GREEN CANDIDATE WANTS STATE TO SURRENDER IN WAR ON DRUGS

Saying "the politicians of today are just cowards and incompetents,"
the Green Party's gubernatorial candidate Friday called for
Connecticut to surrender in the war on drugs.

"What we have to do is bring these drugs inside the law," said
Clifford Thornton, who is taking aim at the state's highest office
despite the long odds against him.

Instead of pouring billions into fighting drugs and building prisons,
Thornton said, society should use the money to restore its
infrastructure, improve schools, clean up the environment and more.

"If we recognized drug abuse as a medical and public health problem
instead of a criminal problem," he said, "the potential savings and
increased tax base would be substantial."

In a wide-ranging interview with The Bristol Press, Thornton laid out
an ambitious agenda that diverges widely from the planks of the both
the Republican and Democratic parties.

The 61-year-old retired businessman from Glastonbury said he wants
"tell Rell farewell" by ousting Gov. Jodi Rell and besting whomever
the Democrats back for the state's top job. Two mayors are seeking
the Democratic endorsement this month, New Haven's John DeStefano and
Stamford's Dan Malloy.

Thornton said that he will do whatever he can to force his opponents
to talk about the costly effort to clamp down on drug use. If they
won't address the issue, he said, "I'm going to slam them."

"They can't defend a failed policy," Thornton said.

Legalizing marijuana and hemp would create a new tax source that
could provide money to rebuild bridges, bolster education, add light
rail to relieve congestion and a host of other needed improvements,
Thornton said.

Allowing doctors to prescribe other currently illegal drugs, he said,
would allow for regulatory oversight and immediately allow savings in
the "bloated law enforcement" budgets and prisons.

Thornton said that dropping the drug war would reduce violence,
increase tax revenue and allow society to focus on real needs,
including treatment of addicts.

"We have to retool Connecticut, not only Connecticut, but America," he said.

By giving up the war on drugs - just as the nation backed away from
Prohibition - people would lose their fear of cities and the country
could again talk seriously about how best to deal with the problems
of race and class again.

"The status quo is not right," Thornton said.

He said the Republicans and Democrats like it because "they can divvy
up the goodies" between themselves, but the public loses out.

As it is, Thornton said, when he walks into the General Assembly in
Hartford, he thinks of a song Frank Sinatra made famous: "Send In The Clowns."

"They're not doing anything," he said. "They're just dancing."

The Green Party bills itself as an alternative to the two major
parties. Thornton said that it's increasingly difficult to tell the
difference between Democrats and Republicans because they pursue
policies that are nearly the same.

He said Republican President George W. Bush has tried to rule by
instilling fear in the public, but his predecessor in the White
House, Democrat Bill Clinton, "put the people back to sleep" instead
of rallying America to reform.