CNN Video, Rep Barney Frank: Marijuana Law a ‘Great Hypocrisy’

Rep Barney Frank (D-MA) talks to CNN’s Erin Burnett on his support for marijuana reform in this 3 minute segment. He makes many great points from the racist application of prohibition laws to victimless ‘crimes’ to the hypocrisy vs tobacco to the financial drain on our nation:

Barney Frank Quotes from Video Segment:

• “I believe in personal freedom and liberty.”
• “Particularly marijuana, I think is a great hypocrisy. I think frankly it contributes to a good deal of the sense of unfairness you have among younger people who are told they shouldn’t do this because it’s got all these negative effects, but then older people are engaging in all kinds of things that probably have a greater impact on people.”
• “One of the best things we can do to reduce state expenditures without reducing the quality of life is to stop going after people using marijuana.”
• “The analogy is prohibition, instead of this being a drain on our resources, we can tax it [cannabis] like anything else and it can be a contribution to our revenues.”
• “It’s not fairly done, it’s clear if you look at the arrests from marijuana, disproportional they come from people from minority groups.”
• After Erin tries dropping marijuana and tobacco are gateway drugs according to Yale: “Let me say two things. First of all, if we follow that logic we’d have to outlaw cigarette smoking…” to which Erin says “Oh the states will never do that, they need the money too much from the settlement.”
• “If there’s an activity that I could engage in without hurting anyone else, as an adult, but other people if they engage in it may abuse it, please don’t prevent me from doing it.”
• “Ron Paul and I are in great agreement on this [cannabis reform].”