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Post by Don on Nov 10, 2016 19:31:55 GMT -5
Four more states legalized marijuana for personal use on Tuesday, three states legalized medical marijuana, and another greatly liberalized access to medical marijuana. Over twenty percent of the U.S. population lives in the eight states (plus D.C.) where personal use is legal, and those states include some prime growing areas. Twenty-eight states now allow marijuana use for medical purposes. A number of state legislators have announced plans to have bills before their houses in their next legislative session, both recreational and medical.
How much longer before this war is over, even at the federal level?
Will Obama direct the reclassification of Marijuana from Schedule I before he leaves office?
What else do you see on the horizon?
P.S. Any good stock recommendations of Ganjapreneurs?
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Post by ben on Nov 10, 2016 22:17:36 GMT -5
As I recall, Obama got the Feds not to prosecute people for pot possession and use in states were it's legal (by state law), even though it's still against federal law. I suppose Trump could decide to undo that once he's in office. That might be an interesting shitstorm.
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Post by ben on Nov 21, 2016 15:16:11 GMT -5
The UN's for it, so now all liberals will be for it. Interestingly, it only talks about "drugs," not pot vs. hard drugs, or which drugs it would be going "too far" to legalize/decriminalize. Also, it appears the Drug Cartels have a new enemy. It's time to decriminalize drugs, UN commission report says Global Commission on Drug Policy’s annual report calls for end to criminal and civil penalties for possession and use and more research into regulatory models www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/21/decriminalize-drugs-un-commission-drug-policy-report?CMP=twt_gu |
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Post by Don on Nov 21, 2016 16:29:29 GMT -5
Well, the UN's right for once.  |
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Post by Vince524 on Nov 22, 2016 13:28:47 GMT -5
As someone who has never smoked a joint or even a non pot cigarette, I'll confess to never seeing the appeal.
I do have a question, which I'll direct towards Don, but of course will welcome any input.
Pot aside, do you think the US would be better served legalizing all drugs?
I mean, are we really thinking it's good to legalize and normalize heroin, cocaine, meth, or even crack? Do those drugs have any good sides to them?
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Post by celawson on Nov 22, 2016 13:39:16 GMT -5
Shout out to Vince from another of the rare breed who has never smoked pot or a cigarette. One thing I was recently reading about is the increased frequency of overdoses and 911/ER activity for folks who don't: 1) understand how edible pot works - ex. 1 bite out of a cookie not the whole cookie is often the correct amount, as well as the onset takes over an hour for edibles unlike smoking, so people take more and more because it's "not working", then have ingested way too much. 2) know the increased potency of todays MJ compared to that from years/decades ago. Apparently, it's a different animal Here's an article slanted one way: www.thecannabist.co/2016/01/14/pot-emergency-room-marijuana-er/42939/And here's an article without quite that same slant: www.cnn.com/2016/02/24/health/colorado-pot-er-visits/Other concerns I have are related to kids taking up the habit. I think we're pretty aware of what regular pot use does to energy and drive. As well as driving under the influence which has a host of problems in terms of evaluating an impaired driver. I'm not sure what data we already have from states which have already legalized, but there should be something to look at there. |
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Post by Vince524 on Nov 22, 2016 13:41:32 GMT -5
Also, if it's legal, what about families where the parents smoke weed to excess. And 2nd hand smoke.
I get personal choice, but is it really just affecting you?
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tanstaafl
Pundit
Retired 11/01/2016 and loving it!
Posts: 91 
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Post by tanstaafl on Nov 22, 2016 14:03:01 GMT -5
The "war on drugs" was lost long ago. Any sane person in law enforcement will tell you that. I have no problem with marijuana. What I hate is the abuse of alcohol that is ignored. People with mote than 10 DUI's (driving under the influence) abound. Nothing every happens, for the most part, just thousands in fines that they mostly don't pay anyway.To me marijuana equals alcohol. You are not going to stop either. so why waste taxpayer money on it? You cannot effectively legislate thinks like that. The word "effectively" is quite deliberate and the point.
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Post by Amadan on Nov 22, 2016 14:11:01 GMT -5
I've also never smoked anything, legal or otherwise. Not because I have a moral opposition to it - it just doesn't interest me.
That said, no one can deny that smoking is bad for you. So are other drugs. But you know, high fructose corn syrup and alcohol probably kill a lot more people every year than heroin.
The question is not "Are drugs bad for you?" but "Is the cost of legalizing drugs worse than the alternative?"
I don't want to see crack, meth, and heroin becoming legal either.
On the other hand, the toll of the "drug war" has been horrendous.
The problem is, the latter cost is more abstracted - we know entire countries have been plunged into corruption and civil wars largely as a side effect of feeding America's illegal drug market, but that doesn't have the same immediate cause-and-effect impact as seeing meth users on the street. So people think "Legalize drugs and we'll have more junkies collapsing on my doorstep" and not "Oh, and maybe Mexico will gradually become a normal country that isn't shadow-ruled by the most vicious syndicates on Earth."
There aren't any easy answers, and simplistic prescriptions having to do with "individual liberty" are long on theory and short on concrete studies.
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Post by Don on Nov 22, 2016 14:16:16 GMT -5
As someone who has never smoked a joint or even a non pot cigarette, I'll confess to never seeing the appeal. I do have a question, which I'll direct towards Don, but of course will welcome any input. Pot aside, do you think the US would be better served legalizing all drugs? I mean, are we really thinking it's good to legalize and normalize heroin, cocaine, meth, or even crack? Do those drugs have any good sides to them? Drug use is a medical issue, not a criminal one. Pot aside, short-term. I'd like to see an approach similar to Portugal's, where they have decriminalized, but not legalized, all drugs. A fifteen-year track record there looks positive overall. As far as marijuana is concerned, it should be legalized yesterday, and every single person in jail for only pot-related charges should be freed and their records expunged. When one considers the deaths and destroyed lives that marijuana prohibition has led to, the destruction of families and the inner cities, the untold millions who could have been helped by medical marijuana research that has been forbidden, more millions who could have avoided pharmaceuticals by substituting marijuana, and the uses of industrial hemp that could have helped with both fossil fuel use (pharmaceuticals and plastics, to mention just two) and preserving the forests, I'll make a prediction. There will come a time, perhaps not in our life time but quite likely in our children's, when the 50+ year war against marijuana will be considered one of the top ten crimes against humanity in the 20 th century, perhaps one of the top five, and those who instigated and perpetuated it will be viewed in the same light as the other political mass murderers of the 20 th century. And no, that's not hyperbole. One personal example, if I may. I'm intimately acquainted with someone who was on 45mg of Morphine a day for the better part of a decade due to chronic pain issues. After making the decision to self-medicate with marijuana instead, she is completely free of the morphine and the improvement in the quality of her life is, frankly, astonishing. When I think of those lost years, I get mad all over again. Now multiply that by tens or hundreds of thousands, even millions worldwide, and you can see why I think marijuana should be legalized... and why Big Pharma, among a whole slew of special interests, wants to make sure it's not. Anybody who believes the government has the best interests of its citizens in mind need look no farther than marijuana prohibition and the special interests behind it to disabuse themselves of that notion. |
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