ro4eva
Bluelighter
Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 8:20 am - The state of Florida continues to edge closer to passing some sort of reasonable medical marijuana legislation, but not everyone in the state is happy about it. We have been reporting on the totally predictable knee-jerk opposition from the state sheriff's association, but as the Florida state legislature is beginning to make moves to legitimize the plant for medical needs, anti-cannabis groups have decided to enter the political arena as well.
Drug Free Florida is an anti-marijuana group whose sole purpose is to oppose, and eventually defeat, the amendment scheduled for a vote this November to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Funded by a 6-digit donation from Mel Sembler (a local land developer, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Australia, and long-time money bundler for the Republican Party), the group's ties to the GOP do not end there.
The head of the fledgling group of prohibitionists is a man named Carlton Turner, a 73-year-old creep who holds the dishonorable distinction of serving as a drug czar in the mid-80's for then-President Ronald Reagan.
Word is, the iconic phrase "JUST SAY NO" was Turner's creation, and was then co-opted by first lady Nancy Reagan to launch the miserable failure that has been the War on Drugs.
It was also during his time with the Reagan administration that Carlton Turner gave an in-depth interview to Newsweek magazine about the dangers of marijuana, and the various gateways he claimed that pot use would lead to.
The very title of the article paints Carlton as the bigot he allegedly was at the time, "Reagan Aide: Pot Can Make You Gay."
That article, published over a quarter of a century ago, has come back to haunt Carlton, as the most outspoken pro-cannabis group in Florida has begun to wave it around for all to see, hoping that the blatant misinformation and bigotry expressed by Carlton in 1986 will work to sway voters at the polls in 2014.
"The newly formed Drug Free Florida committee has somehow managed to choose as its chairman a messenger with even less credibility than its message," read a press release put out by pro-pot group United for Care Organization. It continued, "There is no place for bigotry and ignorance in the debate over compassionate medical marijuana policy in Florida."
Summarizing their take on the 1986 Newsweek article, the group says that Turner "once stated that marijuana 'leads to homosexuality...and therefore to AIDS.' This statement is as offensive as it is inaccurate and should call into question any claim made by Mr. Turner in the course of this campaign."
In his defense, Turner says it's all a big misunderstanding, that the interview was botched and he was taken out of context, and that by pointing to it as evidence of any type of bigotry, his political opponents are simply showing that they have nothing else to work with.
To be fair, he is correct; he never directly stated that 'weed leads to homosexuality which then leads to AIDS'. Oh no, it's way more vile than that.
In the 1986 Newsweek interview, Turner talks about his time visiting with minors in drug treatment centers, and recalling that over 40% of them had allegedly engaged in homosexual activity.
He is, however, quoted directly saying about his theories on homosexuality that, "It seems to be something that follows along from their marijuana use ... My concern is, how is the biological system affected by heavy marijuana use? The public needs to be thinking about how drugs alter people's lifestyles."
He then goes on to talk about how smoking cannabis weakens the immune system (false) and implies how that can lead to AIDS.
Fast forward nearly 30 years, and Carlton Turner is scraping the bottom of the barrel of right-wing Conservative welfare, still opposing cannabis, and now trying to defend the woefully ignorant claims attributed to him about the subject from his past.
Find out what Reagen Administration Drug Czar Carlton Turners has to say about his mid-80s 'pot use leads to AIDS' claim.
Drug Free Florida is an anti-marijuana group whose sole purpose is to oppose, and eventually defeat, the amendment scheduled for a vote this November to legalize medical marijuana in the state. Funded by a 6-digit donation from Mel Sembler (a local land developer, former U.S. Ambassador to Italy and Australia, and long-time money bundler for the Republican Party), the group's ties to the GOP do not end there.
The head of the fledgling group of prohibitionists is a man named Carlton Turner, a 73-year-old creep who holds the dishonorable distinction of serving as a drug czar in the mid-80's for then-President Ronald Reagan.
Word is, the iconic phrase "JUST SAY NO" was Turner's creation, and was then co-opted by first lady Nancy Reagan to launch the miserable failure that has been the War on Drugs.
It was also during his time with the Reagan administration that Carlton Turner gave an in-depth interview to Newsweek magazine about the dangers of marijuana, and the various gateways he claimed that pot use would lead to.
The very title of the article paints Carlton as the bigot he allegedly was at the time, "Reagan Aide: Pot Can Make You Gay."
That article, published over a quarter of a century ago, has come back to haunt Carlton, as the most outspoken pro-cannabis group in Florida has begun to wave it around for all to see, hoping that the blatant misinformation and bigotry expressed by Carlton in 1986 will work to sway voters at the polls in 2014.
"The newly formed Drug Free Florida committee has somehow managed to choose as its chairman a messenger with even less credibility than its message," read a press release put out by pro-pot group United for Care Organization. It continued, "There is no place for bigotry and ignorance in the debate over compassionate medical marijuana policy in Florida."
Summarizing their take on the 1986 Newsweek article, the group says that Turner "once stated that marijuana 'leads to homosexuality...and therefore to AIDS.' This statement is as offensive as it is inaccurate and should call into question any claim made by Mr. Turner in the course of this campaign."
In his defense, Turner says it's all a big misunderstanding, that the interview was botched and he was taken out of context, and that by pointing to it as evidence of any type of bigotry, his political opponents are simply showing that they have nothing else to work with.
To be fair, he is correct; he never directly stated that 'weed leads to homosexuality which then leads to AIDS'. Oh no, it's way more vile than that.
In the 1986 Newsweek interview, Turner talks about his time visiting with minors in drug treatment centers, and recalling that over 40% of them had allegedly engaged in homosexual activity.
He is, however, quoted directly saying about his theories on homosexuality that, "It seems to be something that follows along from their marijuana use ... My concern is, how is the biological system affected by heavy marijuana use? The public needs to be thinking about how drugs alter people's lifestyles."
He then goes on to talk about how smoking cannabis weakens the immune system (false) and implies how that can lead to AIDS.
Fast forward nearly 30 years, and Carlton Turner is scraping the bottom of the barrel of right-wing Conservative welfare, still opposing cannabis, and now trying to defend the woefully ignorant claims attributed to him about the subject from his past.
Find out what Reagen Administration Drug Czar Carlton Turners has to say about his mid-80s 'pot use leads to AIDS' claim.
