Reason Magazine
- reason.com
- reason.tv
- reason.org
- Donate
- Site Search:
Reason on Facebook
Reason on Twitter
Reason on YouTube
Reason RSSGet Reason E-mail Updates!
Manage your Reason e-mail list subscriptionsadvertisements
'That Is Not a Drug. It's a Leaf.'
California Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has raised eyebrows by
telling an interviewer for the British edition of GQ
that marijuana "is not a drug." Aaron McLear, Schwarzenegger's
press secretary, says he was only kidding:
The governor was doing an interview with the host of America's Got Talent, the newest version of The Gong Show. I think it's important to keep that quote in the context of the environment where it was said.
Of course the governor understands marijuana is a drug. It's like when he goes on Leno or The Daily Show, if you took something like that out of context, it might seem shocking but it was in a silly entertainment context.
To be more precise, the context was Schwarzenegger's own past drug use. He initially said he'd never used drugs. When reminded that he'd admitted smoking pot, that in fact he's shown doing so in the 1977 documentary Pumping Iron, he said, "That is not a drug. It's a leaf." McLear is right that it was a joke, but that's sort of the point: On the subject of pot smoking, politicians like Schwarzenegger (and Bill Clinton and Al Gore and Newt Gingrich) want to have it both ways. On the one hand, it's no big deal, something you can wink at and laugh about. On the other hand, it justifies some 830,000 arrests a year. Which is it?
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra Saunders regrets that Schwarzenegger did not use this opportunity to join San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in questioning the war on drugs.
Fat Freddies Cat|10.30.07 @ 7:33PM|#
He only smoked the leaves? I wonder if he knows what he was missing?
Brian Sorgatz|10.30.07 @ 7:37PM|#
"It's a leaf." That line reminds me of the pro-marijuana children's book title It's Just a Plant.
|10.30.07 @ 7:43PM|#
Hmmm... serious question. He could have his citizenship revoked.
He became a citizen in 1983 and the film of him smoking a joint (a
crime) was in 1970s. The citizenship questionaire today, and maybe
then, asks if one has committed a crime for which one was not
arrested. Chances are he may have given a false answer because a
true one might have denied him citizenship at that time. Further if
he is now admitting more than one incident, even if he was given a
break for the movie....? Today, permanent residents are being
deported for one incident like that 30 years ago.
Giving a false answer is grounds for removing citizenship. The
reason immigrant Nazis have citizenship revoked is not because they
were a Nazi but because they falsely denied it on their
applications for citizenship.
Hmmmm......
The Wine Commonsewer|10.30.07 @ 7:46PM|#
'That Is Not a Drug. It's a Leaf'
No it isn't, its an herb.
And the way Schwarzzengroper spends tax money you'd think he'd
mistaken greenbacks for leaves.
mch, his defense is that the joint was fake. Be tough to prove it
wasn't.
|10.30.07 @ 7:48PM|#
It's Just a Plant
That's what daddy said when he taught me to roll my own. He even
bought me the book.
|10.30.07 @ 7:51PM|#
The questions I'd like to ask admitted ex-drug users running for
office are -
"Would you be better off if you had been arrested and prosecuted
for your drug use?"
Follow up question, "Would society have been better off if you had
been arrested and prosecuted for your drug use".
One more question, "Senator, Governor or whatever, Do you support
the War on Drugsand why?"
|10.30.07 @ 8:02PM|#
Marijuana is the devil! It will make you into a raving lunatic heroin addict! Or so sayeth The Cartoon All-Stars circa 1990. Lord knows they saved me from trying the devil weed later in life. Or maybe not.
|10.30.07 @ 8:26PM|#
The Cartoon All-Stars circa 1990.
Smurfs? Damn you Cesar. Damn you and your descendants for all
ETERNITY!. DIE, YOU EVIL BASTARD! YOU DIE AND GO TO
HELL!!!
BTW, I don't like the smurfs very much.
|10.30.07 @ 8:43PM|#
Clinton I -- Blowjobs aren't sex.
Arnold -- Dope isn't a drug.
Giuliani -- Authoritarianism is freedom.
Quick, what is the common denominator between these three
people?
|10.30.07 @ 8:51PM|#
Quick, what is the common denominator between these three
people?
You mean other than they are all cocksucking, lying, pieces of pond
scum?
Or that they are all dissemblers?
B|10.30.07 @ 8:53PM|#
It's like when he goes on Leno...
Didn't he launch his political career on Leno?
|10.30.07 @ 9:03PM|#
It's something to wink and laugh about if you are not one of my
neighbors in the 'hood here.
(Well, actually it's something to wink and nod about here too, but
for different reasons. Down here, it's a "living.")
|10.30.07 @ 9:27PM|#
mch makes an interesting point; where's the "Kitty Bar The
Borders" crowd on this one?
Oh right, he's white and Christian...never mind...
S.A. Miller|10.30.07 @ 10:40PM|#
And yet locals regularly refer to Saunders as the Ann
Coulter of SF. Sigh.
I think that tells you more about the people of San Francisco than
it does about Saunders.
Robert|10.30.07 @ 11:47PM|#
The questions I'd like to ask admitted ex-drug users running for office are -
"Would you be better off if you had been arrested and prosecuted for your drug use?"
Follow up question, "Would society have been better off if you had been arrested and prosecuted for your drug use".
One more question, "Senator, Governor or whatever, Do you support the War on Drugsand why?"
I don't see this as a problem for any candidate. Their reason for
running is that they belong in office and someone else doesn't.
Therefore they could honestly answer that it would be best if all
other candidates were prevented from running and themselves not.
Seriously, that's the point, "I'm the best. Whatever helps me get
in is good for you. If it helps someone else get in, it's bad for
you." Are there any candidates that don't say that or its
equivalent? And if they don't say that, how can anyone vote for
them in good conscience?
Rhywun|10.31.07 @ 12:50AM|#
And yet locals regularly refer to Saunders as the Ann
Coulter of SF. Sigh.
Either she's changed her tune considerably since I lived in SF ten
years ago (I seem to remember her being quite conservative), or I
have.
|10.31.07 @ 6:37PM|#
It may not be Arnold in the picture, but it sure as hell is him in Pumping Iron!!. I have the video.
Site comments/questions:
Media Inquiries and Reprint Permissions:
(310) 367-6109
Editorial & Production Offices:
3415 S. Sepulveda Blvd.
Suite 400
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 391-2245