Posted on 11/07/2012 9:01:24 AM PST by SeekAndFind
DENVER/SEATTLE (Reuters) - Colorado and Washington became the first U.S. states to legalize the possession and sale of marijuana for recreational use on Tuesday in defiance of federal law, setting the stage for a possible showdown with the Obama administration.
But another ballot measure to remove criminal penalties for personal possession and cultivation of recreational cannabis was defeated in Oregon, where significantly less money and campaign organization was devoted to the cause.
Supporters of a Colorado constitutional amendment legalizing marijuana were the first to declare victory, and opponents conceded defeat, after returns showed the measure garnering nearly 53 percent of the vote versus 47 percent against.
"Colorado will no longer have laws that steer people toward using alcohol, and adults will be free to use marijuana instead if that is what they prefer. And we will be better off as a society because of it," said Mason Tvert, co-director of the Colorado pro-legalization campaign.
The Drug Policy Alliance, a national advocacy group that backed the initiatives, said the outcome in Washington and Colorado reflected growing national support for liberalized pot laws, citing a Gallup poll last year that found 50 percent of Americans favored making it legal, versus 46 opposed.
Supporters of Washington state's pot legalization initiative declared victory after the Seattle Times and other media projected a win for marijuana proponents.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
What about thew 2nd hand smoke???/ are they goin to charge $5 Tax on a joint?????
I bet the drug cartels love this
“while you legalize drugs to destroy our kids.”
Your kids have access to pot any time they want it right now. You are fooling yourself if you think that just because something is illegal that it is not available. Prohibition proved outlawing booze didn’t make booze unavailable, yet, we still do it today. Besides, what type of lousy parent are you if your child turns to pot in the first place?
People. I voted for our initiative on marijuana because I took the time to learn the facts.
If the Dems want to kill themselves with drugs i wont get in their way. Better than than living on to kill us with taxes or forcing us to kill them with bullet.
Their biggest problem is again Washington D.C. and there too We can capitalize. Economic freedom(capitalism) in this country may be on the way out but the principles of capitalism will never die in practice.
Considering how the election turned out, this makes me want to move to Colorado. I could use a good buzz right now.
Relegalizing the mind-altering drug alcohol didn’t lead to such a population - why would relegalizing marijuana do so?
Because they are different drugs, and have different long-term effects on the human body?
Cheech and Chong was a caricature, but it was based on real people. I grew up in 1970’s California, and watched my mother and her friends smoke themselves into fecklessness.
I'm sorry to hear it. I watched my uncle drink himself into what it would be charitable to describe as fecklessness. Among Americans who used marijuana in the past year, 42% had NOT used in the past month, as compared to a corresponding figure for alcohol use of 22% - so marijuana is if anything less likely than alcohol to lead to a "drugged out permanently unemployed population."
You think they love being exposed to legal-under-state-law competition?
Relegalizing the mind-altering drug alcohol didn't lead to such a population - why would relegalizing marijuana do so?
I think a lot of people watch too much tv and movies
We should ban those.
“Among Americans who used marijuana in the past year . . .”
Legally used? Illegally used? Medicinally used?
The poll doesn’t mean anything. Right now, marijuana is illegal. When it is made legal, its use will spread.
There will even be pressure put on companies that refuse to hire on the basis of use after it is made legal:
“Mr. Moneybags, you used a mandatory drug test to determine whether my client uses marijuana, and when he tested positive for that legal substance, you rejected him as a candidate even though you believed he was qualified for the job, is that correct?”
“Mr. Moneybags: I can’t have users manning my equipment on the floor. He tested positive for cannabis, and then the retest confirmed it, so we didn’t hire him.”
“Do you test for alcohol use as well?”
“We don’t . . . (etc).”
As long as it is illegal, you can discriminate against users. Once it is legal, you have to hire the stoner until you can screen for it legally and not interview once you spot it.
At least we can stay legally stoned to ease the pain of watching the economy tank.
What does this have to do with it being legal?
Legally used? Illegally used? Medicinally used?
Yes.
The poll doesn’t mean anything.
How does that follow?
Right now, marijuana is illegal. When it is made legal, its use will spread.
Probably, just as the use of alcohol likely spread when Prohibition ended - but the latter spread didn't lead to "A nice drugged out permanently unemployed population" and there's no reason to think the former would be different.
There will even be pressure put on companies that refuse to hire on the basis of use after it is made legal:
Even supposing this is true - and you've provided no judicial precedents to support your claim - the solution is to amend the legalization bill to exclude this possibility, rather than to quash legalization.
What do they do now?
Do alcoholics get subsidies now?
“Probably, just as the use of alcohol likely spread when Prohibition ended - but the latter spread didn’t lead to “A nice drugged out permanently unemployed population” and there’s no reason to think the former would be different.”
Now, why would I think the possibility of a drugged-out, permanently unemployed population is impossible:
1. 99 weeks of unemployment
2. SNAP cards
3. Obamaphone
4. Obamacare
5. Section 8 housing
6. Record disability filings
7. (Not here yet, but on its way) - Student loan forgiveness
Nope, the possibility of a drugged-out, permanently unemployed population just couldn’t happen. I know Vodka is killing Russia right now, and talk about a drugged-out, permanently unemployed population, but the legalization of pot is part of the deal.
Now that's looking on the bright side.
Legalize pot...and you will see over time the effects...and damage.
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