For people hoping that somehow Romney might be more rational on the drug war than a typical religious conservative, this NYTimes piece about Romney's life in La Jolla throws cold water on those hopes.
A young man in town recalled that Mr. Romney confronted him as he smoked marijuanaand drank on the beach last summer, demanding that he stop.
The issue appears to be a recurring nuisance for the Romneys. Mr. Quint, who lives on the waterfront near Mr. Romney, said that a police officer had asked him, on a weekend when the candidate was in town, to report any pot smoking on the beach. The officer explained to him that “your neighbors have complained,” Mr. Quint recalled. “He was pretty clear that it was the Romneys.”
While Romney has previously dodged the issue of the drug war, it looks pretty clear which side he is on. He either firmly believes in the war on drugs or is willing to use the war on drugs to keep people he sees as undesirable (in this case it is most likely college students at UCSD who have wandered down to enjoy the beach) out of the areas frequented by his family. Unless Obama makes a surprise announcement akin to his shift on gay marriage, where he will also have to basically repudiate everything his attorney general has done to promote and extend the federal government's drug war, November's election means a continuation of the status quo where the United State's government spends tons of resources throwing people in jail and creating a dangerous black market because the idea of people enjoying marijuana is offensive to some people's sensibilities.