Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Texas: Marijuana legalization advocate defeats drug warrior

Former El Paso, TX city council member Beto O'Rourke has defeated U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, an eight term Democratic congressman, for the Democratic nomination for the new 23rd District (now the 16th District) of Texas.

While on the city council O'Rourke became alarmed by the hideous violence in Ciudad Juarez, the large city in Mexico directly across the Rio Grande from El Paso. A resolution of the city council that he drafted in early 2009 included a call to study the war on drugs. This became an unmentionable.
Rep. Reyes pressured El Paso's Mayor to veto the resolution and the other members of the council not to over-ride the veto.

O'Rourke's primary victory is being labeled a victory for drug policy reformers by DPA and in Huffington Post.

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