Lit_Match

Pro-Pot Ads Target Bush, Cheney.
11-04-06cannabisnews|associated press

A group that claims marijuana use is safer than drinking ran newspaper ads Saturday mentioning allegations that President Bush once drunkenly challenged his father to fight and Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting of a friend after drinking.
SAFER Colorado, which put a measure on the Colorado ballot to legalize possession of marijuana, placed an ad in a newspaper in Greeley, where Bush made an appearance on Saturday.

The ad in the Greeley Tribune had a photo of Bush accompanied by text that read: ``In 1972, this man tried to fight his dad when he was drunk. Just one more reason to vote 'Yes on 44.''' The ad was referring to published reports that in 1972, a 26-year-old Bush had come home drunk and challenged his father to a fight. The matter was reportedly settled without violence.

The group ran the Cheney ad in The Gazette of Colorado Springs, a day after he spoke to troops at the nearby Fort Carson Army post and attended a campaign rally. The ad said, ``Shot his friend in the face after drinking. Just one more reason to vote 'Yes on 44.'''

Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a friend while hunting in Texas in February. The vice president said he had one beer several hours before the shooting.

``They were both in town ... and we are simply taking this opportunity to draw attention to the fact that alcohol contributes to far more problems than marijuana,'' said Mason Tvert, the group's campaign director.

White House spokesman Tony Snow, asked for comment aboard Air Force One as Bush headed to Texas after the rally, dismissed the ads as ``kind of snarky and juvenile.''

``I'm not sure they did their cause much good,'' he said.

Referendum 44, which is on Tuesday's ballot, would allow adults to carry up to an ounce of marijuana, similar to an ordinance Denver voters approved last year. No other state allows pot possession for anything other than medical use. Federal law also prohibits possession.

A recent poll of 625 registered voters by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research found 34 percent of voters supported the measure, while 57 percent opposed it. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Associated Press writer Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Author: Robert Weller, Associated Press Writer
Published: Sunday, November 5, 2006
Copyright: 2006 Associated Press

Related Articles & Web Sites:

Safer Choice
http://www.saferchoice.org/

Safer Colorado
http://www.safercolorado.org/

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http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22353.shtml

Amendment Would Legalize Marijuana Possession
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22352.shtml

Amend. 44 Step Toward Clear-Headed Drug Policy
http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread22351.shtml

cepheus

i don't see the point of those adds. its like they're trying to make a point from a couple of loose connections. oh well.

this part cracked me up. I wonder if Tony Snow realizes thats how a lot of people view Bush's entire presidential career.

Herbania

I hate the BushCo idiots and I think this was a poorly designed idea. It was a waste of ad money that could have otherwise been used to provide actual information to the public. The are republicans(the libertarian ones) that are for legalization and Democrats(drug lobby controlled kool aid drinkers) that are against it. This isn't a matter of one party over the other, it's a matter of policy versus propaganda, propaganda put out by members of both parties. They really need to leave the partisans out of it and court the middle by presenting valid arguements. If they put up a commercial pointing out no one has ever ODed on pot verses the dozen or so people that die each day from aspirin, or the evidence of recent government reports that found there is no ill effects from long term use of pot and potheads actually had a lower rate of cancer than the general public, stuff like that would convince more people than cheesey right versus left garbage.

28g

I have to agree: it's a stupid ad and did no good (if not harm) for the cause. And it doesn't look good for the measure anyway so why further turn voters off from it. We're having a hard enough time as it is.

king cola

The part about Bush bein drunk and getting into a fight with his father provides information that when people drink they might become violent. The part about Cheney drinking and accidently shooting someone just tells people that no one should use a gun under the influence of alcohol, but that also doesn't mean it's alright to use a gun under the influence of marijuana.

I agree that they could have used the time to make a article that talks of marijuana not killing anyone while people overdose on alcohol, drink and get violent, or that medications legal by the government has killed hundreds of thousands of people. They could have also talked of prohibition of alcohol being a failure which is one reason they legalized it and no one fights over control of sales because it's regulated while marijuana remains illegal and the same problems existed when alcohol was banned.