Barney Frank: Won't "waste time" Talking with Mark Souder about Pot

Esquire magazine's John H. Richardson recently interviewed US Representative Barney Frank regarding Mr. Frank's introduction of legislation termed the "Personal Use of Marijuana by Responsible Adults Act of 2009."

Mr. Richardson talked to Representative Frank about those Republicans supporting his proposal and those against.  Mr. Frank identified US Representative Mark Souder of the 3rd District of Indiana as an opponent and that he wouldn't bother talking with Mr. Souder about the contents of the bill.

Here is the exchange as published in Esquire:

BF: By the way, the bill is bi-partisan: I've got two Democrats and two Republicans.

ESQ: Who are the Republicans?

BF: Ron Paul. And Dana Rohrabacher from California.

ESQ: Isn't Rohrabacher pretty hard-right?

BF: He's a very conservative guy, but with a libertarian streak.

ESQ: That libertarian streak will help you out once in a while. And who's against it?

BF: Well, Mark Souder from Indiana, who's very much a proponent of the drug war.

ESQ: When you talk to Souder about it, what does he say?

BF: You don't waste your time on people with whom you completely disagree.

ESQ: Okay.

BF: Here's one thing I would say – there's a great intellectual flaw at work here. People say, "Oh, you want the government to approve of smoking marijuana." And the answer is, no, there should be a small number of things that the government makes illegal, but the great bulk of human activity ought to be none of the government's business. People can make their own choices.

ESQ: What about the "public-square" argument that we need to keep prostitutes off the streets and pot-smokers on the run in order to promote a higher level of morality and civic order?

BF: One, I don't think it's immoral to smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol, even though they may make you sick. Morality to me is the way you treat other people, not the way you treat yourself. John Stuart Mill's On Liberty makes a great deal of sense in that regard. I wish more people read him.

The following excerpt from the interview preceded Mr. Frank's remarks concerning Mr. Souder:

ESQUIRE: Could you tell me why you're doing it at this time? Everybody says you guys have got so much to handle right now.

BARNEY FRANK: Announcing that the government should mind its own business on marijuana is really not that hard. There's not a lot of complexity here. We should stop treating people as criminals because they smoke marijuana. The problem is the political will.

ESQ: That's my second question. There's already been a lot of change in the country. Thirteen states have decriminalized pot. What's holding up Congress?

BF: This is a case where there's cultural lag on the part of my colleagues. If you ask them privately, they don't think it's a terrible thing. But they're afraid of being portrayed as soft on drugs. And by the way, the argument is, nobody ever gets arrested for it. But we have this outrageous case in New York where a cop jammed a baton up a guy's ass when he caught him smoking marijuana.

ESQ: You're kidding.

BF: Actually, I've just been corrected by my partner – it was a radio he jammed up the guy's ass, not his baton.

ESQ: Small radio, I hope.  

Comments

[Noel Schutt]

Both congressmen are crazy, and neither is likely to change their minds. I doubt progress would be made on any issue the two debated.

[Amy Lynn]

So Mitch, are you back to blogging or is this only a tease?

Ed. note: As Dr. Frankenstein said "It's alive!"

[Roger McNett]

We would all be better off if no one smoked, drank alcohol or used drugs that are illegal. There are, however, people who choose to do some or all of the above. Most of those people get along in life as productive and happy citizens. Many are our neighbors and friends. Unfortunately, a significant percentage, for a number of reasons, do not do so well. It would seem more productive for our society to investigate other ways to help these people rather than locking them up at a very high cost to them, their families and society. Hard questions do not usually have simple answers. Only simple people do. - that was harsh. sorry

[Adam Vano]

"I hope it was a small radio" -- hilarious!

[Robert Enders]

If you don't like marijuana in your neighborhood, this could be could news. I doubt that Indiana will legalize it anytime soon, but if California legalizes it, all those undesirable creative types will leave this state.

[Nancy Allen]

"Undesirable Creative Types will leave this state"?????.....well I guess I better start packing....

[Andy Borgmann]

"all those undesirable creative types will leave this state." - I left the state, but trying to get back :)

Thanks Mitch for a great find. This provided great fodder for my own blog. Frankly, I think both are wrong most of the time. Not because of the positions they hold, but because they equally are stubborn in their positions and don't keep open dialogue with people they disagree with.