Gary Johnson on The Colbert Report, Talking Prop. 19, Libertarianism, and the "Truth"

Matt Welch | 10.8.2010 2:42 PM

Good stuff. Put those last 30 seconds in a pipe, and I think a lot of voters might smoke it.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Proposition 19 - Joseph Califano & Gary Johnson
www.colbertnation.com
Start your day with Reason. Get a daily brief of the most important stories and trends every weekday morning when you subscribe to Reason Roundup. Δ LinkedIn This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Email(Required) NEXT: Biotech Corn's Positive Externalities Matt Welch is an editor at large at Reason. Politics Policy War on Drugs Nanny State Marijuana Gary Johnson California Drug Policy Drugs Share on Facebook Share on X Share on Reddit Share by email Print friendly versionCopy page URL Add Reason to Google Media Contact & Reprint Requests Hide Comments (29) Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses. Paul 16 years ago Threadjack: Ok, maybe Democrats are in trouble in November... Colonel_Angus 16 years ago Former felons have the right to vote. And own firearms. Its just being violated. Caleb Turberville 16 years ago What if marijuana becomes the next major government subsidy: Grassahol-powered engines! Caleb Turberville 16 years ago high-fructose marijuana syrup! Pro Libertate 16 years ago The War on Subsidies? Fiscal Meth 16 years ago I would love to hear Michael Polan or Mimi Roth complaining about how 90% of what our kids eat at fast food restaurants is made of pot. Zeb 16 years ago Cannabis is a very good oil crop. IceTrey 16 years ago The hurds could absolutely be made into ethanol. Gas, Grass or Ass no one rides for free! Larry 16 years ago The Santa Barbara News-Press endorsed Prop 19 today. With a circulation of 27,000, is this the largest daily paper in California to endorse 19? wayne 16 years ago Sweet!!!! Paul 16 years ago The Verne Fonk Libertarian Reader also endorsed Prop 19, but with a circulation of four, I'm not convinced it's going to have much impact. Matt Welch 16 years ago Holy crap, really! Thanks for the pointer. Spiny Norman 16 years ago Wendy did something sensible? Now if only the SBNP would let its articles be included in news aggregators so people would actually read them. Kroneborge 16 years ago very cool, if only I still read the SB News. but I don't pay for newspapers online. James Ard 16 years ago I hope Mitch Daniels will consider putting Johnson on his ticket. I don't think the GOP is ready for him at the top of the ticket. Eisenhower 16 years ago +2 Fist of Etiquette 16 years ago Califano cites the stat for alcohol and tobacco that for every dollar in tax they receive the government spends nine in healthcare and social service costs. But translating that to marijuana policy, how much of that cost is offset by the savings in scaling back the WoD? This is a cute segment, but there just isn't enough time in this type of forum for Johnson to put a face on those citizens being locked up for simply and solely wanting to use this drug recreationally. This country has been so brainwashed into thinking someone labeled a druggy or drug dealer is someone rightfully being punched in the face by T.J. Hooker for ruining the lives of urban youth (or whatever). IceTrey 16 years ago Of course if the government would get out of the health care and social services business it wouldn't cost them a dime. Ragin Cajun 16 years ago Just looking for a spot to post this, in case it hadn't already been posted. Corey S. 16 years ago Califano's statement that the failure to keep alcohol and tobacco out of the hands of kids as proof that pot needs to stay illegal was truly dumb. Isn't it pretty easy for kids to get pot right now? It's much easier to get than alcohol, right? jasno 16 years ago Exactly. In almost every argument against legalizing marijuana you'll find the implicit assumption that our kids don't already have unfettered access to marijuana and other drugs. I'd really like to see some one hammer a prohibitionist on this point. It's like they actually believe we want kids to have drugs. No - they already have them. We need to focus on making sure kids know why not to do drugs, but we must do it without resorting to lies and hyperbole, or threats of criminal prosecution. Terr 16 years ago My folks took this approach (probably because they smoked lots of weed when they were younger) when I was in high school. They were aware of our possession and simply told us we couldn't drive anywhere if we wanted a safe place to get high. We chose that option about 90% of the time. They were more strict with the alcohol though. Of course, we rarely drank because we were always getting high. Terr 16 years ago Getting weed in both middle school and high school was very fucking easy. John C. Randolph 16 years ago Much easier then getting a beer, I'm guessing? -jcr Terr 16 years ago Cigarette and/or alcohol usage usually required theft from the parental collection in middle school. Just about everything was easy to access as high school rolled on. Weed was easier in my opinion but that was what I was always looking for. IceTrey 16 years ago Gary Johnson should have looked across the desk and told that old douche, "I'm a grown man and you do not have any right to tell me what I can do with my own body". Terr 16 years ago That has absolutely zero effect on people that invoke The Children as basis of their argument. IceTrey 16 years ago I wouldn't expect it to have any effect that guy , but it might have one on the audience. Isaac Bartram 16 years ago Califano cites the stat for alcohol and tobacco that for every dollar in tax they receive the government spends nine in healthcare and social service costs. I thought that's what I heard him say and my reaction is that it smells bad. And I suspect the reason it smells bad is that he just pulled it out of his arse. Please log in to post comments Mute this user? Mute User Cancel Ban this user? Ban User Cancel Un-ban this user? Un-ban User Cancel Nuke this user? Nuke User Cancel Un-nuke this user? Un-nuke User Cancel Flag this comment? 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