Posted on 03/20/2015 6:49:00 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Americans want lower taxes and more government spending both at once, although their support for spending more tax dollars on health care has dropped dramatically. They’re likelier than ever to not feel connected to any particular religion, but no less likely to believe in God. And for the first time, most want to legalize marijuana.
Those are among findings from the 2014 General Social Survey, which has been measuring trends in American opinion and behavior since 1972. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Wow. So the public wants deficits even BIGGER than Mr. Moneybags? I think they’re going to have to invent a term beyond “trillion” to describe them at that point. Maybe “brazilian”.
Legalizing marijuana is less important that legalizing hemp, which could be a multi-billion dollar industry within a decade. A serious cash crop that can be grown on marginal farmland, so won’t reduce agricultural production like the ethanol debacle.
Perhaps its biggest immediate advantage will be in producing high grade, durable paper. Most of the literature of the 20th Century will have to be reprinted on hemp before its acidic wood pulp paper disintegrates.
Plus, by reducing the amount of wood used to make paper pulp there will be more of its other products at lower cost, like lumber. Paper as an industry is currently so big that it is an entire stock market sector.
The term is QUADRILLION
Yeah I know, just trying to be a smart-azz.k
No, I’d say they don’t understand where the money government comes from. As far as they are concerned they just print it. Thus they can print it, spend more and tax less. Plus they are obviously stoned most of the time as well.
OK; Ya got me. :)
Now there's an idea for a reality TV show. Hemp Wars!
Forgive me if I am wrong, but wasn’t industrial hemp re-legalized nationwide in the CROMNIBUS bill that was passed by Congress & signed into law last December?
IIRC, that same bill told the Feds to back off & not go after the States that re-legalized marijuana for medical use. It didn’t go nearly as far as I would like for it to have gone, but IMHO that’s a positive sign.
Thank God for hydroponics! :-)
“(b) Compliance With State Law. —Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the provisions of this title relating to marihuana shall not apply to any person acting in compliance with State law relating to the production, possession, distribution, dispensation, administration, laboratory testing, or delivery of medical marihuana.”
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/683/text
Didn't that just legalize hemp at the federal level and leave the decision to the states?
That’s an important point. Hemp pollen is a profound enemy to marijuana, and will substantially reduce the potency of the seed produced by the marijuana plants, so when grown they will produce far less of the drug. Reversing decades of selective breeding to produce more potent strains.
Yes, indeed. But the wood pulp paper lobby is dead set against legalizing hemp, even though they would be the optimal producer of hemp paper. As is the cotton industry, as the refined, silk-like hemp cloth would also likely put pressure on them as well.
How much longer do you believe that it will be for the Feds to end marijuana prohibition altogether & give the recreational use of marijuana back to the States: 5 yrs? 10 yrs? Sooner (which I am hoping for, I'm beginning to get a lil impatient)?
Not only will Congress have to repeal anti-marijuana laws that have been w/ us since the Progressive Era 80+ yrs ago, it will also have to amend or eliminate treaties via the necessary 2/3 of the Senate, & I'm not sure how easy that will be.
It IS safe to say that the wind is at our backs & we are not fighting an uphill battle anymore, correct?
My best guess is 2 or 3 more elections, so about 5 yrs. If marijuana has a smashing year at the polls in 2016 like it did in 2014, maybe sooner.
Not only will Congress have to repeal anti-marijuana laws that have been w/ us since the Progressive Era 80+ yrs ago, it will also have to amend or eliminate treaties via the necessary 2/3 of the Senate, & I'm not sure how easy that will be.
Just takes one simple piece of legislation to turn it back to the states, like the CARERS Act would do for medical marijuana. As for the UN, meh. Fedgov has no more authority to sign away the Tenth Amendment by treaty than it does the Second Amendment.
It IS safe to say that the wind is at our backs & we are not fighting an uphill battle anymore, correct?
Correct. Support for legal mj is highly concentrated among young voters, while opposition is highly concentrated among the old. The exit polls for the FL medical marijuana measure last Nov. demonstrate this* =>
__________________________________________________________________
Ages ==> Yes/No
18-29 => 79/21
30-44 => 65/35
45-64 => 60/40
65 + ==> 38/62
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/2014/FL/I1/exitpoll
__________________________________________________________________
*The measure needed 60% but fell just short at 58%,
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.