Twenty years ago, drug dealers were seen for what they were — criminal and dangerous elements in our society. They were shunned by the mainstream. People who sold marijuana were considered losers, in the business of harming our children. Parents warned their kids to stay away from those known to use drugs.
But thanks to the marijuana lobby, what was once scorned is hyped and celebrated — even as the drug has become more potent, with THC, the intoxicating chemical, present at much higher levels than in the 1990s. Dealers run state-sanctioned dispensaries, lobby to further legalize their product and receive positive media coverage when doing so.
The dangers have gone up and the stigma has gone down. And many in the Republican Party are aiding and abetting in this social collapse. Recently, two prominent California Republicans, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and Rep. Tom McClintock, have taken the lead in helping reverse the long-standing consensus between both parties that marijuana, and other drugs, should remain illegal. A few of the potential 2016 Republican candidates for president are forcefully against legalization, but most have been all over the map on this issue.
Yet it is no more a Republican Party or conservative value than it is a Democratic Party or liberal value to help legalize, and thus expand the use of, a dangerous product.
More: www.latimes.com
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