us toward a free soc-i ety, He represents the big
hanks and the big co rpo rations . His would not he a n admini stra tion for ind ivid ua l libert ies, es pec ially on all issu e such as mari j uana decriminal ization.'
Democrat ic frontru nne r Jesse j ac kson, accordi ng to Paul. is
authoritarian on the dru g issue . " 1 th in k Jack son is a demagogue
on the issue of d ru gs. His solution is reall y to becom e an ultracons ervative on the issu e. He wouldn 't hes ita te to test. He
wouldn' t hes itate to use the military again st d rugs. He wouldn ' t
hes itate to th row more peopl e in prison . Il l' would n't hesitate to be
a d rug cza r, You can imagine what j es se Jack son has in mind if
elected president ."
Paul is especially cri tic-a l of politic-ia ns who atte mpt to exploit
anti-dru g se ntiment by calling fur harsher laws although they have
personal substa nce abuse p roblems. "My guess is that the nu mber
of alcoholics in Longress is s lightly higher than the average allwng
the pop ulation. You ca n imagi ne that's a prett y h igh nu mber of
people ! Certain members Ill' Congress have been known to he on
e leet ~' d