Enough Already
From the Rural Blog:
Over half of American adults favor “legalizing and regulating marijuana similar to the way alcohol and tobacco cigarettes are currently regulated,” reports Daniel B. Wood of the Christian Science Monitor. A Rasmussen Reports poll found 56 percent in favor and 36 percent opposed.
I hate to sound like a hippy, but for goodness sake, just legalize it.
Hear, hear.Report
Seriously.
But then, I used to think that no sane adult who lived in Silicon Valley California would even care anymore. Then there was a city-council discussion about opening new marijuana distribution centers in a local town. There was exactly one person who spoke in favor of the proposal, and any number of people who made arguments that had probably been made in the 1920s about alcohol.Report
There are any number of topics like this, on which large majorities agree, but nothing ever gets done about it. It’s always kind of mind-boggling.Report
Because the majority opinion is weakly held, and the minority opinion is strongly held. But you knew that.Report
Yes, please do. I think there are Canadian provinces that would go ahead with it (BC, for one), and two of our three main parties support it, but one of the strongest arguments against it is the serious damage it would do to relations and, and border agreements/border crossing with, the United States. So you guys have to go first.Report
If you really want to know why it isn’t legal one has to follow the money. Check out the for profit prison industry, find out about campaign contributions from the pharmacituels to congress, research how much could be saved if hemp was used for paper instead of trees. Find out which banks are laundering the drug money. There are many reasons for the drug war and they come in packages of ten thousand dollars.
I read somewhere recently that there has been a spike in boomers smoking pot and I think it is because all those damn hippies are retiring and no longer have to pee in a bottle.Report
Dexter, you are exactly correct. It’s all about lobbyists and the potential profit losses they see if marijuana were legalized. I think it might be worthwhile to realy study how the temperance movement was broken as a way of planning strategy for this fight.
And drug tests are certainly a major obstacle.Report
I’ve thought for a long time that the illegalization policy was just a cover for being able to ship lots of money to South America under the table.
I mean, other than the Sandinistas.Report
The private prison industry is (no good but) only about 100K out of the 3M people in the system
Drug companies buy off Congress to protect their patents (here and overseas), not to keep MJ illegal.
“research how much could be saved if hemp was used for paper instead of trees.” notthis[stuff]again.jpgReport
Kolohe, The private prison industry has a vested interest in keeping drug laws harsh. While I admit that 8% an entire population is not much, I would appreciate it if, when you become head honcho, if you would give me 8% of a several billion dollar industry. Another question, if you were a prison guard, who would you rather guard, 500 Dillengers or 500 stoners?
Two: If a person is taking brownies for nausea then they are not taking big pharma’s favorite pill, same for anxiety, and a host for other maladies.
Three: Please read wwwinformationdistillery.com and get back to me.Report
the public prison industry has that same vested interest, as do the legal systems behind them.Report
In living memory, however, the 56/36 numbers were reversed.
I don’t think that that is something we can easily blame on the prison industrial complex.Report
I agree with you, but the discussion–both here at the League and on the broader Internet–has a ring of 1972 Pauline Kael about it. “I don’t know anyone who voted for Nixon!”. Let’s face it, the polls on this are generally around 50-50. There must be at least some people who agree with the status quo, and they are distinctly under-represented here.
The same pattern seems to repeat for the TSA. I’m kind of curious why.Report
If there is a reason to agree with the status quo on this that can even make a dent against how harmful to life & liberty maintaining it obviously is, I’d like to hear it.Report
Okay, here it is:
Pot makes you stupid and bored and lazy. People who smoke pot all the time won’t get up to go to work, they’ll be like that song.
Who’s on the hook for paying for the education of the children of these stoners? I am. Who is on the hook for paying for their food stamps? I am. Who is on the hook for paying for their housing? I am.
If I’m going to be paying for those things anyway (and I am), I wouldn’t mind paying a little extra to pay for prison cells too.Report
So pot is almost as bad as reality shows on TV.Report
I never know how to take your comments JB (I assume that is the intent), so i’ll just assume this one is legit and not meant to be ironic…
If they legalize marijuana you are going to see a lot more sativa available in states where it isn’t now. Big difference in the effects.
And if we’re only worrying about people being lazy, maybe WoW should go first.Report
I’m more than happy to give arguments on behalf of positions I don’t hold.
If there were any government-mandated exercise regime I’d support, it’d be that one.Report