Commentary
Rachel Ehrenfeld
Forbes.com
08.13.09
George Soros wants legalization, but at what cost to our nation?
George Soros must be thrilled. Two hundred days into the Obama administration, and 16 years after Soros began his advocacy for drug legalization and promoting “medical marijuana,” the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is venturing into the distribution and production of marijuana cigarettes. According to the Aug. 5 solicitation for proposals, the selected organizations will be controlled by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and will have to comply with FDA regulations.
Until the early 1990s, the voices to legalize drugs in the United States were not in sync. This changed with Soros’ first foray into U.S. domestic politics in 1992-1993. Soros declared: “The war on drugs is doing more harm to our society than drug abuse itself,” and proceeded with his checkbook advocacy through his Open Society Institute (OSI) to give some $15 million to establish and fund several pro-drug legalization organizations. Since then, he and his like-minded friends poured many millions into different programs aimed at drug-legalization.
On Feb. 7, 1996, I observed in The Wall Street Journal that Soros’ “sponsorship unified the movement to legalize drugs and gave it the respectability and credibility it lacked.” I then opined that unchallenged, Soros would change the political landscape in America. But patiently, Soros has achieved what he set out to get.
The commentary continues here.
