Republican Christian grandmother a surprising voice forTexas marijuana reform

Ann Lee sits outside her home Thursday, hours before leaving for Washington D.C. to represent her organization, Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition. She founded the group with her late husband, pictured behind Lee, who died at 92 last year. She says she's nervous about finding the words to convey her point at the convention.



See the states where marijuana use is legal ... less Ann Lee sits outside her home Thursday, hours before leaving for Washington D.C. to represent her organization, Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition. She founded the group with her late husband, pictured ... more Image 1 of / 39 Caption Close Republican Christian grandmother a surprising voice forTexas marijuana reform 1 / 39 Back to Gallery

Ann Lee ate some weed pretzels once, but she wasn't too impressed with the effects. It's not really surprising. The 85-year-old great grandmother has lived in Houston since 1956, and she's a reverent Republican Christian who looks like she'd bake a delicious pecan pie.

But when she's in Washington D.C. today pitching legal pot to her Republican peers, she's doing it to defend the right of a liberated people.

"Prohibition goes against the fundamental principles of the Republican party. Prohibition is against the fundamental principle of freedom," she said. "When you look at the facts, it's not conservative to support prohibition."

She's at the Conservative Political Action Conference in the nation's capital, where the Right gathers to vet 2016 hopefuls and develop a party line. Lee flew out of Houston yesterday to represent her multi-state organization, Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition, at the convention where she hopes to explain her take on the problems with drug laws. She said she's nervous about finding the right words to convey her points.

RELATED: "Ted Cruz blasts Hillary Clinton, Washington in CPAC speech"

"I believe that Republicans are so in bed with [marijuana prohibition] because they've always supported law and order," she said. "But we have to draw a distinction of bad laws, and I call marijuana prohibition a bad law."

Her grievances are several: wasted money to control the drug, disparate penalties for white and black people, prisons overcrowded with drug offenders and infringement of individual liberties by big government.

The Republican Party did not respond to repeated requests for comment on their marijuana law platform, but most conservative politicians have opposed legalization.

RELATED: West Texas judge reject's Willie Nelson's plea in pot case

Beside her at her booth, Lee will have an ally--a representative from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition. Houston radio host Dean Becker is a speaker for LEAP and a former police officer. He won't be at the D.C. convention, but he knows Lee and agrees with her qualms. For a former law enforcement officer, he said, the worst part of the Drug War is the black market money heaped on criminals.

Today, Houston's police chief Charles McClelland spoke on Becker's radio show, Cultural Baggage, and said he favors marijuana decriminalization because of the heavy load small drug crimes put on the law enforcement and legal system. Indeed the number of prisoners in the United States has more than quadrupled since the mid 1980s. According to the federal Bureau of Prisons, 49 percent of inmates are jailed for drug violations.

RELATED: Overcrowding stresses prison system, senator proposes reform

The chief also noted that blacks are disproportionately affected by drug laws. Becker said studies have shown that while drug use is equally common among white and black Americans, the latter is more likely to be arrested, more likely to be charged and more likely to be incarcerated for drug offenses. For Lee, that notion brings her back to darker times in Ponchatoula, La., where she was born in 1930.

"When I grew up in my little town, we had Jim Crow so strong they didn't even have a high school for blacks. And today the drug laws have given us the new Jim Crow," she said. "Why are all of our jails called the new plantations? Because they are filled with young blacks and Latinos. That just tears me up that it's happening in this country."

Conservatives who oppose repealing prohibition commonly say it is unhealthy and a gateway drug, likely to lead users on to harder substances.

Nevertheless, Lee is waging her battle for freedom. Becker said he was optimistic for Lee because the topic is moving out into the open. This week, Washington D.C. and Alaska legalized pot, joining Washington and Colorado.

RELATED: "Alaska quietly becomes 3rd state to legaliza marijuana"

"What it has done is given breathing space for other politicians in other states to move forward in this regard and be less afraid of making these type changes," he said. "It's starting to spill across the country."

In D.C., Lee will pitch a message perhaps better suited for Republican ears than most marijuana advocates can offer. She said Republican Abraham Lincoln condemned prohibition, which she called "contrary to everything that is conservative Republican: individual rights, small government and fiscal responsibility." She doesn't imagine she'll change the popular opinion in her party, but she wants to start a discussion.

"I would like to get this issue on the national scene," she said. "I'd like to get people running for president to look at this issue and take a stance."