Bloomberg's Hippie Act Only Goes So Far (Updated) »
Mayor Bloomberg hasn't let his performance as a flower-child hippie at Saturday’s “Inner Circle” show go to his head, the DN's Frank Lombardi reports.
Asked for his position on legalizing marijuana for medical use at Q&A with reporters today in Jamaica, Queens, hizzoner firmly rejected the notion, saying: “If I had to vote today, which I'm not asked to vote, I would vote against (it).”
UPDATE: Lombardi sent a fuller version of Bloomberg's quote:
"One of the problems of legalizing marijuana is marijuana keeps getting stronger and stronger, the Health Department says. And it gets more...it may very well lead to greater use of drugs, which isn’t good."
"And while I’ve always thought that people have a right to, as long as they are not hurting anybody else to do what they want, I guess if I had to vote today, which I’m not asked to vote, I would vote against legalizing marijuana.”
Bloomberg donned hippie garb and a long wig during his skit with the cast of Broadway’s revival musical of “Hair" for a mock production of "Mair" in which he starred as an aging peacenik named "Berg" who is mulling a future in politics.
While the performance may have brought back fond memories of the days when he has said he tried the weed - and inhaled with pleasure - it apparently didn’t convince him to join the med-mar advocates who have been lobbying for years in Albany.
The legalization of pot for medicinal is moving - albeit slowly - at the Capitol. The measure has been passed by Assembly committees, as per usual, but a new development this year was its inclusion in the Senate Democrats' budget resolution.
The Senate majority sees med-mar as a potential new (read: taxable) revenue stream. So far, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver isn't on board with that idea.
The mayor was asked about the pot issue after announcing a push to recruit 300 volunteer lawyers to help endangered homeowners stave off foreclosures.
(Photo credit: Spencer T. Tucker).
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