Had initial concerns, but let it pass

As reported by the LA Times blog "New Jersey becomes 16th state to approve medical marijuana use" July 19:

New Jersey's Republican Gov. Chris Christie said this afternoon he would permit a bill allowing the dispensing of marijuana for specific medical purposes to become law...

in coming weeks, New Jersey's doctors will be able to legally prescribe marijuana to patients suffering from a specific list of illnesses including HIV and cancer if other treatments have failed.

Christie said he had initial concerns about opening state dispensaries to federal prosecution. But although he could not obtain a clear answer from the U.S. Justice Department, he decided they faced little risk of that if operating under the new state measure.

"My desire all along has been to bring compassionate care to the people who need it the most,'' Christie said during a news conference. "This is a narrow and medically-based program that will not lend itself to abuses that we have seen particularly in California and Colorado."

Note - Christie is a former federal prosecutor.

From Eric Dondero:

John Frary is a retired history professor in Maine. He is a traditionalist Republican. He ran unsuccessfully for congress as the GOP nominee in 2008 opposing incumbent Rep. Michael Michaud. During his campaign while he was on a local radio show, a caller called in and asked his position of legalizing marijuana. Frary stunned the caller and listeners by answering he favored legalization. He cited National Review and quoted free market economist Milton Friedman.

From his editorial in the Portland Daily Sun "Legalize Marijuana?" July 19:

A lot of people assumed that I was taking a libertarian position about the war on drugs, that drug consumption and addiction are entirely private matters. Actually, I never felt the need to get into the philosophical question. A conservative can conclude that the human race really doesn’t need yet another means of evading or numbing reality and blotting out reality. But there are no good grounds for persisting in failure.

A prolonged and persistent effort had been made. Civil rights have been strained, jails and penitentiaries stuffed full, hundreds of billions of dollars spent, immense police resources committed. No victory in sight.

It falls to those who want to keep this war going to explain either how much they are willing to spend to maintain the present stalemate and for how long, or how they think victory can be achieved at last despite the iron laws of supply and demand that Prof. [Milton] Friedman explained.

Note - Maine Republican legislators have recently introduced medical marijuana legislation, and Republican Gov. Paul LePage has indicated he would sign such legislation.

Michael Munger Gives 3 Solutions to the American Debt Crisis.

Libertarians around the nation will have noticed lately that the Federal PAC Atlas Liberty has been more active than in previous years. After the 2010 elections, they hired a new Executive Director, Evan McMahon. Evan discusses the mission of Atlas Liberty PAC, the needs of the libertarian movement, and the differences between the cultures in [...]

Michael Munger lays out America’s debt problems, and gives three solutions on how to solve them. “is an economist, chair of the political science department at Duke University, and was the Libertarian candidate for Governor of North Carolina in 2008.” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Munger Munger also appeared in the popular YouTube videos “”Fear the Boom and Bust” [...]

A look at the nation’s debt conversation to the eyes of the Cato Institute:

For most libertarians, their first stumbling block to the philosophy was how those in need will receive assistance. Even those that count themselves as party founders still probably get a little hot flash of anger when someone calls them “heartless” or “selfish.” Libertarians are usually driven to the philosophy of non-intervention because they’ve witnessed first-hand how a [...]