Why is it that usually republicans do not want pot legal?

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Why is it that usually republicans do not want to legalize marijuana?

A lot of the time republicans say how we need to have a smaller government, we don't want a nanny government, Then why is it that most of the time republicans do not want marijuana legalized? We are letting the governement tell us that something, that is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco, should be illegal. It needlessly puts many people in jail. If it was taxed it would give the gov't billions of dollars.

Gateway drug!! ! False. Many studies have proved that invalid.
War on drugs!! ! Let's needlessly throw a bunch of people in jail.


I found a recent one!! !
http://www.gallup.com/poll/150149/recor ... juana.aspx

First of all, the republican party had sold out it's core values along time ago. (Of course there are a few exceptions, but they are the exceptions and not the rule).

Also, the religious right and corporations have a strong stranglehold on them. Would you want to loose money from companies , even if they use the arm of the state to ban a substance that would harm profits (Phizer, Merck, Bayer, etc.). Or would you want to loose a large base of the party? I did not think so.


Also, like I mentioned in a post before, people tend to have double standards. Like the mosque at ground zero, people don't want it in their back yard, but if the zoning board blocks a church, they would raise hell.


And if you look at the history of the Republican party, tyranny is the rule and not the exception. Lincoln locked up journalist who did not go along with Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and him trying to regulate people out of business, and in more recent time Bush and "Compassionate Conservatism". Most of the time they actually followed through with their rhetoric is when they were the minority party, see 40's (Robert Taft), 60's (Goldwater), and 80's (Reagan).

It should also be noted that not all Republicans are conservatives or libertarians. It is a big tent party, and has a lot of baggage, from the Progressive era, Prohibitionist era, Old Right Era,Cold War era, Regan Era, Christian Right era, and Bush era. So that is also a factor.

our governments "special"

I don't think zacb's notion is the real reason. I think it really has to do with the the kinds of people the modern republican party is trying to appeal to. The republican party is in some ways aiming to attract very conventional people, so if you look, a lot of what the Republicans are pushing is part of some version of what is conventional, which includes enterprise, American dominance and exceptionalism, religion, and this "clean-cut" life. (It's radicalized somewhat recently with some notion of the way of life going away and having to "save America" which is driving some degree of madness)

I don't think this is really very much driven by the "Republicans are tyrannical thesis" though, as I don't think that the political groups have a solid culture so much as a response to their potential voters. I mean, the Republicans took over from the Whigs, who were also in many ways the more conventional party.(They liked the British, they liked the bankers and moneyed interests, they wanted a government strong enough to keep order, and I think a greater number of them had ties to loyalists) Taking back the South probably didn't help these issues either, as it involved allying with the conservative elements of the south.

Because pot smells badly.

In a twisted way is this an extension of the Healthcare debate? Basically seeing marijuana as a "gateway" to harder drugs and eventually these users will become a healthcare burden on society?

Some of this concern might be valid. However, I wonder which is more costly between potential drug addicts being a healthcare burden on society or the policy of drug prohibition and the drug war. (Nevermind the double standard of alcohol being legal )

Now Obama is hinting he will go easier on pot offenders if he gets reelected president. Lesser sentences for pot possession if any at all.

They are victims of misinformation campaigns. Like many things the Republicans stand for, their position on pot is extremely contradictory. Obama is not that much better, really. I have seen an interview with him where he was presented with the question on marijuana prohibition by a member of law enforcement; Obama pretty much just repeated the typical talking points that have been circulating for decades, albeit in a glib manner

Stop making generalizations. Social Conservatives don't want Marijuana legalized, yet the average not ret*d Republican has no issue with it. Personally I'm a Libertarian so I'm in favor of it being legalized but I don't like when people make uninformed generalizations.