Republicans have used the rhetoric of states rights while decrying states passing Medical Marijuana Laws. Now there seems to be some movement away from the GOP's rigidly prohibitionist stance on any uses of Marijuana no matter what the purpose might be.
Paul Ryan: States Have the Right To Legalize Medical Marijuana
By Daniel Politi |
As the Republican vice-presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan gets ready to begin debate preparation on Sunday in Oregon, the Wisconsin lawmaker raised a few eyebrows when he told KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs that states should have the right to choose whether to legalize the drug for medical purposes. Ryan emphasized that while he doesn’t personally approve of laws that make medicinal marijuana legal, “it’s up to Coloradans to decide.” Colorado is one of 17 states, plus Washington, D.C., that allow medicinal marijuana, notes the Associated Press.
Ryan noted that the issue “is something that is not a high priority of ours.” A Ryan spokesman later emphasized that he agrees with Mitt Romney that marijuana should never be legalized.
A applaud this change, and hope that the Republicans will cling to less of their other rigid orthodoxies as well.