A Denver based group supporting the legalization of marijuana this week started a web site attacking Cindy McCain, the wife of the probable Republican candidate for President as a drug dealer([link edited for length])
Ms McCain has to expect attacks. She is, after, the wife of a candidate for President, and during an election year a candidate's spouse is regarded as fair game. Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton may offer her sympathy, but most Americans will welcome the humiliation. And she has been attacked before. She has been attacked for reluctance to release her tax returns. She has been attacked for being a drug addict([link edited for length]). But now she has been accused of being a drug dealer, not in connection with her own addiction but because much of her wealth comes from stock in a brewery.
The Safer Choice Organization which created the anti-Cindy website claims to be an organization dedicated to the legalization of marijuana on the grounds that it it less harmful than many legal drugs, such as tobacco and alcohole. The director of the organization, Mason Tvert, has appeared on Fox News to argue in favor of marijuana lounges in airports to calm unruly passengers. No doubt it was among those calling for the criminalization of tobacco, a projecct already underway but still in its early stages, and now they want a return of Prohibition of Alcohol. (http://www.saferchoice.org/) As part of this campaign, they are attacking Ms McCain for holding Anheuser-Busch stock.
It is difficult to decide what motivates this organization. Despite their denials of partisan motives, it could be that they are simply deranged Obamaniacs trying to motivutate a group of voters to support the Democrats in the election.
It might be that they are simply ignorant. They may truly believe that by encouraging the government to acquire more power to regulate the lives and habits of the people, they will be rewarded with the legalization of their drug of choice. That is certainly not going to happen. Once the government has wrung every available penny from tobacco users and destroyed the industry, they will, as a matter of course, outlaw it. but there will be no compensatory relaxation of the ongoing war on drugs.
It could be that they are agents provacateurs who are being used by the DEA to coax the victims of the war on drugs to join in adding new victims.
Or they may just be strung out on marijuana.
©2008 rtbohan, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Thursday, August 7, 2008
Last modified: Monday, August 11, 2008
The views expressed in this article are those of rtbohan only and do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates. rtbohan is solely responsible for the contents of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Mason Tvert, Executive Director, SAFER
Date: 2008-08-07 16:23:00
It sure would have been nice if you'd called me and asked some questions, as opposed to just making things up.
SAFER is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to educate the public about the fact that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. The purpose of this campaign is to do just that.
We were behind the effort to make marijuana legal for adults in Denver, as well as the statewide push to do so in Colorado. The Libertarian Party of Colorado has been working with SAFER as an ally for the past three years (having endorsed all three of our ballot initiatives), Local and federal Libertarian candidates have sought my personal endorsement and that of our organization, and I was recently a speaker at the Libertarian National Convention in Denver.
Needless to say, SAFER is friendly with the LP and NOT interested in promoting prohibition of any kind. In fact, we're the ones fighting the current prohibition.
Moreover, SAFER has carried out similar campaigns in which it has labeled both Democrats (such as Denver Mayor John Hickenloper) and Republicans (such as Pete Coors) as drug dealers. Moreover, SAFER was started in 2005, as a college-based effort to change the way people think about marijuana (so the "Obamamaniac" claim is pretty silly).
SAFER was NOT involved in the smoking ban in Colorado in any way, nor is it in favor of a return to alcohol prohibition. These questions are all answered on the Cindy McCain: Drug Dealer campaign site, as well as on our homepage.
Please, feel free to comment on the campaign and share your opinion, be it in favor of this effort or against (both are welcomed). But there is no need for unresearched and false claims that are clearly refuted by all the evidence available to the public.
Posted By: An adamant cigarette smoker
Date: 2008-08-08 19:27:06
I wish "rtbohan" would learn how to spell. It's like this article was written by a third grader. Jesus Christ.
Posted By: rtbohan
Date: 2008-08-09 09:49:19
Mason Twort:
I did not write a response to your comment last night, but after thinking about it I feel I owe it to you.
I did not say that you were Republicans, but I suggested that the reason for the McCain ad might have been motivated by a preference for Obama. Most people who see you McCain webpage will not be looking for educational information about marijuana but for information on McCain. They probably will not remember (or even read) the entire page, but they will remember and repeat the headline.
My second point is that informing people that there are worse habits than marijuana smoking will not change the minds of those who support the marijuana ban. They are aware that there are worse drugs (legal and illegal) on the market, but they regard marijuana as an entry drug to some of the worse options. (I think they are wrong in this belief, but I do not think that will change their minds.).
In other words, I think that pointing out that alcohol may have worse effects than marijuana will lead to the legalization of marijuana, but it will empower those who support banning marijuana even for medical purposes, to try to ban other substances "for your own good." And that is what I said.
By the way, the fact that your organization is a non-profit is not a guarantee that your motives are pure. They may well be, but the rules for non-profit organizations do not guarantee that.