The terms right and left wing originated as a shorthand due describing monarchists and anti-monarchists. Authoritarianism is THE defining characteristic of the right. Things like economic policies only come into it because authoritarians prefer economic policies that give more power to economic elites.
It's not the plant, it's what it reveals about the people using scare tactics. Cannabis makes you question authority when it's illegal and you see how people in power have been lying to you about how dangerous it is. Legal, socially acceptable cannabis just makes you goofy.
By all the accounts I've read, he was a pretty exceptional person. "Exceptional" in the sense that there are very few people like him, especially in positions of power.
The Borg assimilate entire planets, so the scenario to watch out for is when they assimilate Coruscant. That would be a whole lot of Borg.