Gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman to make pot legal?

By April MacIntyre Sep 15, 2006, 2:52 GMT

The man who penned "They Don't Make Jews Like Jesus Anymore," Kinky Friedman says he may favor legalizing marijuana to keep the prisons cleared out for real criminals, if Texans choose him over Rick Perry.

"I think that's long overdue," Friedman told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday. "I think everybody knows what (U.S. Sen.) John McCain said is right: We've pretty well lost the war on drugs doing it the way we're doing it. Drugs are more available and cheaper than ever before. What we're doing is not working."

Friedman, the renaissance Texan who sings, writes, saves stray dogs and avoids complicated relationships is running as an independent in a bid to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Perry, and he's being taken seriously by Texans who bristle at the thought of being pegged as predictable voters.  Friedman has said he doesn't like being called a politician.

Recently Friedman was among three finalists for the Thurber Prize for American Humor, with the winner receiving $5,000 and a crystal plaque.  Friedman was cited for his essay collection, "Texas Hold 'Em."

Friedman will also look closer at the liberal, some say "fast lane" approach of the death penalty usage in Texas. "I would be careful killing a guy," he said. "I think there are people who need to die, but the question I've asked mostly is: When was the last time we've executed a rich man in Texas?"

Some have criticized his comments regarding lawless Hurricane Katrina evacuees burdening Houston in a post Katrina crimewave to hit the city as "crackheads and thugs."

Friedman said Wednesday that his plan to give $100 million to Houston to hire more police "was not in any way racist."

"How can you possibly regret that, telling the truth?" he asked. "I am not a racist, I am a realist. In looking at the statistics, I know that 20 percent of the homicides in Houston have been committed by that element in the New Orleans evacuee population.

"I never said what color their skin was. I never said all evacuees are crack dealers or crackheads. I'm smarter than that."

Also in the race for governor are Democrat Chris Bell, Libertarian James Werner and another independent, Carole Strayhorn, the state comptroller who won that office as a Republican.

Friedman noted that the Texas governor's authority is limited compared with executives in other states, but said he would use the bully pulpit to sway legislators. He doesn't hold much trust them, he said, adding: "I do not trust the media either."
"Right now the lobbyists are leading us. We have a lack of leadership, a vacuum," he said.

Career lower-echelon politicians and ineffectual school board members and regents are on notice too.

"You clean house," he said. "You get the old farts out of there. You put a bunch of young people in and you put a bunch of people who care about Texas. It's pretty simple."