Blogger and commentator Michelle Malkin will be speaking in Spring Hill next month, giving the keynote address at the Hernando County Republican Party's annual Lincoln Day Dinner, and while undoubtedly she'll be delivering a lot of the proverbial "red meat" bashing of Barack Obama that has made her such a favorite in conservative circles, she may not be delivering the party line when it comes to an issue that Floridians will be voting on later this year: medical marijuana.
On the website of the National Review Online today, Malkin writes about her recent trip with her husband to a marijuana dispensary in Pueblo West, Colorado, where she went to purchase pot from the recreational side of the dispensary — not the medical side.
Malkin writes that she's supported medical marijuana for over 15 years, having been convinced of its effectiveness after meeting Ralph Seeley, a Navy nuclear-submarine officer, pilot, cellist, and lawyer suffering from chordoma, a rare form of bone cancer that starts in the spine.
She then explains that her mother-in-law suffers from metastatic melanoma. Although her mother-in-law recently applied for a state-issued medical-marijuana card, it hasn't come through yet. But, as Malkin writes, "thanks to Amendment 64, the marijuana drug-legalization act approved by voters in 2012, we were able to legally and safely circumvent the bureaucratic holdup. 'A lot of people are in your same situation,' the pot-shop staffer told us. 'We see it all the time, and we’re glad we can help.'”
She then concludes her piece:
Do I worry about the negative costs, abuses, and cultural consequences of unbridled recreational pot use? Of course I do. But when you get past all the “Rocky Mountain High” jokes and look past all the cable-news caricatures, the legalized marijuana entrepreneurs here in my adopted home state are just like any other entrepreneurs: securing capital, paying taxes, complying with a thicket of regulations, taking risks, and providing goods and services that ordinary people want and need. Including our grateful family.
Malkin will appear on Friday, April 25 at the Palace Grand in Spring Hill, 275 Della Court. For more information, go to the Hernando County Republican Party's website.
