Article Image

IPFS News Link • Drugs and Medications

Pat Robertson: Pot should be legal like alcohol

• http://hosted.ap.org, By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM
 

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson says marijuana should be legalized and treated like alcohol because the government's war on drugs has failed.

The outspoken evangelical Christian and host of "The 700 Club" on the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network he founded said the war on drugs is costing taxpayers billions of dollars. He said people should not be sent to prison for marijuana possession.

The 81-year-old first became a self-proclaimed "hero of the hippie culture" in 2010 when he called for ending mandatory prison sentences for marijuana possession convictions.

"I just think it's shocking how many of these young people wind up in prison and they get turned into hardcore criminals because they had a possession of a very small amount of a controlled substance," Robertson said on his show March 1.  "The whole thing is crazy. We've said, `Well, we're conservatives, we're tough on crime.' That's baloney."

Robertson's support for legalizing pot appeared in a New York Times (http://nyti.ms/zMys8R ) story published Thursday. His spokesman confirmed to The Associated Press that Robertson supports legalization with regulation.


www.universityofreason.com/a/29887/KWADzukm