The Normalization of Legalization

Times are changing when it comes to the national opinion on the jolly green giant. Could we actually see the end of marijuana prohibition in our lifetime TW?

 

I hope so. I'm in MA. I don't even indulge and never have, and I'm all for it.

 

I know we are up north!!



Pros and cons i guess..

 

It's crazy to think that if all 5 states that have it on the ballot this year pass, that 1/4 of Americans will be in a place with recreational weed. Public perception is starting to be more normal about it than when I was a kid, and it was touted as a gateway to other harmful stuff.

Maybe it has to do more with the generation change, and the older folks are at the point where they benefit from medical marijuana, and wonder why they rejected it for so long?

 

I have a very conservative family with many in law enforcement. They are all on board with legalization. The only groups who I know that are adamantly against it are big pharma and the federal govt. It would cut mightily into big pharma's profits and product lines. The fed govt. reaps from funding to control it (the "War on Drugs."). If it went up on a nationwide ballot, I believe it would easily pass. Prohibition has never worked in this country and never will. The fed govt. needs to stop ruining lives and giving into big pharma lobbying.

 

Maryjuwanner is a gateway drug. Every stoner I know started out with this and ended up on pot. These fiends inject the stuff and go out and kill...a bag of Fritos. Jokes aside, I wish my father had access when he had Glaucoma- maybe he wouldn't have gone blind. I do not indulge, but am for legalization. I'd rather deal with someone who has had a few tokes illegally than someone who has had too much alcohol legally.
I'm sure the Emergency Rooms across the country have to deal with prescription drug overdoses much more than pot overdoses. Many evils in the world- let's fix all those and then we can get back to addressing the pros and cons of the ..."evil weed."

 

Truth. Plus there really isn't such a thing as a pot 'overdose', I mean you could take too much and have a huge panic attack but anyone could do the same thing with caffeine (and that would still be more dangerous). I don't partake anymore and haven't for years but I support legalization.

 

You are right. I should have put overdose in quotations, as you did. And such incidences usually don't require a hospital bed.....just a bed.

 

Maybe it is gateway but not always. I was the biggest drunk in my 20's and never did anything else.

 

Never partaken of it or even wanted to but all in favor of legalizing and taxing the heck out of it. Help all the burley tobacco farmers back in KY and other places transition from growing a crop that's being slowly outlawed to a crop that can actually be medically beneficial to some people.

 

How about a higher resolution avatar.

 

Not to mention be able to do good things with the tax revenue like help the homeless and build schools.

I'd rather see law enforcement resources spent on much worse things..in MA there is an epidemic of heroin overdoses, I'm sick of burying people

 

I laugh at the gateway argument. In the late 60's when I was a teenager you could find everything but smoke. Trips, downs, and speed were everywhere.
I don't know if it's the same for everyone but after twenty years as a casual smoker I quit due to work place testing and I was only ten years from a full pension with insurance. Too much to lose. Now I' retired for over ten years and if I try to smoke I pass out, my friends say I'm seizing up and it scares the ***** out of them, so I still can't smoke.
Have a beer!

 

Looks like California is going to pass

 

I started smoking pot in Jr. High, that led me to smoking pot in High School. That led me into a downward spiral of sexing the ladies. Don't do pot.

 

On a slightly different note, the legal growing for sale. Seems here in N Kalifornia, LE has a big concern over policing pot farms. Small counties are scrambling over getting codes in place so as to regulate growing pot, a major issue here in NE Kalifornia. Falling property values, public safety, illegal grows causing huge enviromental pollution and a chain reaction effect on water and wildlife. A local radio station out of Susanville, CA ran a four part series over this.
Duane

 

Here in Kentucky, it grows wild in a lot of places. Not good quality, though, sometimes called ditchweed.
Personally, I think most of the opposition comes from the Alcohol Producers, and Tobacco companies.
They HATE the competition. If THEY could control the growing, sales and distribution, though, it would be legal within 5 years nationwide.
$$$$$ talks in D.C.

 

Don't confuse medical MJ and recreational MJ. They are not the same.

I know no LEO that's interested in legalization of recreational. However, they are interested in penalty reductions for users. Other than DUIs.

The issue on medical is control of the grower, and the integrity of Dr.s (like pill mill quacks) to properly prescribe. Costs for regulation should be directly supported by the cost of the product, but that may well price it out of reach for some legit consumers.