Jon Bruning

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Preceded by Don Stenberg	Nebraska Attorney General 2003 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Michael Avery	Nebraska State Senator - District 3 1997-2002	Succeeded by Ray Mossey

Jon Bruning (b. April 30, 1969, Lincoln, Nebraska) is Attorney General of the state of Nebraska. He was elected in 2002 and reelected in 2006. He is a fifth-generation Nebraskan.

A Republican, Bruning is the youngest Attorney General in Nebraska's history. He is chairman of the Nebraska Crime Commission and serves on the Nebraska Board of Pardons.

1 Education
2 Personal
3 Career
4 Drug policy
- 4.1 Salvia divinorum
- 4.2 Tobacco
5 See also
6 External links
7 Notes
8 Citations
9 References
- 9.1 News references

[edit] Education

J.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law, 1994, with Distinction
Bachelor's degree, University of Nebraska, 1990, with High Distinction and Honors, Phi Beta Kappa. Member of the Society of Innocents.

[edit] Personal

Jon Bruning is married; he and his wife Deonne have two children, Lauren and Jack.

[edit] Career

Bruning was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in 1996 and 2000 and served six years (four years for his first term, then two years of his second term before elected as Attorney General) as a state senator.

Mr. Bruning had announced on March 15, 2007 that he has organized an exploratory committee regarding the possibility he run for U.S. Senate in 2008 if Chuck Hagel retires or seeks another office.^[1] On April 19, citing his displeasure with Hagel's stance on the Iraq war, Bruning indicated that he is preparing to challenge Hagel in the Republican primary should Hagel seek a third term.^[2] On November 20, 2007 Bruning withdrew from the race for senate and endorsed Mike Johanns ^[3]

[edit] Drug policy

[edit] Salvia divinorum

Attorney General Jon Bruning plans to pursue a bill to make the psychoactive herb Salvia divinorum illegal during Nebraska's 2008 legislative session.^[4]

In a press release aired by Nebraska TV he was reported as saying - "Salvia is a powerful hallucinogen that can be purchased legally. This legislation will make it illegal and put it on par with other powerful drugs like peyote, psychedelic mushrooms and LSD, " [...] "Several other states have already made salvia illegal. It's time to add Nebraska to the list."^[5]

His bill proposes addition of Salvia divinorum to Schedule I of the Nebraska Uniform Controlled Substances Act. Possessing Salvia would be considered a Class IV felony with a penalty of up to five years. Trafficking would fall under a Class III felony with up to a 20 year penalty.

Opponents of extremely prohibitive Salvia restrictions argue that such reactions are largely due to an inherent prejudice and a particular cultural bias rather than any actual balance of evidence, pointing out inconsistencies in attitudes toward other more toxic and addictive drugs such as alcohol and nicotine.^[i]^[6] While not objecting to some form of regulatory legal control, in particular with regard to the sale to minors or sale of enhanced high-strength extracts, most Salvia proponents otherwise argue against stricter legislation.^[ii]^[7]

[edit] Tobacco

Attorney General Jon Bruning's previous political campaigns have received donations from the tobacco industry.^[8]

[edit] See also

Legal status of Salvia divinorum (Nebraska)

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

^ The worldwide number of alcohol related deaths is calculated at over 2,000 people per day,^[9] in the US the number is over 300 deaths per day.^[10]
^ Those advocating consideration of Salvia divinorum's potential for beneficial use in a modern context argue that more could be learned from Mazatec culture, where Salvia is not really associated with notions of drug taking at all and it is rather considered as a spiritual sacrament. In light of this it is argued that Salvia divinorum could be better understood more positively as an entheogen rather than pejoratively as a hallucinogen.^[11]