Opinion, Tuesday, May 26, 2009, Minneapolis Star Tribune

Medical Marijuana Veto - Real Reefer Madness

So Gov. Tim Pawlenty will veto medical marijuana and stand with law enforcement in opposition to its use. Of course, the only ones who profit from prohibition and the drug war are the gangsters and the cops. If you want to put the gangs out of business, take the business out of the gangs.

The governor wants to keep the business within his own gang, the cops. But the politicians can't keep marijuana out of the hands of teenagers and the gangs. Pawlenty can't keep reefer out of the hands of respectable middle-class people who smoke it when they think nobody's looking. Perhaps the only ones who Pawlenty can withhold marijuana from are the sick, suffering and dying. He'll make sure they can't get their medicine. That ought to tell you what message he sends.