Ron Paul to Bill Maher: America's War on Drugs must end

Ron Paul to Bill Maher: America's War on Drugs must end

by David Edwards and Stephen C. Webster

Congressman Ron Paul is the most conservative, grandfatherly man to ever be admired by America's marijuana enthusiasts. On Friday night's episode of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, he reminded those who may have been suffering an impaired short-term memory at that late hour why, exactly, they should like him.

Speaking live from Clute, Texas, the libertarian-leaning Republican did what few other members of Congress will and openly called for the United States' War on Drugs to be abolished.

"What about when FDR came to office in '33," asked Maher. "One of the first things he did was repeal prohibition. He said we can't afford this anymore. Well, we have prohibition in this country. ... When he was making radical changes he said look, we're serious now. We're going to make serious changes and people like liquor."

"Well, in this country, people like pot," said Maher to a wave of cheers and applause. "If we ended that prohibition, that would be a giant pooling of money."

"I don't like pot," said the congressman. "But I hate the drug war, so I would repeal all of prohibition. But, I wouldn't even bother taxing it. People have the right in a free country to make important decisions on their own lives. If they want to make mistakes, they can. They just can't come crawling to the government to get bailed out or taken care of if they get sick.

"I believe in freedom of choice in all that we do, as long as the individual never hurts anybody else. So that means I would get rid of all the federal laws. I would dispose with the drug war. We're spending tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars on this, then we march into places like California, override state law, arrest sick people and put them in prison."

"It makes no sense whatsoever," he insisted.

"Amen, stoner," joked Maher.

Watch the video at the source: rawstory.com...

Why did I not vote for Ron Paul?
I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong about a politician and I was definitely wrong about Ron Paul. I think I use to damn near ignore him because he was essentially the “bearer of bad news” and who wants to hear about bad news and tough choices? I admit I’d rather listen to speeches about hope and change and our bright future. That is unless the bearer of bad news is absolutely right and listening to them and working with them is the best way to dig ourselves out of the deep graves we dug.

Ron Paul is the only true conservative politician holding a national office. He believes in less government involvement in the lives of the citizens which seems to scare the hell out of those that want to control us and yet strongly insist that they are conservatives.

They should legalize all drugs and prostitution. I bet gang violence would be the lowest it has ever been.

DESTROY THE MACHINES!!!

The vast amounts of money made by the illegal drug trade gets laundered into the economies of those countries battling it, like it or not, and our governments know it. Two or three hundred Billion dollars a year injected into the economy sure goes a long way and greases enough palms to keep the big players out of court.
If our governments were serious about it they'd have had troops storming the cartel strongholds decades ago, instead of concentrating on the small street dealers, medium sized importers and the unlucky Joe caught with a bit of weed.

The amount of taxpayer money spent on anti-drug initiatives, special police and intel units etc is window dressing only for the masses. It also helps these units justify their big budgets and all the hardware they buy and of course provides a steady flow of bodies for the lucrative private prison corporations.

Once again, Ron Paul speaks, and while larger and larger portions of the population begin to see the truth and listen to Dr. Paul, the government will do whatever they can to spite the "crazy" man. Legalizing 'vices' is more important now than ever, especially with Mexico's collapse looming.... We need to take the power from the gangs and cartels and give new life to our own economy.
Like Peter Tosh said, "LEGALIZE IT"

reply to post by rapinbatsisaltherage


Ron Paul makes so much sense it's downright scary to the liberal and conservative camps. Here is man that gave direct answers to questions during the debates and was ignored by the media as well as his own party.

But he is correct in that repealing these arcane laws and allowing the public to do what is right for themselves is the best course of government. Prohibitive laws such as these do not prevent crimes, they create them. And they create a criminal underground that is very well financed, so more tax payer dollars have to be thrown at the "problem" in order to "win the war on drugs" and make America safe.

America was safer before the laws were enacted because there was not such lucrative profits prior to prohibition. Take away the laws and you take away the crime.