Politicians Want Even Their Own Children Criminalized

The news in New Hampshire was buzzing yesterday with the story that two-time 2nd District of NH U.S. House candidate Jennifer Horn’s 18-year old son was arrested on the charge of possessing alcohol and marijuana.

NASHUA – Two-time congressional candidate and conservative activist Jennifer Horn said she and her family will move forward from the arrest of her 18-year-old son on marijuana and alcohol charges.

I suppose the arrest of this young man on the victimless offense of possessing a plant would normally not be news were his mother not so high profile.  What the article doesn’t inquire Mrs. Horn about, which I think is the most important thing about this situation, is whether or not she agrees that her son should be made into a criminal-for-life for such nonsense.

The newspaper didn’t ask those types of questions of the prior candidate, but I did… about three years ago.

Three years ago when Mrs. Horn was running for Congress she held an event at the wonderful Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester, NH.  She was present at Murphy’s to answer questions from prospective constituents in furtherance of her campaign to represent the western part of NH in the US House.  After waiting my turn I was called on. I told Mrs. Horn that I was a police officer and that I vehemently objected to the disastrous drug policy that this state and nation refuses to curtail.  I made a few points about it and asked her opinion on the matter.  Sadly, I received a response typical of most politicians when asked about the drug war.

I asked Mrs. Horn if she had children and I mentioned that statistically speaking, her kids would use drugs someday.  I asked her if she thought her children should be criminalized for making what some would argue is a mistake.  Although the encounter was quite a few years ago, I recall Mrs. Horn dodged a direct answer to that question. That dodge, in my view, reflected her unwillingness to unequivocally state that yes, her kids should be made criminals for doing something completely victimless that virtually all children do.  Saying something like that would have made her seem slightly heartless, wouldn’t it?

If she had thought otherwise, wouldn’t she have said so?

I hope that Mrs. Horn’s son finds this blog, reads it, and then gets the opportunity to ask his mother why she thinks that he should be made a criminal for possessing a mind altering plant that has been proven on countless occasions to be safer than alcohol and tobacco (combined).   Perhaps he can also ask her why it is okay for someone his age to enlist in the military, have body parts blown off, potentially die, and all the meanwhile not be adult enough to drink alcohol.

Someone who was there was videotaping the encounter.  Although I’ve never seen the video of the interaction, if someone has it, please point me in its direction.