Oregon Senator Ron Wyden Hates Marijuana

In a midterm election year, there is nothing more satisfying to me than harassing political candidates. I spend a lot of my free time and work breaks calling and e-mailing campaigns, trying to get them to go on record with their ‘official stance’ on marijuana policy. Yesterday I received a response that was so ridiculous, that I had to share it with everyone.

A couple of months ago I contacted Oregon Senator Ron Wyden’s campaign office via e-mail with a very straight forward question — ‘What is your stance on marijuana policy; specifically, marijuana legalization, medical marijuana dispensaries in Oregon, and the current state of the Oregon Medical Marijuana Program.’ I informed him that I am a registered, un-affiliated voter in Oregon, and I’m also a member of the OMMP. Marijuana policy is by far the most important issue to me personally. Here is his response copied and pasted below:

“Dear Mr. Green:

Thank you for contacting me to express your support for legalization of marijuana. I appreciate hearing from you on this important issue.

During my service in Congress, Oregonians have sometimes asked me, “why can’t Americans use drugs in private, in their own homes?” This idea of private, legalized drug use is typically founded on claims that personal use harms doesn’t harm anyone and that legalization would create enormous revenue for the federal government. I do not believe either claim to be true. The serious effects that illegal drugs have on healthy families and communities cannot be ignored. Decades of scientific research shows that repeated use of illegal substances greatly increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other fatal health conditions. Even so-called “soft drugs,” like marijuana, adversely affect memory and attention span. They can also serve as a “gateway” drugs that lead to more serious drug use. I have therefore consistently voted to strengthen drug enforcement, education, and prevention measures.

Again, thank you for keeping me apprised of issues that are important to you. While we may not agree on this issue, I hope and trust there are many other issues where we do agree. If I may be of further assistance in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

First of all, this is the same generic letter that his campaign has been sending out for years. Senator Ron Wyden’s camp sent the same generic letter to at least one Oregon voter in 2008 that I could find. There are a couple minor changes in my letter to try to make it feel personal, but let’s get real, this idiot told his campaign staff a long time ago to mail out anti-marijuana propaganda to anyone who inquired; no need to put anymore thought into it.

Well Mr. Ron Wyden, I am going to write my rebuttal to your propaganda right here on TWB…consider it an open letter to you and your handlers…First off, you took MONTHS to get back to me with this stupid response which can only be described as an ‘anti-marijuana propaganda template.’ If you truly cared about your constituents, you would either send this impersonal e-mail immediately (considering it takes NO TIME at all), or you would ACTUALLY DO YOUR JOB AND WRITE A REAL, UNIQUE RESPONSE. Why do you try to mislead voters into thinking that you really took the time to put in some thought? It would have almost been better if you didn’t send out a response at all?!

Secondly, you only answered ONE of my questions. Yes, I asked about marijuana legalization, but I also asked about dispensaries and medical marijuana too. It is obvious that you are a raging marijuana prohibitionist for recreational purposes, but how do you feel about medical marijuana? Considering the fact that dispensaries might be on the horizon in your home state, surely you would have an opinion on the matter? Or wait…you are a total D bag that doesn’t care about your home state, so why would you bother looking into issues that are important to your constituents, right?? Why take the time to care, when you can just send out a generic template letter…

“This idea of private, legalized drug use is typically founded on claims that personal use harms doesn’t harm (sic) anyone and that legalization would create enormous revenue for the federal government. I do not believe either claim to be true.” Personal use of marijuana in the privacy of one’s home DOES NOT HARM ANYONE. That is an undeniable fact Mr. Wyden. If I smoke marijuana in the privacy of my own home, who am I harming? If my claim is not well founded, then surely you can give me one sensible example of how my personal, in-home marijuana use is detrimental to anyone, in any way…I guarantee Mr. Wyden has no example, and never will. For you educated folks, you noticed the (sic) in the quote, indicating a grammatical error…I will point this out again later…

“The serious effects that illegal drugs have on healthy families and communities cannot be ignored.” When we are talking about REAL drugs, then yes, I agree. Meth, Cocaine, Heroin, etc, have all had a tremendously devastating effect on families and communities. Marijuana on the other hand, has done nothing when you consider it by itself. It hasn’t killed anyone, it doesn’t get people ‘strung out,’ and I’ve never heard of anyone stealing things made out of metal in order to feed their ‘marijuana addiction.’ Furthermore, if Mr. Wyden is going to cling to this premise that ‘if a substance negatively effects healthy families and communities, then it must be prohibited,’ then what about alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceutical drugs?? If Mr. Wyden was following his own logic, he would be all over alcohol, tobacco and big pharm right? Because after all, they have been wreaking havoc on families and communities for a long, long time. Ron Wyden is clearly on a war path to end their consumption right…of course not. I almost guarantee he is having a glass of wine as I write this article.

“Decades of scientific research shows that repeated use of illegal substances greatly increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and other fatal health conditions.” Once again, Mr. Wyden, are you talking about marijuana itself, or are you talking about synthetic narcotics, because they are two totally different things? You can use language like this when you are talking in front of a group of reporters that don’t make the distinction between ‘hard drugs’ and harmless marijuana, but you can’t get away with it here on TWB. Name one study that has ever shown an increase of risk in these areas due to marijuana use only….Can you Ron??…All I need is one. Marijuana is a medicine, it is an undeniable fact. If you use a vaporizer and/or consume marijuana via edibles, there are virtually no health side effects whatsoever.

“Even so-called ‘soft drugs,’ like marijuana, adversely affect memory and attention span.” Remember earlier in the post when I pointed out the grammatical error in Ron Wyden’s response? By no means am I claiming that I am a grammatical wizard, but then again, I don’t go around bashing people for their aptitude either. If Ron Wyden is going to make claims about the mental ability of a marijuana consumer, he should probably make sure that he has his grammar in pristine order, wouldn’t you think?? I have news for you Mr. Wyden — I have consumed marijuana since I was 12 years old, ONLY MARIJUANA, and I graduated at the top of my class in college, and was even extended a scholarship to attend a private law school here in Oregon due to my academic prowess. I consumed marijuana every day before, in-between, and after classes. I am walking proof that your claims are total BS, and I know I am not alone.

“They can also serve as a ‘gateway’ drugs (sic) that lead to more serious drug use.” Once again, one has to love that grammar! Apparently, if spell checker doesn’t catch it at the Wyden campaign office, then it doesn’t matter…Ah, the outdated ‘gateway drug argument.’ I have been bashing this propaganda for years. If you talk to any hardcore drug addict, you will find out that they tried a prescription drug, alcohol, tobacco, huffing, etc, before they ever tried marijuana. I’m not saying EVERY, but ALMOST every. So is marijuana the real ‘gateway drug’ that Mr. Wyden is claiming it to be? Or is it simply the box that is checked most often at a drug rehab intake, because all of the other items I previously mentioned were not included on the form??

Marijuana does not have anything to do with hardcore drug addicts going down the path they take; they have addictive personalities, and when presented with a mind altering substance under certain conditions, they decide to go all in. If marijuana had never existed, these people would still be addicted to hardcore drugs. They would have started with alcohol, tobacco, and pharms, then went on to harder stuff. I have NEVER met someone, in all of my life and marijuana experiences, that said after smoking marijuana the first time, they knew they wanted to do heroin or some other hard drug. Never. I have, however, met thousands of hardcore drug users that said they don’t look at marijuana as a gateway drug; it was merely the thing around at the time so they did it.

It is alarming how out of touch Senator Ron Wyden is with his home state. Oregon was the first in the nation to decriminalize marijuana, the second to have medical marijuana, and the first to reclassify it from Schedule I to Schedule II. Oregon has even legalized industrial hemp production — most people don’t realize that, especially Senator Ron Wyden. As of July 1, 2010, there are 36,380 medical marijuana patients in Oregon, along with 18,676 caretakers. Voter Power in Oregon turned in over 130,000 signatures to try to bring medical marijuana dispensaries to Oregon. That’s just a couple of examples of alienated constituents Mr. Wyden. I can find many, many more if you want. Why do you alienate us? Are you really an Oregonian? I would give anything to hear your response Mr. Wyden. You obviously have my e-mail address…

P.S. — I hope you lose your election this year

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