Marijuana's Newest, Unlikeliest Fans: Republicans

The GOP may or may not be the Party of No, but it's the Party of Yeahhhhh, Man, when it comes to legalizing pot: Nancy Pelosi’s challenger, Ronald Reagan’s speechwriter, and even Glenn Beck are just a few of the Republican faithful who have spoken up in favor of decriminalizing marijuana, reports Newsweek. Pot isn't about to become part of the party platform, but legalization's gaining huge ground, especially among those with Libertarian leanings. " Why aren’t conservatives angry about this?” Geraldo Rivera recently asked Ann Coulter. “Are they secretly potheads?”

Conservative supporters note that it will likely ease the drug war in Mexico, save the US billions in law enforcement and incarceration—and bring in billions more in tax revenue. Certainly, not all Republicans agree—but, says one expert, with Democrats shying away from the issue, “This issue is wide open for Republicans to take. If Meg Whitman held a press conference tomorrow and said she supports Prop 19 and would defend the state against federal interference, she would probably win.”
(More Proposition 19 stories.)