The entire history of the war on drugs and targeting pot in particular has been skewed by politics. Today we are at a point where things have become out of synch, i.e. government policies and laws are no in line with what the people want. 64% of the people want some degree of legalization, and roughly 40% want just outright legalization to include recreational use. Roughly 39% of all college students smoked pot in the last 12 months.
There are few drugs that have been studied more than pot. For the last 70 years we have been TRYING to villainize this drug, to find something we can pin on it. After failing to prove it's addictive (pretending there is a psychological addiction since you can't see any physical markers), causing brain damage (mind altering substance was the term used), makes people lose their free will, we came up with this BS, "gateway drug." A last resort argument that you can accuse a cheeseburger of being. Bottom line is this, pot is not dangerous. You cannot over dose, it's hard to even argue it's addictive, people do not hallucinate and jump from a roof top, become violent, nor even tend to over estimate their abilities as with alcohol. In the grand scheme of things, pot poses a lesser danger to public health than alcohol or tobacco. yet this drug is a schedule I drug? Explain that in a logical and consistent argument? So pot is equal to LSD and heroin?
https://www.dea.gov/drug-scheduling
This is a topic right for picking! Politically exploit this one and do so in confidence that what you are doing is logical, consistent, the will of the people, and correcting a wrong that was never based on the best interests of public health and safety. The illegality of pot was never based on science, crime, or factual/objective measures. It was politics from day one.
http://www.drugpolicy.org/blog/how-did-marijuana-become-illegal-first-place
Today it is basically a combination of myth, tradition (we are conservative and tough on crime and drugs), and government institutions playing into this to justify their budget, personnel, or broad sweeping powers. Think of how many special task forces, high intensity drug trafficking areas are federally funded, how many in law enforcement of the legal system have at least built their career in part by combating this horrible and dangerous drug! No, they are not hero's, they are padding the books in a modern bureaucratic sense which is entirely legal but ever as much unethical and immoral.
It is understood that just like the Democrats are for big government, so are the Republicans. It's just that their priorities and who benefits differ. The Democrats want to protect us from the dangers of global warming, and the Republicans want to protect us from pot, just as the former Jeff Sessions explained to us.
No one believe this BS anymore, NO ONE! But instead of a face palm moment, politicians and senior government officials continue to talk about gate way drugs, addiction, and how it will turn you into a dumb worthless slug that can't hold down a job.
Pot is frankly a drug that has many medicinal uses, and that is clinically provable, unlike the gateway drug or addiction. May it be to deal with anxiety, inability to sleep, seizures, to deal with aches and pains, restore apatite (there are such people), glaucoma... there are many uses for this drug and frankly the dangers of this drug are LESS than non-prescription drugs you can buy at any pharmacy. Take it from a former Airborne Ranger vet who lived popping Motrin and other pain pills for many years (swollen knees, back pain, hip pain was a normal day in my life for years - ruck marches, intense PT, jumping from planes) and today has kidney disease, even the so called "safe drugs" the FDA lets any kid buy in a drug store can have serious health risks.
If the Republicans and Trump want to politically exploit a topic and throw a curve ball into the elections, push for the legalization of pot.
Realize, this does not make you any less conservative or tough on crime. Target drugs, go after criminals, but arbitrary laws and policies that are not rooted in any functional use are not how you go after crime and drugs. Our policy on pot is about as effective as having random executions after a crime. You have to actually identify the target and take aim at it, not just shoot around yourself and pretend you accomplished something because of how many bullets you expended (i.e. the thousands of arrests and statistics law enforcement likes to show as being "success" when they go after easy pot busts).
Republicans AREN’T smart, so no point in continuing to mull that one.
This isn’t a problem of intelligence, it’s a problem of will.
5% of the people (Republicans) think.
10% of the people (Republicans) think that they think.
85% of the people (Republicans) would rather die than think.
- Thomas Edison
Which hasn't subsided where legalized.
a drug that most Americans view as relatively safe
Well, it isn't. All of that stuff you dismiss as propaganda is quite factual - brain damage, lowers IQ - especially in adolescents where the damage can be permanent/irreversible, seriously impairs function especially while driving, etc. All true. Just saying it isn't doesn't make it so. And you even argue it isn't addictive - really? Ever known anyone has needed serious treatment and counseling to break the very real addictions they have for it? Embarrassing you would say something like that that is an obvious falsehood - there's no "trying" in villainizing it - it is simply what it is. That doesn't mean the current policy toward it shouldn't be changed - different issue - but your arguments re: the affects of marijuana have no grain of truth to them and saying things that are not true is not a basis for starting a constructive discussion.
I agree, make it legal I also agree that the GOPe isn’t smart.
Let’s not kid ourselves, pothead types wouldn’t become Republicans over decriminalization. They would be thankful for 15 minutes and then go back to their normal habits.
anybody that thinks the republicans are going to conquer the universe by giving stoners their pot is stoned already.
the libertarians have cost republicans countless seats in just the past several election cycles; if we were smart, we would hunt down all those retarded b*stards an put them into camps. THAT would do some good.
Until you can control THC levels (like nicotine and tar are regulated in cigarettes) forget about it
We can’t even get medical marijuana in Texas for kids with autism, vets with PTSD or cancer patients. When 32 states now have medical marijuana that is prescribed by doctors and proven effective and Texas is too busy worrying about bathrooms!
I’m all for decriminalization of dope, but none of the state initiatives decriminalize it, their only goal is to commercialize it and divide the spoils.
I predict it will be legalized at the federal level in 5 to 10 years.
Legalize it and tax it, like every other “sin”.
Age restrictions like all the rest.
(pick one age for all “Adult” things)
Grow, possession and personal use? No Tax.
Commercial sales? Tax.
While their at it, Goober-mint can also get rid of the Distillation prohibition. (Free The Shine!)
What people put into their own bodies is their own business.
BUT . . . If I don’t want to hire you because you smoke/drink/drugs etc, I don’t have to.
Maximum Liberty = Maximum Responsibility.
Most of the people against legalized marijuana are the people that never have smoked it, don’t smoke it and never will smoke it.
Trump’s plan for 2020! This will take 10 - 20% of the libs off the top for the DNC.
Two comments -
“After failing to prove it is addictive...”
For a counter viewpoint stating that your conclusion has not been established....
“https://americanaddictioncenters.org/marijuana-rehab/is-it-addictive";
But even if it were so established as irrefutable, if the GOP suddenly threw in the towel and supported legalization of pot, are the demographics of the pot crowd such that they will start voting in significant numbers for GOP candidates and defeat democraps? Or will there be no such shift and the next steps have been taken toward becoming a country version of Amsterdam?
Your bottom line that “pot is not dangerous” is contradicted by your subsequent statement that “pot poses a lesser danger to public”. So then it is dangerous! Then the classic pro-pot advocate’s comparison to tobacco and alcohol is that is less dangerous. But you won’t really know that is true until the there is a huge growth in the numbers of people who smoke pot, approach the millions of people with alcohol and tobacco problems....and after decades of use. Can the ountry afford such an experiment when the bottom line is that recreational drug use is to get high, there is no social redeeming benefit.
This seems a leftist issue in general with small numbers of pot smoking libertarians / conservatives ...no real upside to the GOP. If the GOP were smart, they would see how states overcame a federal law using their states to shield them, then use the same arguments to start getting out of all sorts of leftist federal laws imposed on states.
If Republicans want to throw out a curve ball and target voters in segments that traditionally have become democrat, this is one way to do it.
If Trump decriminalized weed at the federal level he would get no “credit” for it. In fact, Democrats use legalization ballot initiatives to GOTV. They aren’t expecting those weed voters to vote GOP, are they?
The pot business in America today is hardly a massive violent biz
Nobody wants Mexican green bud for years now even though it’s cheap
Folks want the best
And cartridges and shatter and edibles
And this new extract.....Live Resin
The Arellano Felix and Beltran Leyva and Falcon and Gallardo old days of weed before Cocaine are long gone
You can’t sell cheap Mexican weed now
And cartel guerilla grows are on the ebb again for same reason ...low quality
Go to a huge 2500 light warehouse in Los Angeles or a 50 acre greenhouse in Carpenteria ...easier to manage and higher THCA
it’s business and it ain’t leaving
It’ll mid legal to some degree everywhere by 2022 ...no question
I’m a conservative not a Republican ...
It’s just how we vote since we have no choice
Marijuana is actively harmful to the vast majority of its users. I have known quite a few who used it for recreation and a few who claimed their use was medicinal. Only a very small number actually benefited - those taking it for nausea with chemo come to mind. If legalized, I would hope it would be considered as destructive as it really is.
That said, we have lost this battle. The question is not whether we will have users but whether we will have legal or illegal users, and legality is not going to change those numbers by much. I’d prefer to admit defeat and allow adults to harm themselves at will - with pot, alcohol, tobacco, etc.