Pat Robertson tells '700 Club' viewers current marijuana laws should be changed

 

The Rev. Dr. Pat Robertson, a longtime central influencer in conservative Christian Republican politics,  came out recently on television to say that the direction many politicians have taken regarding marijuana has turned out to be wrong.

Robertson claims that mandatory minimum sentencing for Americans caught with relatively small amounts of pot is costing the nation too much money and is not rehabilitating them.

"I'm not exactly for the use of drugs, don't get me wrong, but I just believe that criminalizing marijuana, criminalizing the possession of a few ounces of pot, that kinda thing, it's just -- it's costing us a fortune and it's ruining young people," the televangelist said on his long-running show, "The 700 Club," on the Christian Broadcasting Network. "Young people go into prisons, they go in as youths and come out as hardened criminals. That's not a good thing."

Interestingly, CBN (probably in the wake of headlines like "The 420 Club?,"  "Robertson: ‘Criminalizing Marijuana’ Is ‘Ruining Young People,’" and "Shock: Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson favors marijuana legalization") has felt the need to fine-tune what its founder said.

"Dr. Robertson did not call for the decriminalization of marijuana. He was advocating that our government revisit the severity of the existing laws because mandatory drug sentences do harm to many young people who go to prison and come out as hardened criminals," Chris Roslan, a CBN spokesman, said this week. "He was also pointing out that these mandatory sentences needlessly cost our government millions of dollars when there are better approaches available. Dr. Robertson's comments followed a CBN news story about a group of conservatives who have proven that faith-based rehabilitation for criminals has resulted in lower repeat offenders and saved the government millions of dollars. Dr. Robertson unequivocally stated that he is against the use of illegal drugs."

-- Tony Pierce

 

Comments

[Swimmer23]

"Dr. Robertson unequivocally stated that he is against the use of illegal drugs."

IF YOU LEGALIZE ILLEGAL DRUGS THEY ARE NO LONGER ILLEGAL DRUGS. This way everyone wins, cause "LEGAL" is just a euphemism for legal capitalization on commodities. Since legal drugs are no less addictive and harmful than illegal drugs, often they are the same compounds, the real reason why "illegal" drugs are so "bad" is because corporations/businesses cannot or will not make them into a proprietary product so they can make bank. This situation is more about marijuana than anything else because of its wide use. Read up peeps, educate yourselves.

[Kevin]

Maybe Pat Robertson is a real Christian after all....

[herb]

Dr. Pat Robinson IS NOT PROMOTING MURIJUANA/POT LEGALIZATION, AND THE FACT THAT YOU THINK THAT IS WHAT HE IS SAYING SHOWS THE DAMAGE DONE TO POT HEAD BRAINS. Listen again; Mr. Robinson was talking about rehabilitation of Pot users over excessive imprisonment. GET IT NOW!! PLEASE THINK WITH YOUR BRAIN WHEN ITS' NOT ON POT, Than you to won't make such an ignorant, political hack, and deceptive statement about Mr. Robinson supporting legalization of Pot when YOU KNOW HE DOESN'T.

[Roger Johnsen]

Having lived both sides of this issue I feel legalizing pot would only add to the substance abuse problem we alreadly have. I have never seen one instance of anything good coming from drugs or alcohol. I spent 30 years in research and addiction. It leads to a life of total self indulgence. I do not drink or dope to make others feel better or to make this land a better place to live. Nor do I worship my Lord bussed up. I believe a couple of guys tried that and their dad Levi had to bury them. The Bible encourages us to be sober and of a clear mind. There is no middle ground my steps either lead me closer to God or increase my distance. I would never encourage others to take a path leading to destruction. I encourage you to take a closer look at the under side of this issue.
Sincerely Roger Johnsen

[malcolm kyle]

If you support prohibition then you are NOT a conservative.
Conservative principles, quite clearly, ARE:

1) Limited, locally controlled government.
2) Individual liberty coupled with personal responsibility.
3) Free enterprise.
4) A strong national defense.
5) Fiscal responsibility.

Prohibition is actually an authoritarian War on the Constitution and all civic institutions of our great nation.

It's all about the market and cost/benefit analysis. Whether any particular drug is good, bad, or otherwise is irrelevant! As long as there is demand for any mind altering substance, there will be supply; the end! The only affect prohibiting it has is to drive the price up, increase the costs and profits, and where there is illegal profit to be made criminals and terrorists thrive.

The cost of criminalizing citizens who are using substances no more harmful than similar things that are perfectly legal like alcohol and tobacco, is not only hypocritical and futile, but also simply not worth the incredible damage it does.

Afghani farmers produce approx. 93% of the world's opium which is then, mostly, refined into street heroin then smuggled throughout Eastern and Western Europe.

Both the Taliban and the terrorists of al Qaeda derive their main income from the prohibition-inflated value of this very easily grown crop, which means that Prohibition is the "Goose that laid the golden egg" and the lifeblood of terrorists as well as drug cartels. Only those opposed, or willing to ignore this fact, want things the way they are.

See: How opium profits the Taliban: http://tinyurl.com/37mr86k

or: A GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF NARCOTICS-FUNDED TERRORIST GROUPS
http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/pdf-files/NarcsFundedTerrs_Extrems.pdf

According to data gathered by privacy expert Christopher Soghoian (PhD candidate at Indiana University), 85-90% of real-time surveillance of your Internet communication is wasted on prohibition enforcement.
youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jJDCxzKmROY#t=342s
- he discusses drug related Internet wiretaps at 5min 42sec

Prohibition provides America's sworn enemies with financial "aid" and tactical "comforts". The Constitution of the United States of America defines treason as:
"Article III / Section 3. Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them, or adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort."

Support for prohibition is therefor an act of treason against the Constitution, and a dire threat to the nation's civic institutions.

The Founding Fathers were not social conservatives who believed that citizens should be subordinate to any particular narrow religious moral order. That is what the whole concept of unalienable individual rights means, and sumptuary laws, especially in the form of prohibition, were something they continually warned about.

It is way past time for us all to wise up and help curtail the dangerous expansions of federal police powers, the encroachments on individual liberties, and the increasing government expenditure devoted to enforcing the unworkable and dangerous policy of drug prohibition.

To support prohibition you have to be either ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt.

* The US national debt has increased at an average rate of $3,000,000000 per day since 2006. http://www.usdebtclock.org/
* The unemployment rate has increased by 7300 per day since 2008.
* The loss of manufacturing jobs has been 1400 per day since 2006.
* Without the legalized regulation of opium products Afghanistan will continue to be a bottomless pit in which to throw countless billions of tax dollars and wasted American lives.
* The hopeless situation in Afghanistan is helping to destabilize it's neighbor, Pakistan, which is a country with nuclear weapons.
* The mayhem in Mexico has deteriorated so badly that it’s bordering on farcical.

There is nothing conservative about prohibition, which enlists the most centralized state power in displacement of domestic and community roles. There is everything authoritarian and subversive about this policy which has incinerated American traditions such as Freedom and Federalism with its puritanical flames. Any person seeking to insure and not further compromise the safety of their family and of their neighbors must not only repudiate prohibition but help spearhead its abolition.

We will always have adults who are too immature to responsibly deal with tobacco, alcohol, heroin, cocaine, meth, various prescription drugs, gambling and even food. Our answer to them should always be: "Get a Nanny, and stop turning the government into one for the rest of us!"

[chris campbell]

Jesus Christ ORDERS the use of marijuana for the suffering.

Fasting is a painful and uncomfortable experience, as anyone who has fasted for days at a time can attest to.

During this suffering period of a fast, Jesus commands us not to go around and complain about it... but to consume marijuana infused Holy Oil.

He COMMANDS us NOT to appear suffering to the world but instead to wash our heads and anoint with the marijuana infused oil as shown in the following bible verse.

Matthew 6:17 :18 But you, when you fast, *ANOINT* your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting...-Jesus Christ of Nazareth

See? Jesus is telling us to use the oil to mellow the suffering that comes with fasting.

Jesus also complains about being denied this marijuana infused oil in the following verse:

Luk 7:46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has...

Are you a Christian?

Are you “anointed” the same way Jesus was?

**Christ means “smeared in cannabis oil” literally.

The title of “christ” is NOT Jesus last name... “christ” means “He who is smeared with marijuana infused oil”

To be a christened one, otherwise known as a “christ-ian” … to be a “christian” you have to have some of this marijuana infused oil on, or in your body.

The Spirit of marijuana is sweet and mellow and full of love and tolerance... long suffering and gentle.

All other substances are infective and dangerous for mind spirit and body.

Only marijuana is 100% perfect, from the very start, for human consumption.

Not one person has ever died from marijuana, it is 100% safe, and 100% benifical for mankind and will supply his EVERY need.

Apples? Perverted food (through breeding) that was not meant for human consumption... and apple seeds are poison.

Potatoes? Another perverted food source (through breeding) that was not meant for human consumption... potato eyes are toxic.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on.

Marijuana is the ONLY plant God created purposely with man in mind... it IS mankind's salvation.

Indeed the “corner stone” rejected as referenced in the bible.

WAKE UP TIME!!!

Peace and blessing to all who read these words!!

**1980, etymologists at Hebrew University in Jerusalem confirmed that cannabis is mentioned in the Bible by name, Kineboisin (Also spelled Kannabosm), in a list of measured ingredients for "an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compounded after the art of apothecary to be smeared on the head. The word was mistranslated in King James version as `calamus' – Exudous 30:23 (Latimer 1988).

[Anthony Cordaro]

Our challenge for parents and our youth is exposure and availability of illicit drugs. There are much distractors in society and we are tempted everyday in life, resulting in personal life-long damage. What can we learn from the 1960s and other societies? History is a great marker. At a minimum, we need a universal/unbias study while taking a gobal view.

[Steve]

This is about the only thing this guy has ever said that makes any sense.

[Mychael Barnes]

What's Pat been smoking? It must be quality, to turn a once and hopefully not future villain of the the liberals to come out in favor of lax treatment, including,
" criminalizing the possession of A FEW OUNCES OF POT-it's ruining young people". For this dude to utter these words, is indeed a Christmas gift. No matter how his people try to reverse the spin, Robertson uttered those words and more.I don't think this is a "senior moment" or the onset of Alzheimers. Robertson's no dummy and chooses his words (That we liberals usually oppose at least, despise at worst) with precision. I don't need to repeat or bolster all the benefits legalization of the herb, which in Genesis, just for fellow Christians out there states that we should enjoy, and I'm paraphrasing, every plant and herb in the fields. There are reasons marijuana makes us feel good, only two I'll state , is the relief it gives folks with cancer or AIDS to remove almost instantly nausea, and "the munchies" that give patients with no interest in eating, an appetite. Thanks Pat, your helping in our fight for sanity for a drug classified as dangerous as heroin with no medical benefits, to emerge from the shadows and make this morally and financially bankrupt Nation some capital. 'Xcuse me while I kiss the sky!"

[Mychael Barnes]

Herb,
Of all the responses to this article, you are the only one that appears to be on drugs. First off, the name is Pat Robertson, not Robinson. Next, the herb is MARIJUANA, not MURIJUANA. More than one error occurs when you use the phrase,"Than you won't make such an ignorant, political hack..." The word "than" is correctly "then", and one does not make a "a political hack". Hack is a noun, not a verb, Herb. If you didn't write this letter on MURIJUANA, perhaps you should give it a try. Merry Christmas Herb. Both of them!

[malcolm kyle]

Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use, among all echelons of society, is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.

By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous and ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Thus the allure of this reliable and lucrative industry, with it's enormous income potential that consistently outweighs the risks associated with the illegal operations that such a trade entails, will remain with us until we are collectively forced to admit the obvious.

There is therefore an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. Anybody 'halfway bright', and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand. If you are not capable of understanding this connection then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. So put away your pipe, lock yourself away in a small room with some tinned soup and water, and try to crawl back into reality A.S.A.P.

Because Drug cartels will always have an endless supply of ready cash for wages, bribery and equipment, no amount of tax money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safe again. Only an end to prohibition can do that! How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?

If you support the Kool-Aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, tortured corpses, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, economic tribulation, unemployment and the complete loss of the rule of law.

"A prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded."
Abraham Lincoln

The only thing prohibition successfully does is prohibit regulation & taxation while turning even our schools and prisons into black markets for drugs. Regulation would mean the opposite!

Prohibition is nothing less than a grotesque dystopian nightmare; if you support it you must be either ignorant, stupid, brainwashed, insane or corrupt.

[RockyRacoon]

Pat Sees an In for the faith based treatment model and some potential recruits that is what I suspect from his words in this tape.
RR

[Hokulani Cheneviere]

Pat Robertson may have held out a Cannabis branch to the other half of citizens who avoid religious conservatism like an Avian Flu Virus. I never paid much attention to him, but OH am I GREATFUL to him right now! Myself and others are calling this a MIRACLE! Finally, Pat has the courage to speak out for what he must have always known is wrong. Denying and villifying a GOD GIVEN plant. How can any loving human, think that a plant is evil? I kid you not, that there are people who think this plant was created in the 1960's by hippies! And then others, think it is of the Devil.
But, here's a fact that most do not know, The Chinese once called this plant Tai Ma-THE GREAT PLANT because it had so many uses from medicine, materials, fuel, food, and the favorite-inebriant. The Founding Fathers of this nation also knew the value of Cannabis/Hemp and urged every citizen to "sew the India hemp seed". Who said that? George Washington, himself. Imagine that? How is it that prohibition makes any sense at all?
The thing is, that prohibiting such a useful plant is THE real crime. I mean really, shouldn't the DEA be ramming down the front door of GOD ALMIGHTY? Why did HE give us this illegal plant? Is this a DIVINE joke on the ones created in HIS IMAGE or what? I'm not liking this at all. Scary, that a loving Father in Heaven would do that to his children. I just don't get it.
Now, Hawaii has its own political prisoner, for Cannabis manufacture and distribution, busted for a mere 2 pounds, Reverend Roger Christie has been held WITHOUT bail since July 8th, denied 5 times now, for running a Cannabis ministry as well as dispensing MMJ to card carrying patients here (Hawaii has NO dispensaries provisions). The Judge and Ninth Circuit Court continue to declare Rev. Christie "a danger to the community". Meanwhile, murderers, pedophiles and rapists get bail. The US Constitution is shredded when this is done to a US citizen who has harmed NO one. He is a political prisoner, since the State of Hawaii allowed Rev. Christie to operate his ministry openly, right on the main street of Hilo, Hawaii. EVERYONE knew what he was doing. But the FEDS no like, so they shut him down and put a muzzle on him.
Where are the victims in this "CRIME"? Who is Reverend Christie a danger to? Would it be the 50 year old woman with Stage 4 ovarian or would it be the 40 year old with MS? Or is it the sincere spiritual seeker wanting to worship as they believe with the use of the Cannabis sacrament believing they are protected by the First Amendment?
Furthermore, Cannabis IS an ancient entheogen which has been used for multiple purposes that pre-date human history. Everyone knows about Rastafarians but did you know that Cannabis is in the Holy Anointing Oil recipe given to Moses from GOD? It's in the Hebrew translation of Exodus 30:23. Go read "The Living Torah" for more on this. Or read about it on Wikipedia. There is a vast suppressed history of this plant, used in all the major religions and Canadian scholar and author, Chris Bennett would be the Go-TO guy for everything you ever wanted to know about religious use of this plant.
I'm thinking that Pat Robertson did have a revelation about this plant and perhaps figured out that it DID come from the Creator since GOD himself admits HE did give us "ALL herb bearing seeds" Genesis 1:29. There ya go, its GOD, HE admits it-BOOK 'em Danno!

[Leonard Krivitsky, MD]

Yes, this is the very next item on the Civil Rights agenda, especially when it comes to Medicinal Cannabis, which is still not legal in the majority of States because of the old, outdated "dogma". Medicinal Cannabis is effective in a wide variety of conditions ranging from glaucoma to pain, to muscle spasms to nausea of chemotherapy, to malnutrition. The list can go on, including recent scientific findings that Cannabis can even be an “exit substance” for recovering alcoholics or hard drug/prescription drug abusers. Cannabis is not physically addictive as it lacks a documented physical withdrawal syndrome, and the so-called “gateway drug theory” is invalid and was recently called “half-baked” by a scientific study. Research also determined that there is no connection between smoking Cannabis and lung cancer (which to me demonstrates that Cannabis has anti-cancer properties), that is also being confirmed by the ongoing studies. Cannabis also may be helpful in treatment, and even in prevention, of Alzheimer’s disease. Medicinal Cannabis Legalization is not even a “partisan” issue, as the brave Citizens of Arizona showed us by legalizing Medicinal Cannabis in their rather conservative State. In fact, Judge Francis Young said back in 1988 that "Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substance known to men", and the reputable Shafer Commission recommended immediate decriminalization of Marijuana to Pres. Nixon in 1972 which he ignored. Cannabis prohibition is doing more harm than many people realize, as it encourages (young) people to indulge in experimentation with dangerous substances such as alcohol, opiate pain pills, cocaine, amphetamines or heroin because those substances, dangerous that they are, are cleared faster from one's "system", and are not as likely to be "detected" on a random "drug screen". When Medicinal Cannabis is fully accepted and widely used, we will be pleasantly surprised at prescription drug abuse going sharply down! History proves to the Cannabis prohibitionists that it is not possible to defeat the combined "forces" of Reason, science, and the Law of Supply and Demand! I really believe that all the fear mongering should be rejected, and Cannabis/Medicinal Cannabis should be legalized in all 50 States ASAP!

[Leonard Krivitsky, MD]

Bravo, Pat Robertson! Yes, this is the very next item on the Civil Rights agenda, especially when it comes to Medicinal Cannabis, which is still not legal in the majority of States because of the old, outdated "dogma". Medicinal Cannabis is effective in a wide variety of conditions ranging from glaucoma to pain, to muscle spasms to nausea of chemotherapy, to malnutrition. The list can go on, including recent scientific findings that Cannabis can even be an “exit substance” for recovering alcoholics or hard drug/prescription drug abusers. Cannabis is not physically addictive as it lacks a documented physical withdrawal syndrome, and the so-called “gateway drug theory” is invalid and was recently called “half-baked” by a scientific study. Research also determined that there is no connection between smoking Cannabis and lung cancer (which to me demonstrates that Cannabis has anti-cancer properties), that is also being confirmed by the ongoing studies. Cannabis also may be helpful in treatment, and even in prevention, of Alzheimer’s disease. Medicinal Cannabis Legalization is not even a “partisan” issue, as the brave Citizens of Arizona showed us by legalizing Medicinal Cannabis in their rather conservative State. In fact, Judge Francis Young said back in 1988 that "Marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substance known to men", and the reputable Shafer Commission recommended immediate decriminalization of Marijuana to Pres. Nixon in 1972 which he ignored. Cannabis prohibition is doing more harm than many people realize, as it encourages (young) people to indulge in experimentation with dangerous substances such as alcohol, opiate pain pills, cocaine, amphetamines or heroin because those substances, dangerous that they are, are cleared faster from one's "system", and are not as likely to be "detected" on a random "drug screen". When Medicinal Cannabis is fully accepted and widely used, we will be pleasantly surprised at prescription drug abuse going sharply down! History proves to the Cannabis prohibitionists that it is not possible to defeat the combined "forces" of Reason, science, and the Law of Supply and Demand! I really believe that all the fear mongering should be rejected, and Cannabis/Medicinal Cannabis should be legalized in all 50 States ASAP!