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Why marijuana's moment has arrived
CNN ^ | August 11, 2014 | Julian Zelizer

Posted on 08/13/2014 11:13:55 AM PDT by 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: [...]

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cannabis; liberalutopia; libertarianagenda; libertarianutopia; marijuana; moralabsolutes; pot; potheads; utopia; wod
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To: gdani
the possibilities of negro jazz musicians having relations with white women under the influence of the demon weed.

Kim Kardashian put the lie to that.

161 posted on 08/13/2014 2:01:54 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: Vision Thing

He certainly was very good at being famous. But he actually did some real science, and he made money. Clearly a winner. Maybe you can’t be bothered to remember his contributions, but people who work with the results of the Mariner and Galileo missions remember them just fine.


162 posted on 08/13/2014 2:03:57 PM PDT by discostu (Villains always blink their eyes.)
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To: Salamander
Amen but ours is not a popular position.

Given the state of our Populace, thank God for that!!

163 posted on 08/13/2014 2:04:31 PM PDT by DiogenesLamp (Partus Sequitur Patrem)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Post something about the bad effects of porn and they show up to accuse you of being a perv.


164 posted on 08/13/2014 2:05:25 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: DiogenesLamp; discostu
even casual use among young adults was enough to cause significant brain abnormalities in two important brain structures.

Young adults are well advised not to mess with their developing brains. As for the most effective public policy for achieving that end, see post #156.

165 posted on 08/13/2014 2:07:18 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: ConservingFreedom

“Looks like the best policy for keeping drugs out of kids’ hands is to legalize them for adults; this gives sellers an economic incentive to sell to only adults.”

Great selective editing. The paper says that the survey shows that marijuana is now easier to obtain than before. I guess ‘normalization’ of marijuana is leading to it being more available to teenagers.


166 posted on 08/13/2014 2:07:35 PM PDT by TexasGator
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To: TexasGator
Looks like the best policy for keeping drugs out of kids’ hands is to legalize them for adults;

dumbest thing I ever heard

167 posted on 08/13/2014 2:09:02 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: GeronL

Yep


168 posted on 08/13/2014 2:13:08 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: DiogenesLamp

Yeah, that’s a good way to look at it....:)


169 posted on 08/13/2014 2:14:17 PM PDT by Salamander (He ain't heavy, he's my Boa.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I’m glad to see the idiotic war on (some) drugs failing. Marijuana should be legalized by those states that wish to do so. Its far too expensive and counterproductive to jail the stoners.

The actual experience of legalization in CO has been a big nothing burger. The four horsemen of the apocalypse have not descended. About the only thing that has happened is the stoners are no longer being tossed in jail, and the state is going to generate about $100 mil in extra tax revenue this year. I ask myself: who would I rather see taxed, myself or stoners? That’s an easy question to answer.


170 posted on 08/13/2014 2:15:51 PM PDT by RKBA Democrat (Be a part of the American freedom migration: freestateproject.org)
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To: TexasGator
"a higher percentage of teens surveyed finds marijuana easier to buy than both cigarettes and beer." National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse, http://www.casacolumbia.org/download/file/fid/640

Looks like the best policy for keeping drugs out of kids' hands is to legalize them for adults; this gives sellers an economic incentive to sell to only adults.

Great selective editing. The paper says that the survey shows that marijuana is now easier to obtain than before.

Where in the paper does that statement occur?

171 posted on 08/13/2014 2:15:59 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: GeronL; stephenjohnbanker
"a higher percentage of teens surveyed finds marijuana easier to buy than both cigarettes and beer." National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse, http://www.casacolumbia.org/download/file/fid/640

Looks like the best policy for keeping drugs out of kids' hands is to legalize them for adults; this gives sellers an economic incentive to sell to only adults.

dumbest thing I ever heard

Facts are stubborn things.

172 posted on 08/13/2014 2:17:29 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: RKBA Democrat

pot, meth, coke... itz for the childrun


173 posted on 08/13/2014 2:17:57 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: ConservingFreedom

Opinions are stubborn things.

I don’t believe “studies” and crap I see in the news any more.


174 posted on 08/13/2014 2:19:57 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: discostu
Somebody in my favorite bar put “Right Down the Line” on the jukebox Monday. Now you mention Gerry.

He survived everything but the whiskey.

175 posted on 08/13/2014 2:20:37 PM PDT by tacticalogic
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To: GeronL
I don’t believe “studies”

This study is from an anti-drug organization, which views the finding with some alarm.

176 posted on 08/13/2014 2:22:19 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: GeronL

These people don’t care about societal decay.


177 posted on 08/13/2014 2:22:57 PM PDT by stephenjohnbanker (The only people in the world who fear Obama are American citizens. KILL THE BILL!)
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To: ConservingFreedom; stephenjohnbanker; discostu; DJ MacWoW; DiogenesLamp; GeronL; wagglebee
Looks like the best policy for keeping drugs out of kids' hands is to legalize them for adults; this gives sellers an economic incentive to sell to only adults.

Troll, you know that banning cigarettes and liquor to minors works so well (sarc). So with your "drugs are good" agenda here at at FR, you really want to advocate legalization thinking that minors won't be affected?

You are naive as well as stupid.

178 posted on 08/13/2014 2:23:58 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd (NO LIBS. This Means Liberals and (L)libertarians! Same Thing. NO LIBS!!)
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To: stephenjohnbanker
These people don’t care about societal decay.

Why should we believe laws can prevent societal decay?

179 posted on 08/13/2014 2:25:12 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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To: Responsibility2nd; stephenjohnbanker; discostu; DJ MacWoW; DiogenesLamp; GeronL; wagglebee
Troll, you know that banning cigarettes and liquor to minors works so well (sarc).

Better than banning pot for everyone has, as I have shown.

So with your "drugs are good" agenda

Still waiting for you to show where I ever said drugs are good.

180 posted on 08/13/2014 2:28:09 PM PDT by ConservingFreedom (A goverrnment strong enough to impose your standards is strong enough to ban them.)
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