Loretta Nall gets noticed

Loretta Nall got some ink from her local newspaper this week on her candidacy for Alabama governor. Considering the source, it's a pretty good article and presents her court appeal and her upcoming campaign without the usual snark one might expect. They in fact have a few good quotes from her. My favorites,

"The drug war has given rise to the current Alabama prison crisis, which is costing Alabamians millions of dollars a year with only negative returns in exchange," Nall said. "The other candidates are not up to addressing these important but controversial issues because they have built their political careers on meaningless slogans like 'Tough on Drugs' and 'what about the children?,' which in fact do nothing to deter drug use or protect children. Through my candidacy, I would love to force the other candidates to address these issues."

Nall said drug policy reform is needed in Alabama because taxpayers bear the cost of keeping non-violent offenders in already overcrowded prisons and and policy reform could "save tens of millions in law enforcement budgets, court costs, prison costs, not to mention the immeasurable social costs of saddling young people with criminal records for smoking a little pot."

"We're paying for them to be non-productive citizens. It's not about the right to get high. It is about how the current war on drugs is not meeting its stated objectives," she said.

Meanwhile thanks to everyone who helped with the poll. It's still ongoing so if you haven't clicked over yet please do. It's unlikely of course that we can put her in the winner's category against party machine candidates but a strong showing will force the media and those candidates to take her seriously.

And who knows, a strong showing in the actual race could inspire other candidates to come forward and run on policy reform platforms. Someday has got to get this meme going and Loretta has never been one to sit around waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. Vote for Loretta Nall.