Mark Kiesling - mark.kiesling@nwi.com, (219) 933-4170 | Posted: Friday, August 7, 2009 12:00 am
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.
Tomorrow they will bury Max Robinson, known to some of his friends as "Mad Maxx," who in 1999 ran for mayor of Hammond on the Libertarian slate against Republican Duane Dedelow Jr. and Democrat Tom Philpot.
As is the case with most Libertarian candidates, he lost.
And on Wednesday, he lost the most important fight of his life when he died of cancer at the age of 52.
Max was perhaps best known as a fighter for personal liberty, and chief among those liberties was the right to smoke marijuana. He was a director of the Northwest Indiana chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and curator of the Hemp Museum, which was not instituted to expound on the glories of rope.
When Max was diagnosed with cancer, there were some who said he was paying the price for inhaling reefer smoke, and as with those who smoke regular old tobacco, it is difficult to work up a whole lot of sympathy for someone who made a lifestyle choice that eventually cost his life.
Not that Max asked for sympathy, not at all. A regular contributor to the late lamented Times message boards, when he revealed he was ill many wrote to him and wished him well. Although he appreciated the sentiment, he understood fully his method of dying was a result of his own choice.
Such is the reaction of the true libertarian, capitalization deliberately omitted.
Whether you choose to wear a motorcycle helmet, a seat belt or to smoke tobacco (wacky or unleaded) the choice you make as an adult who is presumed capable of making a decision without the interference of a nanny state allows you no room for complain when your decision goes awry.
And it is a guy like Max -- never explain, never complain -- who make the best case for being a libertarian. He made a choice, and he hurt no one but himself when he died.
Oh, you can argue that he hurt his family, I suppose. He leaves behind three children, a grandchild and his mother. But a family decision is a personal decision, not one that should be left up to the state to decide.
"That's too bad," said Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. "Not good. Horrible, in fact. I didn't know him very well, I knew who he was but you obviously don't want to see someone die so young."
Robinson also challenged former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich in 1999, and not surprisingly got soundly beaten in the May Democratic primary.
"I smoke pot to this day," he (Robinson, not Buncich) said at the time. "I'll smoke pot tomorrow. I'm against the drug war. It's a scam."
He was not necessarily pro-drug, but he was vehemently against others making a decision over his own life when it affected no one else but him.
"You can make a fool out of yourself if you're not bothering anyone," he said. "If we gave kids what they wanted to do, they'd be a lot less likely to get involved in drugs or gangs."
His obituary says mourners should not send flowers, which is probably an unnecessary admonition.
I suspect they'll be smoking them instead.
The opinions are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at markk@nwitimes.com or (219) 933-4170.