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 ...
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
Those are no less available to users of legal alcohol than they will be to users of legal marijuana - but legal alcohol has nonetheless not led to “a nice drugged out permanently unemployed population.”
Vodka is killing Russia right now
But not the USA, despite its legality.
Alaska wasn’t?
Maybe enough of those tick infested miscreants will leave California so it can go back to being the beautiful state it once was.
‘Living in socialist Europe________’
Welcome to FR!
Whenever I see anything ‘Scottish,’ I investigate, because of deceased Dad emigrating as a kid from Scotland.
You probably have been here for awhile before signing up today!
Good luck arguing with people that believe they are conservative, while often being among the first to yell “there oughta be a law”. These 2 states lawyer’s will be richer than ever now.
What we will have is a nation of zombies, which will become the zombie apocalypse!
I’m old and have seen long term regular/daily drug use of all kinds. All damage the person. Some are faster than others, some work on the body first, some on the personality, some on the soul.
All provide a false reward and/or an escape from reality that ultimately leads to a very unhappy life for the user and anyone who cares for them. There is a high cost to the user and to the society.
Yeah, man, far out!
Good. Maybe they’ll be too blissed out next few Election Days to vote.
I argue with them to reach lurkers. Getting a rational response from those who actively argue in favor of the War On Drugs wouldn't be just "luck" but a miracle.
You should have run with a better class of smokers. None of the smokers I went to HS with turned out that way.
There are many more kids that drink alcohol then smoke pot. Not saying that's a good thing, but part of it is because alcohol is legal for adults, so they think what the heck?
Actually, kids started reporting several years ago that they could get pot more easily than they could get cigarettes or beer. It appears that the most effective way to keep pot out of kids' hands is to legalize it for adults - so sellers have an incentive not to sell to kids (namely, the loss of their legal adult sales).
When Pot is legal everywhere the “stoner” culture will explode.
When alcohol became legal everywhere, did the boozer culture explode? Was the stoner culture ubiquitous the last time pot was legal everywhere?
Personally, I think Meth gives me that added “boost” I need each morning. What's wrong with that being legal, too?
Legalizing pot would leave us in that much better a position to win the war on meth. On the other hand, it's not clear that even a narrowed war on drugs would have any effect other than the current one: hyperinflating drug profits and channeling them into criminal hands, with all the ills that result.
Did legalizing the mind-altering drug alcohol give us a nation of zombies?
I’m old and have seen long term regular/daily drug use of all kinds. All damage the person. Some are faster than others, some work on the body first, some on the personality, some on the soul.
All provide a false reward and/or an escape from reality that ultimately leads to a very unhappy life for the user and anyone who cares for them. There is a high cost to the user
He didn't say illegal drugs did no damage - he said he's seen far more damage from the legal drug alcohol. Everything you've said applies to that drugs; should it be illegal?
and to the society.
Higher than the cost to society - in dollars, criminal enrichment, and violation of liberty - of the War On Drugs?
Well, I love the chronic as much as anyone here on FR, and I've been fighting the DW fight on FR since the dawn of man, but we have to be honest here. The "boozer" culture is very prevalent in our society.
You cannot watch NFL football, or most professional sports, without an onslaught of beer advertisements that make drinking beers seem pretty damn cool, or at least, woven inseparably into the fabric of every day life - e.g., watching or enjoying a sporting event. The cool beer drinkin' dudes are the ones who get the chicks and have the most fun.
Or movies, say. Superbad, one of the most popular comedies in recent years, and again targeted towards a youth market, was all about a quest to obtain alcohol. And there are probably thousands of others along those same lines.
Of course, much of this is because alcohol has long been a part of American culture despite the progressives' attempt to abolish its use in the 1920s. So I think it's disingenuous to suggest that "legalizing" booze didn't usher in a boozer culture - I'd say the boozer culture never left, and if anything, became even more reinforced once mass media came into play.
Alcohol and Marajuana - two different substances, with 2 different outcomes.
When alcohol became legal everywhere, did the boozer culture explode? Was the stoner culture ubiquitous the last time pot was legal everywhere?
The "boozer" culture is very prevalent in our society.
Fair enough. We seem to be handling that degree of prevalence well, and no reason has been offered why we should expect anything worse from legal marijuana.
alcohol has long been a part of American culture despite the progressives' attempt to abolish its use in the 1920s. [...] I'd say the boozer culture never left
Yes, a substance culture's prevalence seems to have little to do with the law. You've shown that to be the case for alcohol - and marijuana was less prevalent even when legal, and for a time grew in prevalence despite its illegality.
Did legalizing the mind-altering drug alcohol give us a nation of zombies?
Alcohol and Marajuana - two different substances, with 2 different outcomes.
They're both mind-altering drugs; what are the differences that lead you to expect a nation of zombies from marijuana but not alcohol?
I don't think so, either. And I'd even be somewhat cool of advertising regulations slapped on it akin to the restrictions placed on advertising hard alcohol.
It's all good. People around here who freak out over grass of all things are high-sterical.
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