Lefty pothead writers too busy making Cheez Whiz sandwiches to defend their filthy habit?
by digby
Dylan Byers wonders why the left hasn’t defended the legalization of pot and specifically calls out that obvious
In recent weeks, David Brooks, Joe Scarborough and Tina Brown have all written about marijuana’s threats to — respectively — character development, intelligence and our ability to compete with the Chinese.
What’s surprising is the absence of a strong response from the progressive sphere. Sure, the Internet is awash with essays promoting the benefits of legalization, and far-left pubs like The Nation have taken up the issue. But — and readers, please correct me if I’m wrong — we have yet to see a resounding response from pundits’ of a higher caliber. Paul Krugman hasn’t countered Brooks; Rachel Maddow hasn’t challenged Scarborough — I’m not quite sure which big-name magazine editor wants to take up Tina Brown’s debate. I’m not even sure where the Krugmans and Maddows stand on marijuana legalization — but that’s sort of the point.
Why the relative radio silence? Perhaps because outside of Colorado and Washington State, it’s hard to come to marijuana’s defense without outing yourself as a pothead — or at least an occasional practitioner. That shouldn’t be the case. The pros and cons of marijuana legalization can be covered as sober-mindedly as any policy issue, from gay marriage to health insurance to unemployment benefits. Come to think of it, it’d be a great subject for Ezra Klein, but his Wonkblog team hasn’t really addressed it last summer, and he has yet to take a real deep dive into how legalization — and subsequent economic growth, arrest rate declines, etc — would affect the economy.
Come on, everybody knows that Ezra Klein and Paul Krugman are total stoners. They hardly get anything done. I’m guessing Byers might be a bit of a midnight toker himself. Check out his update.
Also too:
Vanity Fair, No More Mister Nice Blog, The Wire, The Week, Business Insider,Mediaite, Little Green Footballs, Firedoglake, blogs.telegraph.co.uk, alicublog, The Dish, The Raw Story, ThinkProgress, Hit & Run, Booman Tribune,Taylor Marsh, Talking Points Memo, Boing Boing, Lawyers, Guns & Money, American Prospect,and Crooked Timber
In his defense, googling is hard when you’re high.
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