So he supports Nixon's drug war.

Great!

I'm so tired of wimpy Democrats. I might vote for Gary Johnson for President.

Perhaps his opinion on it just needs to evolve a bit more.

Wake up, Jay!

It's version 2.011 of the 21st Century, not 1914!

At least he'll be a strong ally to fight the tunnel. I'm sorry, what's that you say?...

I don't understand why people who are tasked with making decisions based on reason and common sense cite their experience as parents among their qualifications...too often, being a parent means your brain is clouded with instinctual fear. It's not a life experience that makes you intellectually smarter; in many ways, it makes you more prone to make decisions based on emotion, anxiety and perceived (though usually not real) danger.

Parents are good at protecting and nurturing their own children, but that's a vastly different task than protecting and nurturing society as a whole.

Anybody know when Inslee's balls are gunna drop? Is he actually progressive on anything or just a bitch-ass blue Republican like Gregoir? I demand answers!

@ passionate jus, I don't take his statement to mean he supports Nixon't drug war. He wants the feds off the backs of the states who have legalized it medicinally, and he says there are more important things. I'd say he's more progressive on this right now than anyone in the Obama administration.
I don't see his lack of progressivism on this issure as political pandering as much as I see it as the consequence of time spent in the political system and lived in "conventional" society.
His argument based on being a parent shows that he is quite ignorant of certain truths relating to the issue. What if he understood that taking weed to the legitimate/regulated marked would make it more difficult for minors to acquire it?

@schmacky, WIN!

Ugh. Can we get Dennis Kucinich to run for governor instead?

@4: So we prove he's not been a progressive on marijuana -- fairly mainstream, really -- and now we find out that he's not progressive on environmental issues or social justice?

Can we elect a real democrat? Or is this what passes for a democrat nowadays?

I don't understand the "I'm not there yet" view on anything. So you will be eventually? You just don't have the guts? It's not politically wise? Why fight the inevitable?

If you want politicians who are progressive on this issue, don't look to someone running for statewide or federal office. Collectively, it is the politicians who have any chance for those offices that are "not there yet".
The fact that mainstream politicians are not progressive regarding drug law reform is a symptom that at its heart and soul the drug war is a war on non-conformists. It takes a certain willingness in ones youth to conform to be electable for most offices.

@11, what if this vacuum's true function is nothing more than to encourage you to step forward, huh?

Inslee and his wife have been married since 1972 -- 39 years. Considering his wife was probably around 20 when they got married, she'd be around his age now -- close to 60. As such, they don't have young kids anymore. So that "I'm a parent" excuse is just crass politics, without even the excuse of having a 10-year-old.

@schmacky - you are absolutely right.
Using kids to create malum prohibitum laws to control social order due to his lack of confidence in today's parents ability to raise strong kids. I hope his campaign dies on this hill for his opinion of today's parents. Thanks for pointing out his quick ability to tell a fib sarah68, a lesson he forgot from being a parent.