Written by Patrick Flanagan
Louisiana’s Libertarians are saying its high time for marijuana’s legalization here.
“As Libertarians, we’re for freedom on every issue, and we believe people should be able to smoke marijuana if they want,” says Wes Benedict, chairman of the Baton Rouge Libertarians and former executive director of the national Libertarian Party in Washington D.C.
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| Wes Benedict |
Libertarian Party candidates ran in five of Louisiana’s congressional district races this year, and each of their platforms included marijuana’s legalization, says Benedict.
Benedict points to Colorado and Washington state, where voters just legalized the recreational use of marijuana, as an indicator of what’s to come.
“It’s looking like things are changing around the country, which we Libertarians see as a good sign,” Benedict tells IND Monthly. “Louisiana is a socially conservative state, so I don’t expect to be on the leading edge of this issue, but changes are happening all over the country and those changes will spread. We will keep pushing the issue here, because it all starts with educating the public and our elected officials.”
That education, he says, centers on the costs associated with marijuana’s criminalization.
“The biggest benefit of legalizing will be in terms of saving money in the justice system,” Benedict adds. “There’s so much money spent just on police chasing marijuana, not to mention the cost of putting these people in jail. The crime we have with drugs is because they exist in the black market.”
Leading the push is a group called Legalize Louisiana. The group emerged in 2011, and seemed to have some momentum after staging a series of rallies around the state.
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| Facebook photo of Legalize Louisiana's rally in Lafayette in 2011 |
This year’s rally, at least in Lafayette, was a far cry from the hundreds of marchers who descended upon the Parish Courthouse in 2011.
Yet, the group on Nov. 7 posted an online petition to “Restore Cannabis Rights in Louisiana.” The petition, which is posted on the group’s Facebook page, calls for a reformation of:
Louisiana’s Cannabis laws and policies, to honor the inalienable rights to all benefits of the Natural Cannabis plant, to result in safe and free access to the plant for all Louisiana citizens for every medical, industrial, religious, or recreational application.
Benedict says Legalize Louisiana’s online petition is a good start, but will need support to prove effective.
“Public opinion is growing nationwide, but our activities are in the early stages here in Louisiana,” he says. “Legalize Louisiana’s petition is a good way to start convincing our elected officials to at least put something on the ballot for voters to decide. Because unlike some other states, in Louisiana we have to get Legislative approval to add something to the ballot.”
Click here to view Legalize Louisiana’s petition, and here to read more about the Louisiana branch of the Libertarian Party.
JUNE 19 Former Saint Steve Gleason, who is paralyzed by ALS, released a statement Tuesday in response to the Atlanta radio station's skit making fun of him and the disease, this Picayune post reports. What did he say? He said he'd accepted the apology of the DJs who did it, notes that at least the incident has got people talking about ALS, and asks anyone who is burning to take action about it to do so -- by helping him fight ALS.
JUNE 19 Blogger Ian McGibboney takes a look at the Gleason incident in this post. He makes a good argument about the difference between having free speech and being free from consequences for your speech (which none of us is). He also admits that many of us got upset before we listened to the skit -- but lets us know that the reality is far worse than we can imagine. It was the incredibly bad judgment, even more than the actual speech, that probably got those DJs fired, he opines.
JUNE 19 Washington Post blogger Aaron Blake writes about Sen. Guillory's switch to the GOP in this post. He writes what most political watchers in Louisiana know: Guillory was a Republican before he decided to run for the senate seat in a mostly-D St. Landry district, and has switched back now that he plans to run for Lt. Gov. in a mostly-R state. But how come Blake missed Guillory's appearance on a TLC pageant show? Now that is a video we'd like to see. (Again).
JUNE 19 Here's another Washington Post blog post about a Louisiana politician, and it's just plain scathing. Ezra Klein says Jindal's Politico post was "insulting" to the intelligence of voters, and adds that Jindal is personifying the "stupid" he's railed against, by being an "elite" who convinces GOP activists of "things that aren't true." Me-ow.
JUNE 19 Here's Gov. Jindal's post in Politico, in which he asks the GOP to get over losing to Obama (again) and stop "the bedwetting." (Uh, what?) He gives his Republican buddies what is probably a nerd's idea of a coach's motivational talk, which starts with a list of accomplishments that they can't seem to exploit and ending with an absurd description of liberals that sounds like a character treatment for a Fox "News" movie scripted by Gordon Liddy. Sure, he's preaching to the choir, but even the choir's not this gullible.
JUNE 19 Lamar Parmentel read Gov. Jindal's post on Politico, but thinks it was so dumb it probably was published in the wrong paper. This post by Lamar on the Daily Kingfish opines that possibly Jindal's post was destined for the Onion -- because the governor couldn't possibly be serious here. If you listen closely, you can hear the staff of the Kingfish giggling.
JUNE 19 Blogger Robert Mann posts from Turkey, a country he has visited several times in the past few years. Mann gives an interesting overview of the current political and societal climate of the country, which -- if you're living under a rock and don't know -- is experiencing protests and turmoil these days. Mann promises to post as much as he can during his trip, which should be fascinating reading.
JUNE 19 Blogger CB Forgotston says the legislature is keeping the vicious cycle going with its funding of new buildings for the community college/technical college system. Universities across the state need maintenance and improvement on existing buildings, and the solution is to build new buildings at other schools? By the time the bonds are paid off, those buildings will be falling down, too, CB says.
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Does any one need a more simple description of this weed, also the Munitions Companys would never allow the legalization of marijuana, hell the troops would'nt take the time to load their rocket launchers. They'd be harvesting their own stash.