Brumby tried it at uni, but now he's changed his mind

[Al B. Fuct]

Brumby tried it at uni, but now he's changed his mind

 

http://www.news.com.au/common/imagedata/0,,5644404,00.jpg

 

Ellen Whinnett

 

September 07, 2007 12:00am

 

PREMIER John Brumby has changed his stance on marijuana and now says the drug should not be legalised. In 1996 he sought to have it decriminalised.

 

Mr Brumby, who has said he tried marijuana while at university, says he has no plans to decriminalise the drug, which is being increasingly linked to depression and other mental illnesses.

 

In 1994, Mr Brumby as Opposition leader said his personal view was that the drug should be decriminalised.

 

And in 1996, he went as far as to introduce a private member's Bill, seeking to have marijuana decriminalised, $100 fines introduced for people who smoked it in public, and a reduction in penalties for some drug trafficking.

 

"In South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory effectively it is an offence but not an indictable offence to consume marijuana. That is my personal view. It is not a view I've pushed through the party," Mr Brumby said in 1994.

 

Speaking about his time at university, Mr Brumby said: "I tried marijuana and experimented with marijuana.

 

"I'm not endorsing, suggesting, promoting, encouraging people to do that, but I'm being honest in saying that I did do that and unlike (US) President (Bill) Clinton, I did inhale."

 

Mr Brumby's comments 13 years ago were made during a period of debate about whether laws prohibiting the smoking or possession of small amounts of marijuana ought to be relaxed.

 

Two years later, his personal opinions became Labor policy.

 

"As I have said, tens of millions of dollars of police time and resources and court time is currently devoted to prosecuting, and in some cases persecuting, individuals who do no more than consume small amounts of marijuana for personal use," he told State Parliament in 1996.

 

"We say that is a shocking and inexcusable waste of resources when every single dollar of budget spending we can get is needed to tackle the real problems caused by drug abuse in our community. What folly, and how absurd it is to spend all that time and money prosecuting and persecuting those who do no more than consume small amounts of marijuana for personal use.

 

". . . the Opposition supports the recommendation to decriminalise marijuana because the link between marijuana and harder drugs must be broken."

 

Former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett encouraged the debate after the Penington report into drug law reform, but ultimately decided not to decriminalise marijuana after a rebellion from conservative back-benchers and some in his Cabinet.

 

Mr Brumby's spokeswoman, Louise Perry, said yesterday that the Labor Government would not be changing its current position, which is to oppose any relaxation of marijuana laws.

 

"The Premier felt the debate had moved on from when he made these comments, and the evidence was clearly showing now that strong deterrents were working," Ms Perry said.

 

She said Mr Brumby's view was that the clear message of unacceptability of cannabis had contributed to reduced use and increasingly negative attitudes towards cannabis use, especially among young people.

 

Previous Labor premier Steve Bracks has said he never tried marijuana.

 

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu is another who has never smoked the drug.

[Al B. Fuct]

Mr Brumby, who has said he tried marijuana while at university, says he has no plans to decriminalise the drug, which is being increasingly linked to depression and other mental illnesses.

 

Yeah, linked by Drug Free Australia and a few of their flying monkeys... but there's still no causal link between cannabis and mental illness. Cannabis simply doesn't cause psychosis or schizophrenia in people who don't have a predisposition to them. 5000 years of cannabis use in recorded history hasn't revealed such- isn't it stunning that when it's politically expedient, cannabis suddenly causes mental illness.

 

"The Premier felt the debate had moved on from when he made these comments, and the evidence was clearly showing now that strong deterrents were working," Ms Perry said.

 

The Premier is pretty bloody underinformed.

[Pam]

I'm not going to pretend to understand what's going on there...but I did notice one blatant lie that I HAVE to address. Medicinal marijuana is used to treat depression! How can it cause depression when it alleviates the symptoms???!!!???

But I suppose that the idiots that make such a claim are the same idiots that ask those suffering with depression what they're depressed about!

Gee I don't know... why do diabetics need insulin? That's usually my answer.

Will there ever be a politician that isn't dead from the neck up?

[Tarnicus]

And people wonder why I have no hope for legalisation in this country.

[mull]

Well that buggers the theory of voting for the candidate with the most hair.

[Luke Skywalker]

I'm sure you have hairy greens....

[Al B. Fuct]

I'm not going to pretend to understand what's going on there...

 

It's this easy- Brumby's now the Premier (Governor) of Victoria- and he finds it politically expedient to abandon principles in exchange for political cooperation with conservative anti-drug wowsers.

 

Sorta like Peter Garrett is now no longer opposed to uranium mining despite 30 odd years of anti-nuclear campaigning and Midnight Oil tunes... because he was parachuted into a safe Labor seat in Federal Parliament a cpl years ago.

[blackheartedprofit]

yeah, both Garret and Brumby are nothing but fuckin hypocrites, both could have done some good for this country but they fuckin sold out

[WantDaChronic]

it reaally pisses me off when politicians go back on their beliefs just to get a tiny bit more power

[Pam]

Like the new avatar WDC!

 

So what it all boils down to is that politicians are nothing but scumbags that would happily sell their own mothers on the corner if it got them something they wanted.

 

I try not to watch the news but I have to get the local weather and tonite I hear Clinton is proposing to give us a national health care system... at the cost of all the tax cuts that were given to the middle class!

They all got on the bandwagon claiming they would stop the federal raids on the compassion clubs in states that have medpot bills. Who believes these crooks?

Truthfully I'm glad to be getting rid of Bush, but I'm so afraid of what will be replacing his stupid ass.

 

This is a sick sad world. I wonder which one of the degenerates they'll tell us we elected this time....

Edited September 18, 2007 by Granny