Although California Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom admits he’s never tried pot (he says he doesn’t care for the smell), he supports legalizing recreational cannabis and voices outright opposition to the Drug War. A likely gubernatorial candidate, Newsom says he would endorse a legalization measure on the California ballot in 2016, provided it was written properly. He also sagely advocates keeping the taxes on pot sufficiently low to decrease (if not eliminate) black-market sales.
Newsom was the featured speaker at a recent meeting of the Marin County Bar Association. When he was challenged by San Anselmo Councilman Ford Greene—who brought up hard drugs like heroin and asked, “Why should we stop with only the legalization of marijuana?”—Newsom retorted: “I happen to believe that marijuana is a hell of a lot more…