Mike Riggs on Drug Warrior Patrick Kennedy Running From His Own Record
Credit: Will White FlickrFormer Democratic Congressman Patrick
Kennedy has taken a hard line stance against marijuana since
leaving office in 2011. Marijuana policy reformers have criticized
the chairman of a new anti-marijuana group
for pushing "mandatory marijuana-education programs,"
"working out his personal control issues in public," and
overstating the addictiveness and danger of marijuana. Missing from
their critiques is the fact that Kennedy has done an unacknowledged
180-degree policy reversal, practically overnight: As a
representative from Rhode Island, Kennedy was an advocate for
medical marijuana, an ally to the gambling industry, and a
beneficiary of the tobacco and alcohol industries.