Ohio may prove to be key in contest - Kucinich goes to pot
By: Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer, 01/07/04

Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich added more grass to his grass-roots support network this weekend when the "U.S. Marijuana Party" declared its support for the Cleveland congressman.

Its president, Loretta Nall of Alabama, told Kucinich at a Texas news conference that her group's members in 27 states are "behind you 100 percent and all our people will be campaigning for you."

Asked for his "message to the American cannabis community," Kucinich told Nall he supports decriminalizing marijuana and rehabilitating drug users instead of jailing them.

"The idea of prosecuting people for use of marijuana should be in the distant past in the U.S.," Kucinich said to cheers from others at the news conference, which included country singer Willie Nelson, whose 1994 pot bust made national headlines. "We need to create a nation that moves ahead and reforms these drug laws."

By the way, Kucinich doesn't have a corner on folkies and country singers. Peter Yarrow of the venerable folk group Peter, Paul and Mary, has written a song for his candidate, Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. It's called "America Come Home."