<div class="gmail_quote"><br><p class="MsoNormal">Known for stance on pot, former NM Gov. Johnson readies
presidential bid</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Christian Heinze, The Hill, 04/20/11 06:43 AM ET</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/156893-known-for-stance-on-pot-johnson-readies-2012-bid-" target="_blank">http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/156893-known-for-stance-on-pot-johnson-readies-2012-bid-</a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[...]</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">[Gary Johnson is] running for the Republican presidential
nomination on a platform that calls for withdrawals from Afghanistan and Iraq - a position that's anathema
to the party's ruling class. He also supports abortion rights and, most
controversially, favors legalizing marijuana. </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Johnson hasn't formally announced his 2012 intentions - he's
scheduled to do so Thursday on the steps of the New Hampshire State Capitol in Concord - but he's gotten
a lot of media attention, mainly because of his stance on pot.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Last year, he teamed up with singer Melissa Etheridge and
actor Danny Glover for a Hollywood rally in favor of Proposition 19 - an
initiative that would have legalized marijuana in California.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He also spoke at Cannabis Revival 2010, joined comedy duo
Cheech and Chong at a gala for the Marijuana Policy Project and admitted to
smoking medicinal marijuana for three years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Johnson was in a near-fatal paragliding accident in 2005, in
which he broke his back and some of his ribs along with blowing out his knees.
He used marijuana for pain control from 2005 to 2008.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"It is what it is," he said of his stance on the
issue. "From the context of 'The Emperor Wears No Clothes,' I'm the only
politician that's saying the emperor is wearing no clothes. That's not such a
bad deal."</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">His argument is that the U.S. spends far too much on its war
on marijuana - both in terms of real and human capital - to justify continued
prohibition. Johnson urges Republicans to apply a simple cost-benefit analysis
to the issue.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"Half of what we're spending on law enforcement, the
courts and prison is drug-related, and to what end?" he says.</p>
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">[...]</span><br clear="all"><font color="#888888"><br>-- <br>Robert Naiman<br>Policy Director<br>Just Foreign Policy<br><a href="http://www.justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">www.justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
<a href="mailto:naiman@justforeignpolicy.org" target="_blank">naiman@justforeignpolicy.org</a><br>
<br></font></div>