Orange County Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) is in full support of the "Regulate Marijuana Like Wine" initiative. He recently spoke at the Newport Beach Vineyard and Winery where a fundraiser for the initiative was held.
Rohrabacher is blunt about his use of marijuana in the past. According to an article in OC Weekly, "Rohrabacher has long acknowledged that he frequently smoked weed in his younger days, and that he's grateful he was never busted, given that back in the late 1960s simply possessing a joint could land you in jail for six months."
There are a few more unusual suspects actively involved in the movement to get this initiative passed. Retired Superior Court Judge Jim Gray and Retired LAPD Deputy Chief Stephen Downing were also in attendance at the fundraiser.
Diane Goldstein, who is a mom, a retired police officer and speaker for law enforcement against prohibition (LEAP) also spoke at the event. In a statement on MedicalMarijuana411.com's The Daily Dose Goldstein offers a mother's perspective:
"I know that those that favor the current drug policy will view this as harmful, but as mothers helped end the devastation of alcohol prohibition, it is now time for mothers to end the drug war as well."
RMLW supporters cite that Californians do not benefit from criminalization as is evident from the costs to our state and federal prisons. As stated in the website's video, they claim that more people are incarcerated for drug use than murder and other violent crimes.
In his speech, Rohrabacher added, "This idea, that in our society, which is based on individual rights and freedom and respect for people living their lives in the way they choose to live, that for us to be taking people for smoking weed and putting them in prison and jail, for that, is a travesty. It’s against everything our Founding Fathers believed in, and somehow our country got away from that."
