Posted on 06/23/2018 2:47:03 PM PDT by Mariner
Some day soon, even as sweet, skunky smoke drifts in from the streets outside, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and other staunch opponents of marijuana may draw inspiration from a true believer named Morris Sheppard. After the repeal of national Prohibition in 1933 and until his death in 1941, the Texas senator embraced a yearly custom. A progressive Democrat often considered “the father of Prohibition,” Sheppard would rise on the Senate floor to rail against alcohol and call for a repeal of Repeal.
“It was a ritual,” Daniel Okrent, author of the 2010 book “Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition,” explained in an interview. “Clearly he didn’t expect anything was going to happen. It was paying homage to his cause.”
Sheppard, a proponent of bank reform and an advocate of women’s suffrage, may have been the country’s most sincere Prohibitionist, but he ended up on the losing side of history. As such, he faced a dilemma that may soon become familiar to another group of prohibitionists: marijuana opponents. When society turns away from a cause, how long should its supporters fight on? After committing themselves to a lengthy, even decades-long struggle, how can they simply let it drop?
On July 1, Massachusetts will join states such as Colorado, Washington, and California, whose voters have chosen to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes. The implementation of the law has been bumpy, not least because Sessions and the federal Justice Department still have the authority to crack down on cannabis use.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
I actually knew a guy that believed the prohibition of alcohol should be tried again. I said, “Dave, it was a failure the first time”. He said the Government just “didn’t do it right”.
I changed the subject.
The next time it is tried, the government will exempt themselves from the law.
In DC, it is now legal to possess marijuana but not buy it. All that does is keep the illegal dealers happy.
I went to college in a town where alcohol was not allowed to be sold. People smoked a LOT of weed and there was still lots of alcohol.
20 years ago the big popular drug was opiods.
We see how that worked out.
I see THC in a similar place 20 years down the road.
“Prohibitionists have always been Progressive do-gooders, well intended.”
They are not well intended.
Not in the least.
L
I am against legalizing marijuana, and I believe states can and should prohibit it.
But.
If Congress knew in 1917 that the Constitution would have to be amended to grant them authority to pass Federal legislation to regulate or ban alcohol - what changed between 1917 and 1970 to give Congress the authority to regulate or ban marijuana?
I contend that Congress has no such authority.
“They are not well intended.”
Their intent is to improve society and protect people from their own weaknesses.
Their method is to punish/destroy those who transgress.
I have been an advocate for full legalization for at least 40 years. I’ve encountered every variety of prohibitionist. But those two themes above are consistent.
Hell, 40 years ago I used to smoke it. And cigarettes. And drink whiskey too.
Then I got smart and only enjoy the buzz of coffee.
But I can say, without doubt, more harm is done by whiskey and cigarettes than marijuana...and by a large margin. Both individually and in the social aggregate.
It’s not even close.
And don’t even get me going on pain pills. They are as bad as methamphetamine, both individually and in the social aggregate.
As far as I know all smoking ordinances and laws apply to marijuana too.
give Congress the authority to regulate or ban marijuana?
“and protect people from their own weaknesses.”
Which is not only a fools errand, it’s evil.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” — C. S. Lewis
L
Pot and alcohol are different. I am an octogenarian and have been around a few years. I have seen bright students become dull and failures after going on pot. I have seen some of them graduate from pot to harder stuff and become tragic sta tistics. It is NOT a victimless drug. The user is the victim. Some of those who I describe were friends or acquaintances.
Do like the left, get their way and then forever after proclaim that “history has spoken” and “the issue is settled” (I have no dog in this hunt, it’s just what the left does).
I agree, but they cannot see it.
And never will.
But soon they will be relegated to fighting those local battles until one day they realize the war is lost.
Even then their point of view will not change, but they will no longer have power to exercise it.
Federal decriminalization is imminent and will occur before the 2020 election IMHO. The genie is out of the bottle and there is no going back.
Didn’t you see more lost to alcohol?
They don’t call it “smart”, now do they? They call it “dope”.
Interesting and good point.
One, two drinks do not put you into a state of euphoria like marijuana.
Keep it illegal but reduce the penalties.
There are major health issues with marijuana that simply do not apply to alcohol. It does not take heavy use to cause brain damage.
In a way, the drug of choice is irrelevant. The problems of brain damage, loss of ability to be productive, criminal behavior, etc., are symptoms of addiction that are common to all schedule I drugs. And with the current push to legalize schedule I drugs, along with millions of illegal invaders not just invading, but getting welfare, I think that we are about to see the success of the Cloward Piven strategy. Our society can only absorb a limited number of takers before it collapses.
I really wish that drug addicts would not be given any financial support.
Love this quote! So true! C.S. Lewis was so smart and wise!
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.