Conservatives Causing Heart Attacks By Abandoning Pot Prohibition!
That's 2012 Libertarian presidential candidate and New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson faking a heart attack during a CPAC panel disussion about marijuana legalization.
Former Consumer Product Safety Commissioner Mary Buerkle was claiming that smoking dope increases your chance of suffering a cardiac arrest. But fears of legal pot are fading fast among conservatives. According to National Journal, the same CPAC straw poll that had libertarianish Sen. Rand Paul winning the top slot for the 2016 presidential nomination also found that
26 percent supporting, at the very least, the legalization of medicinal marijuana and an astonishing 41 percent in favor of legalizing pot for recreational use.
Other surprises (or perhaps more accurately, concessions to reality) included this:
Seventy-seven percent said they want President Obama's executive actions on immigration defunded, but just 37 percent said illegal immigrants should be deported.
Reason's CPAC coverage included analysis of the split between party elites and the grassroots when it comes to foreign policy and a growing generational gap with younger attendees much more interested in reducing the size, scope, and spending of government than using government to enforce morality. Here's one of our vids (more here), featuring Matt Welch talking with folks about interventionism.
