This post is part of our continuing series of “Politicians on Pot“.  If you have written your elected official at the local, state, or federal level, email their response to stash@norml.org with the subject Politicians on Pot.  Visit our Politicians on Pot map and click your state to find the responses from your elected officials.  If you’d like to review all of the responses from Democrats and Republicans you can use these links. If you’d like to just review all the politicians responses, click Politicians on Pot.

February 14, 2011

Dear Ray:

Thank you for contacting me to express your views on S. 714, the National Criminal Justice Commission Act. This legislation would establish a commission to undertake a comprehensive review of our nation’s criminal justice system. It would bring together experts to identify current problems and recommend remedies that will bring real reform to the system. I am pleased to say I have co-sponsored this important measure.

With over 2 million inmates, many who are in prison for non-violent drug offenses, the United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world. While prisons play an essential role in keeping our communities safe from violent criminals, I have concerns that our prison system is falling short on common sense initiatives, like drug treatment, education, and job training programs, which are all essential components to reducing rates of recidivism and lowering the number of Americans in our prisons.

Our failure to seriously address this problem has left us with prisons that are bursting at the seams but communities that continue to be plagued by crime and violence. To get to the bottom of the problem, we need a full-scale re-evaluation of who goes to jail and for how long, as well as how best to address the long-term problems of incarceration and recidivism. This legislation will accomplish those goals by examining and recommending reforms for our criminal justice system on the federal, state, and local levels. Rest assured that I will do what I can to see that this important initiative is favorably considered by the Senate.

Again, thanks for writing me. Please don’t hesitate to contact me in the future with any questions or concerns you may have.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin
United States Senator

From the influential Washington DC political blog, Wonkette:

Senator Tom Harkin: Marijuana Makes People Sell Their Children
It’s 2008, and that teenager drug marijuana is still raping our children. But why does that have to be illegal? According to The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), some person wrote to Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin “asking him to justify why medicinal cannabis is still illegal” after the American College of Physicians recommended it shouldn’t be. It merited a hilarious reply from Harkin, which noted many of pot’s notorious doom scenarios: “the small child whose parents are so addicted to illegal drugs that they sell everything including perhaps their own children to obtain a fix.” Harkin knows the routine: smoke up, eat gyro, play Legend of Zelda, sell children to pirates for more pot, repeat. The full, horrifying letter, after the jump.

Fire up the reefer madness machine – it’s 2008, but for Iowa Democrat Tom Harkin, it might as well be 1938. Ron over at the NORML Blog tears this one apart:

Dear XXXX:

Thank you for contacting me. I am always glad to hear from you.

I do not believe the answer in solving this country’s problem of drug abuse and the violence associated with drug trafficking is to make drugs legal. I have seen too much of the ill effects of these illegal drugs on our nation’s young people, as well as this country’s law enforcement officers, to believe the solution is to make these drugs more readily available by legalizing them.

Marijuana is often the drug singled out for legalization. However, marijuana is not the recreational drug that many believe it to be. In a study completed by the Drug Abuse Warning Network, the number of marijuana related emergencies has nearly reached the level of cocaine related emergencies. As this statistic indicates, marijuana use often has fatal consequences.

I was deeply troubled when I learned of another recent study which found that nearly one-third of all eighth graders had tried marijuana. As the father of two daughters, it greatly disturbs me that children are exposed to drugs at such a young age. I am concerned that legalization of this drug will only increase the number of children who gain access to its harmful effects.

The victims of the drug war are many – the small child whose parents are so addicted to illegal drugs that they sell everything including perhaps their own children to obtain a fix; the police officer’s family which must now learn to cope with the loss of their loved one as a result of a violent drug bust gone awry. These are the people I think of when I say that drugs pose a significant threat to the security of this nation.

In addition to helping to double federal funds for Iowa’s anti-drug programs, I am an active supporter of the Smoother Sailing Programs in the Des Moines public schools. This program is designed to help children cope with the violence, confusion and trauma associated with the abuse of drugs in our society.

Legalizing drugs is equivalent to declaring surrender in the war on drugs. However we may differ in tactics, I am hopeful that we can work together to fight drugs in our communities and to make Iowa drug free.

Again, thanks for sharing your views with me. Please don’t hesitate to let me know how you feel on any issue that concerns you.

Sincerely,

Tom Harkin

United States Senator

Senator Harkin, you should be ashamed of this reefer madness. Let’s address some of your points:

1. Legalization of marijuana: Your constituent asked you about medical marijuana;
2. “The number of marijuana related emergencies has nearly reached the level of cocaine related emergencies.” Please. Those DAWN statistics you cite mean that when someone goes to the ER, they mention that they are a cannabis user. If I got rear ended in a car crash, go to the ER, and mention when asked that, yeah, I smoked a doobie at a Wilco concert two weeks ago, that’s a “marijuana-related emergency”.
3. “As this statistic indicates, marijuana use often has fatal consequences.” Except that marijuana is completely non-toxic and hasn’t killed anyone.
4. “I was deeply troubled when I learned of another recent study which found that nearly one-third of all eighth graders had tried marijuana.” Well, actually government surveys but the number at about half that, but still, marijuana use by eighth graders isn’t something we’re happy about either. See, marijuana dealers don’t check IDs and they don’t lose their marijuana dealers license if they sell to minors. Unlike, say, a liquor store owner.
5. “The victims of the drug war are many – the small child whose parents are so addicted to illegal drugs that they sell everything including perhaps their own children to obtain a fix…” Really? People are selling their kids to obtain marijuana? How much weed can I get for my dog?
6. “…the police officer’s family which must now learn to cope with the loss of their loved one as a result of a violent drug bust gone awry.” Who exactly is bringing all this violence to the drug bust? Could it be the dozens of overarmed, body-armored SWAT teams that bust down the doors of simple gardeners? Only prohibition makes that violent drug bust necessary.