Pubdate: Tue, 17 Dec 2013
Source: York Daily Record (PA)
Copyright: 2013 The York Daily Record
Contact:  http://ydr.inyork.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/512
Author; John Hanger

CANDIDATE WOULD LEGALIZE POT IN PA.

As I campaign for governor and talk about the need to reform the
state's cruel, ineffective and unjust marijuana laws, I find that
public support is overwhelming, but people are deeply skeptical that
our elected leaders will ever show the courage to get the job done.

Many voters tell me they think the only way to achieve marijuana law
reform here is the way Colorado and Washington did it: by
citizen-initiated referendum. We don't have that option; instead,
Pennsylvania's referendum for marijuana reform will come next May, in
the Democratic primary for governor.

As the sole candidate who has made comprehensive marijuana law reform
a key campaign issue, winning the Democratic nomination will transform
Pennsylvania's political landscape and make marijuana law reform inevitable.

Hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians need medical marijuana but our
politicians stop doctors from prescribing it. Other supporters of
marijuana reform are hard-working people with a past conviction for
possessing a small quantity that now damages their ability to be
taxpaying, productive citizens. I will stop the arrest, prosecution
and incarceration of the approximately 2 million Pennsylvanians who
use marijuana - an annual waste of $350 million. I will close the
school-to-jail pipeline that destroys young lives before they get started.

I will initiate a process to expunge the records of past marijuana
convictions and dedicate a portion of revenues raised through taxation
of legal marijuana sales to fund addiction treatment services and drug
education programs.

Political elites usually always trail the public on important issues,
but in an election where only a few hundred-thousand votes will elect
the Democratic nominee, marijuana reform is a transformative issue,
and my nomination will be the impetus to make the changes we need.

- - John Hanger, Democratic candidate for governor
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MAP posted-by: Matt