Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
On this date ...
1972: Dave Norvell, New Mexico’s attorney general, told students at Eastern New Mexico University that he favored a new look at drug laws, with emphasis on treatment rather than punishment.
Norvell told about 60 students that he opposed lawmakers’ recent decision to increase the penalty for marijuana use.
He predicted marijuana would eventually be legalized “if we find that the use of marijuana does not lead to the use of hard drugs.”
Hard drugs, he said, were “a medical problem, just like alcohol.” He said he wanted New Mexico authorities to stop putting drug addicts in jail “and start trying to cure them.”
Norvell also said he favors amnesty for those who fled the United States rather than “fight in an illegal and immoral war” in Vietnam.
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