Pot? Why Not?

Four years ago. Democratic Presidential Candidate George McGovern was clobbered by his opponents for advocating a relaxation of laws against possession of marijuana. This week a poll of presidential aspirants taken by the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws will appear--with some startling results. Among nine Democratic candidates who replied, only George Wallace stood adamantly against decriminalization of pot. Jimmy Carter, Sargent Shriver, Frank Church, Morris Udall, Henry Jackson, Birch Bayh, Fred Harris and Milton Shapp all favored making possession of minor amounts a civil offense punishable only by fine--though they favored keeping a strict penalty for pushing. Another respondent, Lloyd Bentsen, favored lessening of the criminal penalties for first offenders. So far, Republican Candi dates Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan have not changed their positions against decriminalization.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.