Flo Matheson, a candidate for Congress in Tennessee, has spoken out before about legalizing marijuana. However, she is now in some related legal trouble; she was caught with 180 marijuana plants on her property.
She denies knowing about the growing operation, but she is still in favor of smoking it. She considers the law that made it illegal to be a “bad law.” She is now trying to use this to further her campaign. Here is what she had to say about getting caught:
“I really don’t regret that this happened. It’s been a life-changing experience for me and in that it has made me more defiant and determined to try and get these laws changed.”
She said that she had a friend staying with her, Stephen Harrington, and he was growing the plants after he fixed up her barn. Matheson said that she didn’t go back there.
She admitted that she smokes and she made oil out of some pot leaves that her friend gave her:
“I made it. From leaves that Mr. Harrington gave me, but they were not from his grow because he didn’t have any plants that far along.”
One big question related to this issue is why is this plant illegal in the first place?
In the 1930s, the commissioner of the Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics, Henry J. Anslinger, explained to the public what would happen when you ingested marijuana:
“First, you will fall into ‘a delirious rage.; Then you will be gripped by ‘dreams… of an erotic character.’ Then you will ‘lose the power of connected thought. Finally, you will reach the inevitable end-point: ‘Insanity.'”
Anslinger was obsessed with the case of a boy, Victor Licata, who had murdered his family with an ax. Licata had a history of mental illness, but Anslinger said that Licata was on the “demon weed.” Parents went into a panic, which led the drug being banned in the 1930s.
Hopefully, we can move past this legacy and legalize it. We know it is not a dangerous drug.
Here is a news interview with Matheson:
https://youtu.be/zyiBnAMrAZM
Featured image via YouTube screengrab.
