Why marijuana's moment has arrived

CNN ^ | August 11, 2014 | Julian Zelizer

[ConservingFreedom]

A few decades ago, marijuana was a topic that relatively few people, mostly counterculture musicians and comedians, spoke about in public. The comedy team of Cheech and Chong made films such as "Up in Smoke" that extolled the pleasures of smoking pot at a time the subject was still taboo.

"When trouble times begin to bother me," they sang, "I take a toke and all my cares go up in smoke." On the fringes of American society, it was usually possible to find activists who wanted to legalize it, as the reggae artist Peter Tosh famously sang. Efforts to legalize the substance in the mid-1970s failed.

Now marijuana has gone mainstream. Twenty three states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Colorado and Washington have legalized pot for recreational use. The media has featured lively debate over the issue.

Joining other media outlets that have run articles supporting this cause, The New York Times editorial page published a number of high-profile pieces that call for making pot legal at the national level and outline specific steps that should be taken to ensure that the industry evolves in a safe manner.

How did we reach this point? How have we come to the brink of ending the national prohibition against a drug that has been roundly condemned for years as a grave danger to health and a gateway to drugs that can be devastating over time?

Here are eight reasons: [...]

[discostu]

OK I admit I had to look that up. Then was shocked I didn’t know the day the commerce clause took over the world. Gonna remember that one.

[Responsibility2nd]

Pinging the M/A pinglist to a most excellent commentary.

ConservingFreedom is a retread troll spamming FR with his "drugs are good" crap. What DiogenesLamp has said here is worth reading.

Moral Absolutes Ping!

Freepmail Responsibility2nd or wagglebee to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list. FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search [ Add keyword moral absolutes to flag FR articles to this ping list ]

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Getting high was their only goal besides subverting America.”

And they are the same way today.

[DJ MacWoW]

Absolutely agree.

[discostu]

It’s being alive. We all tamper with our brains all the time. Sometimes chemically, but mostly just being here. I’m listening to music right now, and discussing with you, and another FReeper just taught me something I should have already known. That’s all tampering with your brain, it’s what the brain is for, it’s a learning instrument. If you’re not willing to tamper with it I hope you wear hats.

[Ken H]

Every doper I have ever known screwed me over one way or another. 0% batting average is pretty bad.

So how did stupid potheads manage to get the best of you over and over?

[DJ MacWoW]

You equate learning with chemically altering your brain?!

Put the bong down.

[bicyclerepair]

One of the best men I’ve ever known was a pothead. He was brilliant and held down a job I could never do.

He taught me everything I know about cars. We rebuilt engines together from the block up. We restored my 73 Duster together. He was a master craftsman.

He was very smart and trustworthy. I would have trusted him with my life.

Should be in heaven now. R.I.P. Barry. (not the current POS)

[discostu]

Tampering with the brain is tampering with the brain. I put down the bong a long time ago. But of course as an American I still consume alcohol, caffeine, sugar, food good enough to cause endorphin rushes, go to scary movies, stay up too late, engage in physical activity (OK I guess that’s not that American anymore). We chemically alter our brain all the time. It’s part of life, it’s unavoidable, sometimes entertaining, and sometimes educational.

[ConservingFreedom]

pot heads are functionally wards of the state

Even the DEA admits that 75% of illicit drug users are employed

I wonder what percentage of alcoholics are employed?

Less than the percentage of nonalcoholics, I'm sure; are you suggesting we ban that drug too?

I know, I know........25% unemployed is cool,

It's far less than the 100% implied by claims like "pot heads are functionally wards of the state".

and dope is so much fun, man.

Different strokes for different folks - some like pot, some like booze, I like ice cream.

[stephenjohnbanker]

” So how did stupid potheads manage to get the best of you over and over? “

That was over 35 years in business. When you deal with thousands of clients over 35 years, you will run into dopers
pal. And they aren’t all stupid, just twisted.

[DJ MacWoW]

Learning is NOT the same as using drugs to chemically alter your brain. Food is NOT the same as using chemicals for a few moments pleasure.

Don't try feeding me crap and telling me it's not crap!

[ConservingFreedom]

Show where I ever said drugs are good.

People generally plant their flag and defend what they believe in

Yes, and I believe in freedom ... to drink, or smoke tobacco or pot, or watch 'reality' TV.

[DiogenesLamp]

The propaganda-addled reefer madness generation is dying off. Simple demographics.

All of the sane people are dying off. It's why everything is going to shit at the same time, or have you stoners not yet figured out that you are a symptom of the decay?

You are like the Homosexuals. You come out of the closet now because the time is ripe for the forces of evil to make their move. People have forgotten God, and that is why the structure of society is collapsing.

You may enjoy your weed in the future, but you won't enjoy it very long. The state does not like it's property damaged.

More than half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

Since then I have spent well-nigh fifty years working on the history of our Revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that's why all this has happened.

-Alexander Solzhenitsyn-

[stephenjohnbanker]

” pot heads are functionally wards of the state”

I never said that. Too stoned to remember who DID?

[ConservingFreedom]

If you think Obama’s military will have a zero-tolerance approach to smoking dope

I think it won't be 0bama’s military for more than another two years - and that if it is we've got MUCH bigger problems than pot.

[DJ MacWoW]

LOLOL!!!!!!

[stephenjohnbanker]

* chuckle*

[discostu]

One of the biggest differences is learning is more permanent. Drugs do their thing and wear off. But we all know that that which is seen cannot be unseen.

Sunday night I went to one of the finest restaurants in the area. With the first bite of my dinner a rush of pleasure ran through my body. I knew that was going to happen, I go to that restaurant often enough to know the food is so good it causes my body (and other diners’ bodies) to release endorphins, it’s why I go there. So indeed, at least sometimes, food is not merely the same it IS using chemicals for a few moments of pleasure.

Maybe you should it less crap. Then you too could experience the endorphin rush good food causes. I’ll warn you though, it’s an expensive hobby.

[ConservingFreedom]

"pot heads are functionally wards of the state"

I never said that.

I never said you said that. Read much?