MARIJUANA DECRIM BILL IN MA GENERAL COURT RIGHT NOW

The Massachusetts General Court (legislature) ^ | this current legislative session | n/a

[robertpaulsen]

Arizona Proposition 203 was funded chiefly by University of Phoenix founder John Sperling and investors George Soros and Peter Lewis, ... would have decriminalized possession of small amounts of pot and required the state to distribute pot for free for medical reasons, was defeated (November, 2002) by a wide margin (57% - 43%).

[Roscoe]

Pesky old facts. ;)

[spodbox]

Was it voted down because of the decrim part, or the handing out pot for free part?

43% of arizonian think that not only pot should be decriminalized, it should be handed out by the state government for medical purposes for free.

[unspun]

43% of arizonian think that not only pot should be decriminalized, it should be handed out by the state government for medical purposes for free.

Yeah and even more of them vote for John McCain.

[unspun]

Maybe this would be a better read if I lit up a joint.

I don't think I'd want to slog through this in my free time, even if I were a Massachusetts lawyer.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Maybe this would be a better read if I lit up a joint.

Absolutely not. It was written in the language of legislation, striking out in the appropriate chapters the exact words that classified marijuana as a controlled substance, substituting exact new language that classified it as something else, and in other chapters, setting up a system by which marijuana could be taxed, including how much it would be taxed. Not very poetic prose, but not much legislation ever is.

[robertpaulsen]

"Was it voted down because of the decrim part, or the handing out pot for free part?"

We'll never know since it was all one proposition.

"43% of arizonian think that not only pot should be decriminalized, it should be handed out by the state government for medical purposes for free."

Not quite. 43% of Arizona voters who cast a vote on Proposition 203 certainly felt that way. I don't know that we can extend that same percentage to the general public.

[walkingdead]

Wow, thanks alot for the info, I hadn't heard about that.

[unspun]

Thanks; I was tired last night.

Another case of government getting into vice, for fund raising. Special taxes on tobacco, and liquor aren't enough. State-run liquor stores aren't enough. State-controlled gambling isn't enough. Some in this state want to make money off of psychotropic vice.

And we have government-controlled prostitution in Nevada, don't we? Nevada the pimp state?

Maybe soon, there will be government sponsored ultimate fighting competitions... gladiator battles... drug of your choice vending machines operated by the state... government-run sex machines as in the Woody Allen movie, "Sleeper."

Oh the joys of "liberation." (And mysteriously... somehow our taxes don't go down because of all this revenue. Huh....)

Suggest that those who think that behavioral license is the goal of the American way of life read the Preamble to the Constitution and gain perspective. It's not just about compassless "liberty."