Why Isn't Liquor Considered a Gateway Drug in Kentucky?
I'm not arguing for that, but there'san interesting side issue in the Kentucky Senate race between Rand Paul and Jack Conway. Paul says that drug policy should be a state and local issue, which is about as good as any national pol gets. He's against the federal drug war. Conway, on the other hand, thinks that even growing hemp – let alone get-ya-high pot!—would be a dangerous gateway drug; he's pushing for more federal dough to be tossed to Kentuckians to fight the "scourge of illegal drugs." And, naturally, he's all for the production and subsidization of bourbon and non-wacky tobaccky. Take it away, Freeman in Kentucky:
Recently, when asked about hemp farming by the Marion County Line reporter Jim Higdon, Jack Conway responded that allowing farmers to grow hemp was basically legalizing a "gateway drug."… Jack Conway's a defender of tobacco and alcohol and rightfully so. He's not supporting tobacco and bourbon because Kentucky make a good amount of money in being the home of many fine distilleries and some great tobacco farms. He supports bourbon, because alcohol is how Jack's wife makes her money and pads close to half of Jack's family income. How hypocritical is it for a man, who makes money off a liquid drug that has only one purpose to get you drunk, to turns around and put the label of "gateway drug" on a plant that can do so much more than get you high? While all this time his own wife is part of the people who produce alcohol as part of the Brown-Foreman Public relations team.
So, Jack…. do you believe your wife should be out of a job and we should close down all the distilleries? Or do you want to retract your statement about "gateway drug?" Because it really is shameful to use a line like "Gateway drug" when your wife works for a company that gets more people started down the road of addiction.
And while we're talking about Kentucky, let's reflect on the greatness of the old ABA Colonels.
