The hypocrisy of John Suthers - The Denver Post

The hypocrisy of John Suthers - The Denver Post
"I would rather have legalization than have that widespread government-sanctioned hypocrisy," Attorney General John Suthers said this week, regarding action the legislature might or might not take on medical marijuana. But when did it become the attorney general's job to police "hypocrisy," rather than criminality? If that's his job, he could charge himself with a violation, based on that statement alone.

Suthers opposes legalization of any kind, even if it would end the alleged "hypocrisy." He has for as long as I've been paying attention. He's simply having trouble adapting to new realities, so he wants to roll the clock back as far and as fast as he can. He has plenty of colleagues in law enforcement (and a good number of politicians) willing to join him in that effort. But there's a bit of "hypocrisy" on that side as well.

Americans can dose themselves and their children with massive quantities of any pharmacy-bought drug — drugs that are widely abused and aren't always safe, even with FDA approval. They can sop their brains with alcohol, as long as they don't get behind the wheel while under the influence. But if some of them find answers to their physical or psychological maladies in the "evil weed," Suthers raises red flags.

Does that constitute "hypocrisy"? It's "inconsistency," or a case of "cognitive dissonance," at the very least.

Medical marijuana use has been legal in Colorado for nearly a decade, like it or not. Yet providers and patients have had to operate in the shadows, fearing that abiding by the state constitution would invite a federal drug bust. And Suthers, who is sworn to uphold the state constitution, was content with that arrangement, in which a legal, constitutionally sanctioned activity was treated as an illegal one. He was content to have law-abiding Coloradans slink around like common criminals. Instead of siding with Coloradans, and the Colorado Constitution, Suthers and his predecessors sided with the George W. Bush Justice Department, which was also stuck in the "just say no" era.

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