Nice post ... I'm happy for you and your Dad.
If they could figure out a way to tax it, pot WOULD be legal. It's just too easy to grow plants -- as opposed to erecting a still for moonshine -- and the State only approves those drugs which it can tax and/or regulate as "controlled substances."
For all the talk of the addictive and "desperate" behaviors of pot smokers, I've yet to see anyone smoke themselves into a rage and beat the crap out of anyone after verbally abusing anyone who happens to be handy.
Nor have I noted "withdrawal" symptoms -- other than a spike, perhaps, in mental acuity -- to be terribly violent for pot smokers.
With those contrasts to alcohol and the fact that drunk drivers like Janklow (who got a whopping 100 days in jail for his drunken KILLING of motorcyclist ... compare that to your average Sentencing Guideline for pot, will you?) are responsible for an inordinate amount of carnage and LITTER on the byways of this land.
I for one am particularly sick of the hypocrisy. No one who is "anti-pot" has any business supporting the continued legal status of alcohol which is -- by far -- the more dangerous substance.
This is true only to a point.
Tobacco can be grown, cured, and smoked just like pot but millions of people still buy their cigarettes from the store premade.
Why? Convenience.
I still buy my tobacco post-cured, even if I do stuff my own cigs, but that doesn't mean I WANT to raise my own tobacco.
Some people do grow their own tobacco but they are few and far between.
The same point could probably be made for pot.
Millions would buy their pot already grown, cured, and rolled for the convenience.
Sure, some would still grow their own, if for no other reason than they enjoy the process.
It could be legalized, and taxed, only if there was a verifiable, quick, easy test for the police to use similar to the breathalizer for alcohol.