Posted on 11/05/2018 9:04:56 AM PST by billorites
Citizens in four states vote Tuesday on ballot initiatives to legalize some form of cannabis. Residents of Missouri and Utah will decide on its medical availability, Michigan and North Dakota on recreational consumption for adults. If all four measures pass, the tally of states that allow some sort of cannabis use will jump to 32, nearly two-thirds of the U.S.
The trend could not be clearer: Cannabis prohibition is coming to an end. A Gallup poll last month found 66% of Americans favor legal marijuana.
I am now one of those Americans. It began when a friend of mine who suffered from chronic back pain found relief using medical cannabis. Intrigued, I looked deeper into the uses of marijuana. I learned that in April the Food and Drug Administration approved medication called Epidiolex, which can reduce the number of seizures epileptic children have to endure. It contains only nonpsychoactive components of cannabis plants.
Marijuana is helping people across the country. Since joining the board of cannabis operator Acreage Holdings this past spring, I’ve spoken with countless senior citizens, baby boomers and millennials about their experiences medicating with cannabis to thwart the rigors of chemotherapy, ease muscle pain, relieve anxiety and more. Convinced as I am by mounting scientific and anecdotal evidence, what resonates most with me is that one by one, our states have spoken.
Until cannabis is legalized federally, Washington needs to respect states’ rights to regulate it within their borders. The 10th Amendment clearly protects states’ prerogative to do so, and we must not allow the federal nanny state to dictate otherwise. The bipartisan Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through Entrusting States Act, introduced in the House and Senate in June, is a step in the right direction. It would let states make their own decisions about the possession,
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
LOL! You've noticed that too?
Absolutely - and like other drugs such as alcohol, regular use is not a good idea. But banning those drugs is an even worse idea, whose main effect is to enrich violent criminals.
Another important measure is how much pot spending goes into the pockets of criminals. Legalization will reduce that, to the benefit of us all.
Because the controlled price is so high due to taxes, there is a very vibrant black-market in marijuana.
PEE INTO THIS CUP NOW!
(Sorry, couldn't resist)
In some jurisdictions - just as in some jurisdictions high cigarette taxes fuel a black market in that drug. The answer, of course, is not to ban but to cut the taxes.
Roger that! :-)
When are taxes ever cut when they are sin taxes? Answer, never!
“What do you propose to do with drivers who are just “healing themselves” who injure or kill your kids with erratic driving???????”
Please post some evidence that pot leads to “erratic driving”. It is more like uniformly slow and over-cautious from what I’ve seen. I think you will find that other substances are involved when driving becomes erratic.
My area of Washington State is conservative and the Washington State Patrol definitely is not shy about revealing accident information in any part of WA. Please post verifiable statistics about fatalities that occurred with the at-fault driver proven to be under the influence of THC only and no other drugs or alcohol. You will find that it is a pretty short list.
Now I will concede that driving under the influence of marijuana or other sense-altering drugs is a foolish thing and I don’t want to see people doing it. I am especially concerned about people getting a delayed “rush” while driving — even a couple seconds — which would be extremely disorienting. But OTOH, a recent controlled test showed that motorcycle racers were able to continue racing without crashing, even after consuming strong marijuana concentrates progressively through the experiment.
Throwing around the phrase “related to marijuana” and proving causal relationship with marijuana use are two different things. You need to be more rigorous in your arguments.
“DOUBLE fatalities in Colorado and some other states that legalized weed.”
Says here it’s a 6% rise: https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3698495/posts
Driving under the influence of ANY mind altering substance is illegal....hence, dangerous.....booze, pot drugs, whatever....penalties should be swift and severe.
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