Posted on 06/12/2012 8:25:41 PM PDT by presidio9
In the new book, America, You Sexy Bitch: A Love Letter to Freedom, Daily Beast columnist Meghan McCain and comedian Michael Ian Black take a road trip across America and write about their experiences. The excerpt below is from their visit to New Orleans, and what happens after Meghan and Michael light up.
Meghan McCain: -SNIP-
Let me put it right out there. Yes, I have smoked marijuana a few times in the past. The first time was on a trip to Amsterdam in college and I was surprised by how mild of an experience marijuana was (and in my experience still is). It is a plant that makes me mellow and giggly and, quite frankly, tired. Yet, depending on where you are in the United States, smoking is possession, and that is either a misdemeanor or a felony. Split that hair however you want, it’s still a crime.
That being said, I believe that marijuana should be legalized. This is not a decision I have come to quickly or lightly. Over the course of the last four years, in discussions with friends pro and con, I believe the legal ramifications of possessing marijuana are egregious. For one reason, I think it is a substance that does no more damage than alcohol does, and second, if we legalized marijuana in this country and taxed the hell out of it, our economic problems would at least be temporarily helped a great deal. In fact, you could even use the revenue stream to pay for universal health care if you wanted.
Mostly though, I do not completely understand the allure and taboo associated with marijuana. -SNIP-
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
Interesting, but not relevant to our conversation. Let me help you out: Your point was that the war on cancer was bogus, because we had not been going about it the right way. My question was what would you have done differently, starting in 1971 of course, so that medical science would have eradicated cancer by now?
I agree.
I don’t want the government involved in the drug trade on any level.
You think licensing is "government involvement"? So marijuana and other legal drugs should be subject to no regulation for lack of contamination, and to no restrictions on when, where, and to whom they may be sold? Does that include the legal drugs alcohol and tobacco?
I want the Marines in Mexico killing the narcoterrorists
If it weren't for our War On Drugs, there would be no narcoterrorists - just as there are no longer alcoterrorists.
Marijuana is perfectly safe like a tomato...
Why does it need any regulation?
So guns should be subject to no regulation for safety (e.g., not blowing up in your face), and to no restrictions on when, where, and to whom they may be sold? That's the kind of licensing I'm talking about with respect to drugs.
I also think if you register with the government as a pot user
I don't think there should be any such registration, any more than anyone registers with the government as an alcohol user.
Marijuana is perfectly safe like a tomato...
Why does it need any regulation?
Tomatoes are subject to regulation for lack of contamination - do you oppose this? And it's longstanding policy that mind-altering substances (e.g., alcohol) are, irrespective of safety, subject to restrictions on when, where, and to whom they may be sold - do you oppose this?
Interesting, but not relevant to our conversation. Let me help you out: Your point was that the war on cancer was bogus, because we had not been going about it the right way.
Let me help you out: I am not exit82, and my points are not his points.
It is none of the government’s business to regulate somebody’s vegetable garden.
It is none of the government’s business to regulate somebody’s vegetable garden.
If one consumes the tomatoes one grows and doesn't sell them, one is as far as I know free to contaminate them to one's heart's content - and that's as it should be. And that should also be true of one's mind-altering produce. But there is no right to foist contamination on another person, nor to provide alcohol or other mind-altering substances, even plants, to minors.
It is none of the governments business what grows out of the earth.
If you want opium poppies in your flower bed, I don’t give a damn.
I’d rather have the crap illegal if it means some government hack is going to come and sniff around my yard because the neighbor is growing pot.
The Constitution says nothing about the consumption of alcohol, smoking or drugs.
It also says nothing about minors consuming them.
In fact, in 1776, minors consumed adult beverages and tobacco, and they even had guns.
It is none of the governments business what grows out of the earth.
If you want opium poppies in your flower bed, I don’t give a damn.
So we agree.
I’d rather have the crap illegal if it means some government hack is going to come and sniff around my yard because the neighbor is growing pot.
If it's illegal and your neighbor is growing it, you'll get plenty of government hacks coming around - and doing more than just sniffing. But my position is that the government hacks should stay away unless sale is going on.
It also says nothing about minors consuming them.
Which is why the feds should stay out of it (except perhaps for interstate commerce, where they do have Constitutional authority).
The states and local governments shouldn’t be involved either.
Princess pothead has pronounced!
” ...leave it to this dumbass to see tax revenue to pay for socialist programs in MJ legalization.”
I’d rather it was illegal than let the state governments become 50 new drug cartels.
I don’t smoke the $hit and I hate the a$$holes who do.
If they take the money completely out of it and grow it like a vegetable in the garden. I can live and let live.
I want less government, not more potheads in government.
Marijuana is perfectly safe like a tomato...
Is it safer for a man to operate heavy equipment after eating a tomato or smoking marijuana?
Stoners will tend to vote Democrat. There is no getting around this. The Democrats know that legalizing this crap will get them more votes
My point exactly... (sarcasm tag omitted)
Why should insurance companies be able to raise the auto insurance rates for everyone else to spread the risk? Because, they most certainly will...
medical marijuana card = no driver’s license
It also says nothing about minors consuming them.
Which is why the feds should stay out of it (except perhaps for interstate commerce, where they do have Constitutional authority).
The states and local governments shouldn’t be involved either.
There we must agree to disagree; I think local governments have the authority and responsibility to reasonably regulate time, place, and manner of sale for alcohol and other drugs, and their availability to minors. (But if in our vast 'laboratory of democracy' some community decided that anything goes, they should be free to take that path.)
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