Feb 22nd, 2009 at 11:44 am
Marijuana Legalization More Popular than Key Conservative Leaders
Inspired by this Chris Bowers post, here’s a chart I made comparing public support for legalizing marijuana to the approval ratings for Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders that I found on PollingReport:
Needless to say, support for marijuana legalization is pretty much a “fringe” view in national politics. And it certainly doesn’t have majority support. And yet put it in perspective and this is what you get.
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February 22nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
Oh, you have a typo. You write, “…Rush Limbaugh and various Republican Party leaders,” when the correct thing to write was “Rush Limbaugh and various other Republican Leaders.”
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
Uhhhh….what were were JUST talking about?
February 22nd, 2009 at 11:59 am
So if we eliminate all the marijuana smokers who publicly support legalization, thus sorting out the ‘conservatives’, we get a country more like conservatives want. I think we have a good target for elimination.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:09 pm
So modern conservatism is fringe politics; with no medicinal benefits.
Somehow, I already knew that. But thanks for the graphic.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
I’d imagine that if you took a more moderate position than full legalization you could have majority support. Legalizing the posession of small quantities of Marajuana and legalizing home grown Marajuana would probably get a lot of public support. Personally I think we should legalize it while regulating it nad taxing as much as possible without creating a black market. I do worry though about what a Marajuana industry would look like and at a very minimum churches and civic groups will need to counter any pro-Marajuana advertising.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Wow, so the GOP has decided to follow the one guy less popular than Bush? Was Ted Bundy not available?
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:19 pm
I dunno… legalizing marijuana may be a “fringe view” in terms of media coverage and discussion in Washington, but if there’s any truth to those numbers, 40% approval (and likely growing) seems to indicate that the issue is less “fringe” than we’re supposed to believe.
The subject may be breached sooner than we think, though, given the hard times. Legalizing, regulating, and taxing cannabis–and easing restrictions on hemp production generally–might be an effective way to create jobs and generate revenues for the government (talk about a “green business”). Also, legalizing pot would free up space in our prisons for the crooked bankers who belong there.
Or maybe this is a sign that Rush and company need to chill out with a doobie…
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Bush above 30% now? A few more Americans must approve of the job he’s not doing anymore.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Point is? We already knew that it was the dopers who swung the election for ObaMessiah, right?
Marijuana legalization benefits greatly by the entire alternative medicine movement and it will be the boomer retirees who get da weed legalized nationally. Geez, teens stealing grannie’s stash…
The interesting issues and battles will revolve around licensing of cultivation and distribution because obviously that’s where the money is.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Alcohol prohibition was repealed during the Great Depression…why not repeal marijuana prohibition now?
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
You partisans always crack me up.
There has not been a fundamental shift in the makeup of the electorate. The republicans were booted out of office because they did a shitty job. When you do a shitty job, you too will be booted out of office.
Conservatism as a fringe position is as valid as the “permanent” republican majority of 2004
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
Maybe this issue might become a tad more important after we manage to keep banks from failing and the stock market from crashing. Marijuana should be legal, and the reasoning is so old that you could watch a clip from The Graduate to get it. Maybe this issue will gain traction when the next generation of humans come to power and insist that their elders have been dumbasses. Gay marriage should come across as constitutional at about the same time, because the logic is even more plain. Until then, lets suck it up, deal with the illegality of weed, and focus on providing universal health care and preventing the nation from plummeting into a depression. If you want to say that taxing weed will prop up universal health care, then godspeed. You have my vote.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Conservatism may not be fringe, but the GOP is.
They murdered conservatism with the approval of the Party and its supposedly conservative supporters.
It would be great if we had a party in this country that stood for cautious, conventional fiscal and foreign policy. We don’t. Well, not on the right, anyway.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
endless ike, when the republican party gets back to actual conservatism, it will have a future. as a right-wing authoritarian movement, it will stay on the fringes for decades to come. it’s really up to the honest conservatives whether they want the nutcases to continues to speak for them.
Jonah, 40 years ago i assumed marijuana would have been legalized by now because of the tax revenue potential, so don’t (so to speak) hold your breath on that score!
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
40% approval is a “fringe view”?
In any case, I think we may be falling towards legalization of at least small quantities of marijuana (which encourages them to grow it), what with all the various loosening of state laws on marijuana usage. All it would take would be a President who says, “I’m not going to use the DEA to enforce anti-marijuana laws” and it’d be as good as dead (especially when you consider that there are lots of laws that we more or less ignore, like Connecticut’s “blue laws” against contraception before Griswold v. Connecticut).
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:17 pm
I think there may be name recognition issues with McConnel or Boehner.
But yeah, how is something 42% of the population wants a ‘fringe’ view? It’s just a view that’s been put in the ’sphere of deviance’, but it’s not fringe. Just like people wanting to end the Iraq war a couple years ago.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Not sure I agree with your interpretation of this chart. Doesn’t it actually say that legalizing marijuana is not a “fringe view”?
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Bush above 30% now? A few more Americans must approve of the job he’s not doing anymore.
I completely approve of Bush’s current performance of his job as an ex-President. If only he could have been doing this job sooner…
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I’m with the other commenters who say that anything with 40% approval is not a fringe view. It gives you some idea of how much the media controls the debate in this country.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
All it would take would be a President who says, “I’m not going to use the DEA to enforce anti-marijuana laws”
New DEA head hasn’t come onboard yet, Obama said during the campaign he wasn’t going to allow the DEA to go after marijuana clubs and the like where they are decriminalized and in general was skeptical of imprisoning non-violent offenders.
Time will tell.
February 22nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I am not a Republican never have been and never will be but I do oppose legalizing marijuana. It has no societal or medicinal benefit. And yes, it is addictive and yes it does ruin lives just like alcohol.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:01 pm
The marijuana issue is irrelevant for me, I live in Boulder. You have to have a lot of pot to get busted in this town. Two pounds might be enough, but I’m not sure I’ve been busted playing my music too loud twice here, and both times the cops didn’t care at all about the pot they saw. But that’s tame compared to what happened to a friend of mine. He had to go to court on a “dog at large” charge. He had pot in his pocket when entering the court. Not only did they not bust him for bringing marijuana into the court, they gave it back to him when he left the court. No cop in Boulder will face the embarrassment of busting someone for pot.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:07 pm
pot in california is a non-issue. alcohol is clearly a much more destructive poisonous substance and the resistance to regulated legalization of marijuana in the 21st century is hypocrisy.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
“It has no societal or medicinal benefit”
Huh? Marijuana is unparalleled in the treatment of glaucoma. A friend of mine has a license to grow medical marijuana. He never smoked it until he was 55 years old. He had shingles, which is extremely painful. Marijuana was the only treatment that worked for him. I still can’t figure out how he made it through the Sixties without trying pot, but he did. Now, he has glaucoma, so he still needs to smoke pot. He’d be willing to try some other drug to treat glaucoma, but there isn’t one that works.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Turn on your sarcasm detectors, people.
Legalization is a ‘fringe’ view because, like the millions opposing the war in Iraq, it was declared to be a fringe view by people working in an industry where it’s relatively easy to get stoned without getting caught. Also, because Willie Nelson is a stoner. Etc.
I’m ambivalent about the consequences of decriminalization: there’s a somewhat idealistic embrace of “grow-your-own, smoke-your-own”, but that doesn’t take into account places like dirt-poor eastern KY (sub req., I think) where it’s easily the largest cash crop, and where large-scale legal cultivation would be transformative, for better or worse.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I completely approve of Bush’s current performance of his job as an ex-President. If only he could have been doing this job sooner… And from a prison cell.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:37 pm
It may be a fringe(but not for much longer)view in national politics, however zogby say that 40% of public support legalization, and a majority % favor medical marijuana. 13 states have legalized for medical purposes. I think politics will catch up with public opinoin.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Incarceration and tearing families apart is justified because marijuana doesn’t make 50% in a popularity contest?!
Marijuana is medicine for sick justice.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Spoken like a true ignoramous. Not only is there copious medical literature, I’ve proven to the satisfaction of my extremely-conservative opthalmalogist that marijuana, taken once a day, dramatically reduces my intra-ocular pressure (IOP, symptom of glaucoma).
Nobody who’s willing to read and understand the literature can make the absurd claim there’s “…no societal or medicinal benefit.” I can attribute my eyesight (in part; in addition to the six surgeries I’ve had) to Mary Jane.
February 22nd, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I have to say that while I favor de-criminalization of pot (so that it is like a speeding ticket), if it were for sale at the corner store I, and many that I know, would get next to nothing accomplished.
Yes, if I realy, really wanted it now, I could probably go way out of my way to get some. But I don’t want it that much. But if I could pick some up at 7-11 after work or after I’ve had a few beers, I, and many of the people I know, would become sloths.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
I think I need to have a smoke and think about this!
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
THE LAW IS WRONG NOT THE BONG
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
To “midpointpolitico”, I have to say you missed your calling (being a republican) What you need to do is sit down with Rush and his buddies and smoke a joint. Yes, it does have medical benefits, I watch my friend with cancer get through his chemotherapy and the only thing that gave him an appetite for food was to smoke pot. Now tell that to the doctors who told him that it would help(which it did).
I’ll bet that you believe the stories in the 1930’s film “Tell your Children” also called “Reefer Madness”, this was just Republican propaganda. Looks like you missed your calling.
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:42 pm
“And yes, it is addictive and yes it does ruin lives just like alcohol.”
Even if this is the case, you can’t say that with a straight face unless you also think alcohol should be made illegal. And I’ve never heard a single person say they hold that position.
Also, why is it that so many of the anti-drug people who want to legislate morality are so strongly in favor of personal freedom when it comes to things like guns?
February 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Fringe you say ? marijuana had more votes than Obama in Michigan and Massachusetts in their respectives initiatives that passed.
it wasn’t the black vote, the gay vote, the Palin hating vote. It was the marijuana vote that elected the Big ‘O’ to end the injustice to man.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:05 pm
One more month and it’s in the ground. Anyone have some spare seeds?? I’ve been preppin’ soil all weekend!!
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Durrrrr. Le’s compare and apple to an orange and try and draw a conclusion. I didn’t notice any Dems or their party in the survey. Wonder how they would have faired against puff the magic dragon.
What a waste of polling time
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:22 pm
65% of ALL voted in Massachusetts for decrim less than an .oz $100 fine. Quite comical the cops are now equipped with scales.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:26 pm
None of this is evidence for any increased political viability of marijuana legalization. A lot will have to change before anyone who is anyone even thinks of bringing it to the table in Washington, let alone forming a halfway serious legislative coalition. It wouldn’t matter if 65% of the country was in casual support or indifference to legalization (or decriminalization, or even just talking about either of those things); nobody who matters has any reason whatsoever to start the ball (bong) rolling, because the incentives are minuscule and the penalties are huge.
Any congressional pioneer of drug-war reform, for example, will necessarily be sabotaging his or her chances for future advancement, and in all the districts in which the idea has broad popular support, no candidate who is also personally in favor of it will gain anything by campaigning on it, since standard liberalism will do the job at no cost.
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
bill c, I think you have your causality backwards.
According to medical patients it is more effective and less toxic than convential treatments in some cases. I think it should be treated as a herbal therapeutic like Valerian root, or scutellaria lateriflora.
Some people will become addicted to something no matter what, jogging/exercise, credit, porn, gambling, shopping, food(over eating / anorexia and bulimia), Codependency, work, sugar, salt…
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
“I am not a Republican never have been and never will be but I do oppose legalizing marijuana. It has no societal or medicinal benefit. And yes, it is addictive and yes it does ruin lives just like alcohol.”
Wrong wrong wrong. I have seen the benefits of marijuana in helping people withstand nausea-inducing medical treatments. Suppression of nausea, reduction of anxiety and stimulation of appetite with the simple ingestion of a little pot brownie for someone undergoing chemotherapy is an absolute Godsend.
Marijuana is not addictive in the true sense of addiction, either. I grew up in a generation that smoked the stuff frequently in our adolescence and beyond – lives may have been ruined by many things but not one was ruined by smoking weed. It does not cause physical or psychological withdrawal symptoms, and it has a bizarre feature of becoming unpleasant to many users after years of casual use. I have experienced this myself – I wholeheartedly support legalization or at least decriminalization; I know its beneficial medical uses, but after smoking the stuff for about 20 years without any negative consequences whatsoever, I can’t even smell it now without getting squirrely and uncomfortable. Many people have the same inexplicable spontaneous aversion arise. Ever heard of that happening with heroin, cocaine or booze?
February 22nd, 2009 at 4:58 pm
My brother went to vietnam twice, where he was exposed to agent orange thanks to our wonderful government. About 10 years later, he lost an eye to glaucoma as a result. A strait-laced conservative up to that point, he learned that the only thing that eased the physical pain was marijuana, and has been smoking it ever since, the last person on earth you would have expected to do so. But conservatives care nothing about human suffering, only their precious holier than thou moralistic posturing. This is just another way we neglect and mistreat our veterans, imo.
On the other hand, I have smoked it myself, quite a bit when I was a teenager and again once or twice in the last couple of years, and I have to say that besides the wonderful buzz, the main effect on me is to make me feel self-conscious almost to the point of paralysis. It’s not paranoia, it’s extreme shyness, probably a magnification of an already-existing aspect of my personality. For that reason I will probably never enjoy that high again, much as I love the feeling, because I cannot stand the debilitating effect on my self-esteem and social interactions. I know others who have smoked it for their whole long lifetimes, and there are some in whom it kills all ambition, and others whose productivity is unaffected.
Its use needs to be not prohibited but regulated. Just like alcohol, its effects are different depending on the individual personality/physiology, and it’s paternalistic and patronizing to deny it to everyone because of its effects on some. Not to mention inhumane to keep it from people in whom it would ease physical suffering.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Support for decriminalisation will increase once the Mexican civil war crosses over into USA.
February 22nd, 2009 at 5:55 pm
Holy Moly folks! We have another statistical genius here. Great chart and excellent analysis.
Here in Massachusetts, we have essentially legalized less than an ounce of pot in November by more than 60 percent of the votes. It went into effect in January. And no, law and order have not broken down–MA has among the lowest homicide and divorce rates–and among the highest educational attainment and incomes. Yeah!
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Hi, I work as a social worker in a prison in Phila PA.
You almost never see someone who has committed domestic violence after using Marijuana. At the same time 9 out of 10 Domestic violence cases involve a very legal drug Alcohol!
http://www.beersoflegend.com
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:09 pm
What a about prohibition of the GOP and lifting prohibition on marijuana. Talk about your win win!
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
There has been a shirt in political makeup. By 2016 the millennials will be the largest voting block. Repubs are screwed unless they change. My generation is the most diverse, and we’ve watched the Repubs try to demonize everyone and everything.
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:30 pm
In 1996 in AZ marijuana was legal for medicinal use only. For that year I carried a prescription around in my wallet given to me to use mj for treatment of pain from lupus. Never could find a pusher who would take my insurance…… This year it will be included on the ballot again, with a well-laid out plan for regulation & supply. I smoked it from the age of 15 through 21, got very good grades, was very active in everything musical, academic and winter sports. Had 3 healthy, normal children, unless their vaguely warped sense of humor would be considered a birth defect.
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
It’s called registering new voters. This is a big reason why PA has gone from purple to blue – party ID. This isn’t a 50/50 country like in 04 or 2000 because there is a major difference in the number of self-identified Democrats over Republicans. The GOP was able to do well during the Bush-Clinton-Bush years because of new registrants – during Bush I’s term, young voters were a majority Republican bloc. If you can get voters to vote for a party in two or three of their first major elections in a row, you have yourself on average a new lifelong partisan.
This also ignores things like how young Floridian Cubans have a much different take on the embargo than their elders. Without the support of Cuban Americans who favor the embargo, the GOP loses Florida. With support for the embargo drying up, the GOP has no real game plan in Florida short of nominating someone like Crist (who would alienate the base over likely true gay rumors) or Jeb Bush (whose name would alienate swing voters elsewhere). There’s a reason Mel Martinez is already planning on retiring.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Daaaave? Dave’s not here, man.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:58 pm
according to the Gallup poll…Rebublicans in congress are down to 19%.
Scroll down to the bar chart that breaks out the Dems/Inds/Repubs.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
i cant believe there is still argument regarding the sanity of armed authorities raiding peoples homes and imprisoning citizens for having some flowers in a bag.. herbs whose most critical negative is the interreaction with the same misguided and oppresive authorities. does freedom allow a culture that insists on dictating how people enjoy thir own damned bodies and minds? please free us from ever lingering insipid puritanism.
focus people focus ..
there are much more serious issues at hand than worrying about neighbors who chose to use a herb so ancient that we a have evolved specific neuro receptors to accomodated and facilitate its ingestion.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 am
half the potheads i know are conservatives. maybe that explains something…
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:51 am
Ya know there is more to legalizing hemp than just recreational use or medicinal use, but of course anyone that supports Rush, Republicans or the current economic climate is too brain damaged to know that. For instance an acre of hemp produces as mush paper as four acres of trees, from thre bio-mass you can get ethanol at cheaper than you can produce it from corn, from the seeds you get oil for cooking or for bio-diseal, frpom its fiberous stems you can make cloth. All of these things have been done in the past. The original Declarationof Independence is written on hemp paper as is the original Constitution. The first Levi’s were produced from hemp cloth, etc., etc., etc. So yes there is a new “green’ industry that could employ thousands if not millions and save the family farms that remain in this country.
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:51 am
Legalizing pot wouldn’t be so bad if we could avoid turning it into an industry like Anheuser Busch. As soon as it starts being marketed we are in trouble.Anything the corporations touch turns to crap.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:01 am
Legalizing pot and heavily taxing it would be a great first step towards balancing the budget, reducing prison expenditures for non-violent “pot” use offenders and do away with much of the criminal element now profiting from trafficing the substance just as repealing prohibition did in the past. If that’s not conservative, I don’t know what is. Modern conservatives do not seem to practice any logic much less conservative values these days, or they would have learned from the past.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:06 am
Just do it already!
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:00 am
Mmmmm…donhuts.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:19 am
To: midpointpolitico
I beg to differ. Alcohol is legal, marijuana is not physically addicting (There are no physical withdrawal symptoms when a user quits.) and marijuana has been in use as a medicinal herb for over 2500 years.
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:23 am
It all misses the major point, we criminalize social problems and have 1% of our population behind bars. 1% of the population taking 98% of the wealth and the wrong 1% is behind bars. We have closed our mental health facilities and each prison has a mental health department. So we spend even more money on mental health but job training is now in hard crime. We make room in prison for people with bad habits or mental problems and leave pedophiles out on the street to prey on our children. It costs more to keep each person in prison than the average American makes. Most officers I talk to want the drug problem treated like what it is a social stigma, not a legal stigma. Stop the maddness! Treatment, before jail. Steven Guy
February 23rd, 2009 at 7:31 am
@urkel:
that’s not entirely true, both are grammatically correct.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:12 am
What a bunch of fucked up assholes. Do u think that the democratic bastards give a fuck about you? Democratics are the ones that so fucked up! Why was it only the republicsn that were up in the poll? Democratics can go to hell as far as I am concern.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:57 am
You missed Pelosi with her 10% approval ratings:
http://pollingreport.com/p.htm#Pelosi
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:34 am
alcohol is legal poison. marijuana is not.
let’s try this:
if you take one liter of vodka. drink it straight. you can die.
take as much marijuan as you want, smoke, eat, whatever. you will not die.
alcohol destroys lives.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Many thanks to “richard fauvre” for his deft impersonation of an idiotic republican. Great work, richard! You were just horrible.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:49 am
Matt somehow absentmindedly forgot to mention that Pelosi has a 35% approval and a 31% approval by two other polls at the same site Matt suggests. Matt, you need to pay attention to detail.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:58 am
Legalizing Marijuana More Popular Than GOP Leaders | politikly.com…
\r\nAs it should be \r\nWrong wrong wrong. I have seen the benefits of marijuana in helping people w…
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:52 pm
By that argument, television should be criminalized.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Well,
Waisting money locking up cancer patients for possesion just seems so right though…. I mean doeasnt everyone agree that we should be spending billions on charging non violent possesors to the max while we spend merly millions on the violent gangs that rob beat and kill….. Its simple math really….. Spend billions removing the peaceful and you end up with a bankrupt economy that allows the violent offenders be free and the non-violent locked up….. Perfect scenerio for the NWO….. Seems like everything they do anymore gets rid of those people who are for freedom and the origional constitution….
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Pajamas Media just hired richard fauvre as a foreign correspondent.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:00 pm
Is anyone working on getting the FDA to remove marijuana from Schedule 1?
Until then, any effort toward the legalization or decriminalization will be in vain.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
If CA can do this, the rest of the country will soon follow when they see the huge benefits of the legalization of hemp and the incredible amount of taxes it will generate for this country.We need an entirely new industry and HEMP is IT.GO CALIFORNIA!!!!
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I am a Republican. I would support this in a minute. There is really no rational argument for why weed should be illegal — especially with alcohol being legal. (People who smoke weed are nearly universally more pleasant to be around than people who are drunk.)
The first state to formally legalize and tax it is in for a boatload of new revenue, including from a huge number of people who will make trips there to enjoy the THC.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I’m so frustrated, just legalize it already! Safer than alcohol, safer than aspirin, will provide much needed state revenue, takes away power from organized crime, will free up jail space for real criminals like murderers. Geez!
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
taxing as much as possible
NO. God DAMN it, we don’t owe any money to the god damned government for the right to use whatever drugs we choose to use.
It took a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol, and that amendment was repealed. There is no legal authority today for the federal government to perpetrate the war on drugs.
-jcr
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:36 pm
The only financial benefit that should come to any government from legalization should be that they don’t have to waste our tax money locking up harmless users or dressing Barney Fife up like a soldier so he can go shoot people in a midnight home invastion.
The government isn’t entitled to more tax revenues just because they stop doing something they had no authority to do in the first place.
-jcr
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
Granted there are more important items on the government’s mind right now, but decriminalization is a no brainer. Should really be easy, too (letters to FDA please). Tho, anything presented to congress at this time will probably be made into hell and the devil by the conservative (mainly) republican element, and i don’t relish pot being put in that spot.
PS: Considering forwarding all this to the Pres?
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:12 pm
What? Pots illegal? Gee I been smoking pot for 30 years, I had no idea!
RT
http://www.anonymity.eu.tc
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:37 pm
Funny, I love pot, I truly do, its an amazing drug and I’ve been smoking it for years , on the same time, I’ve drank gallons of alcohol.
There is a huge difference, it was much easier for me to get mentally hooked on weed, I’ve been waking and baking for over 5 years, yet, doing shots of tequila at 9 am where something neither me or my friends did, hell, I’d say take 90% of the bong lovers and they’d all rather wake and bake, now take 90% of the booze lovers, I’d give a harsh estimation that only 5% of them or perhaps 10% have vodka with their cereal.
By waking and baking every day I’ve lost ambition, concentration, and became completely apathetic …
Legalization is something that we have to try in order to tell whether its good or bad, one thing is sure, people who wanna 4:20 will always find their way to get their gear.
Leave the pot dealers out of jail, at the same time make sure it stays illegal.
February 23rd, 2009 at 10:12 pm
THIS IS THE LIMIT! why is pot even an issue? I’m an old lady who uses pot every day for several medical conditions,each has no cure and I cannot use conventional medicine because they only make me worse! end of freakin’ debate people…just ask someone whe NEEDS to use the stuff what they think about legalization. I live in a state where it’s legal yet we still have to hide it from the Feds. who love to “make examples” out of sick and disabled people just so the God awful pharmaceutical companies can continue to legally poison us!
All you need to do is read the side effects of those pharm. products to know who is behind the keeping of pot illegal! enough already night night….off for a smoke.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Brilliant comparison of favoravility! This will be a tough fight, but now is the right time to try. Take a look at this video response to the California bill by a lingerie model/comedian! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sk-vZ0ot240
February 24th, 2009 at 10:12 am
The best approach might be for the Federal gov’t to just stop testing for Marijuana use during urine analysis. Businesses would probably follow suit. A small step that would probably pass through congress without much ballyhoo.
February 24th, 2009 at 11:10 am
President Obama could change it with the stroke of a pen. He could take it off the Dangerous Substance List and let the conversation begin. He should take cannabis hemp off the Dangerous Substance List, not marijuana. It’s time to stop using the ‘drug only’ name for cannabis.
President Obama could lead by example. Not calling it marijuana, which only has a history as a drug would be a good place to start. Cannabis hemp has history. Good history. It has been used throughout history. Cannabis hemp should be taken off the Dangerous Substance List.
Many won’t even realize cannabis hemp is marijuana. People in high places never call it by it’s proper name, which helps to keep the conversation on drugs and not the plant and it’s many uses.
Cannabis hemp has history and should have a future. Why search for alternative substances when we already have the plant. Cannabis hemp a plant used by our forefathers and hopefully future generations.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Turn on your sarcasm detectors, people.
Legalization is a ‘fringe’ view because, like the millions opposing the war in Iraq, it was declared to be a fringe view by people working in an industry where it’s relatively easy to get stoned without getting caught. Also, because Willie Nelson is a stoner. Etc.
I’m ambivalent about the consequences of decriminalization: there’s a somewhat idealistic embrace of “grow-your-own, smoke-your-own”, but that doesn’t take into account places like dirt-poor eastern KY (sub req., I think) where it’s easily the largest cash crop, and where large-scale legal cultivation would be transformative, for better or worse.
February 24th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
The Ammiano bill is an opportunity for all reform advocates across the nation to target both our state legislatures and the congress for decriminalization.
The California debate will bring up economic and social justice issues relevant to all states.
And the California bill can’t become law without congress decriminalizing so the California bill is a national issue.
We need to organize around this and organize NOW!
I posted some ideas on my blog, Aid & comfort. Come by and lets thrash these things out and start working each and every state to decriminalize cannabis in 2009.
California Considers Legalizing Marijuana
http://drugwartreason.blogspot.com/2009/02/california-considers-legalizing.html
February 25th, 2009 at 9:42 am
What? Pots illegal? Gee I been smoking pot for 30 years, I had no idea!
February 25th, 2009 at 11:41 am
Hey Everybody,
Legalization is a great idea but it won’t happen simply because by keeping it illegal people make more money. I know I do. I believe in legalization but the government has poisoned the public into believing that this is a hardcore drug. Look at cops and other law enforcement programs where they make pot demonic and elude to the fact that people involved in it are worthless criminals that pray on our children. Sorry folks, but you incarcerated me to many times America has lied to its people for far too long. The old people are still against it and believe in the Republic and want Christian hell and damnation for us all. It was that same Christian Right Wingers that marginally elected the idiot Bush and his cronies to office (or was that the Supreme Court that pushed him over the edge to victory against the people’s will – I’m to stoned anyway to remember). They never smoked it and don’t care too believing that they will become “hooked”. Nope, I’m going to keep my millions and screw the rest of you. I will talk to everyone I know and tell them that it is not in their best interests to legalize the stuff because we won’t make the money we know enjoy while the rest of the public idiots hold up flags and church crosses. Amen
February 27th, 2009 at 12:33 am
As a woman of 36, I can legally abort a baby, then smoke a cigarette and get drunk on a bottle of tequila. I can do these things because the government claims I have control over my own body. Why, then, can I not smoke a non-lethal plant if I so choose?
If this administration is serious about wanting to go through the federal budget line-by-line, they will zero in on the tens of billions of dollars We the Taxpayer shells out per year to fight non-violent marijuana offenses. It’s simple economics: turn your Accounts Payable into Accounts Receivable. Even in 1937, Popular Mechanics named cannabis and its derivatives the “Billion Dollar Crop”. As devoted to the minutae as you politicians are, I would think you could at least start the process of speaking. Once the American people learn you’re actually discussing and considering the restoration of our civil rights to control our own bodies, we will come out en masse in support of your pro-legalization vote.
February 28th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
To Midpointpolitico,
You obviously have not done any amount of research before you started spouting off at the mouth. I would be happy to send you various links on this subject. Have you even smoked marijuana before? Probably not otherwise u would know that it does have medicinal value. I would much rather put marijuana in my body than a pill that was made by some pharmaceutical company, only God knows whats being put in them well and maybe our government. I suffer from fibromyalgia and let me tell you the pills dont help. Marijuana is a plant that grows out of the ground with no added chemicals like pills, no adverse side effects. Think of others with chronic and terminal illnesses that count on this be it legal or illegal. I cant wait until Missouri passes the medical marijuana. This is just the beginning soon it will be passed for recreational use on a federal level.
I just dont get your logic.
People need to research before they decide to open their mouths about something they know absolutely nothing about!
March 3rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
What? Pots illegal? Gee I been smoking pot for 30 years, I had no idea!!
March 4th, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Tom Ammiano’s bill includes a $50 per ounce tax. He estimates this could raise more than a billion in annual revenue for the state. Given that marijuana is already a 14 billion dollar industry in the state, the amount of revenues collected could be closer to $6 billion. Ammiano does not include the indirect revenue. By making marijuana cultivation and distribution a legitimate business, growers and dealers would start filing tax returns like everyone else. This would have the effect of increasing the California tax base. Legalization would also give rise to more tourism, possible on an Amsterdam scale.
http://www.caivp.org/article/issues/2009/3/4/blazing-trail
March 4th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Marijuana should be legal for the simple fact its way less harmfull then alcohol and you can say that one glass of wine is safe compared to something like smack…well we are not talking about smack and maybe weed gives you a stronger buzz on a few puffs as opposed to a glass of wine but I dont know one common social drinker of a college student who just has just one glass of wine on the weekend such as a saturday night…even the cops know marijuana is more safe then alcohol they just enforce the law because its a law that shouldnt be and it makes me so darn mad to know this is how much we Americans as a whole are not free when we cant do something as simple as choose what we want to put in our body..To sum up everything I feel marijuana should be legalised because humans will always find some form of vice and haveing the least harmful one to turn to no matter how you justify why anyone would need a vice in the first place the fact is is its less harmfull then the ones already legal and and it has potential for being taxed which would help or bad economy in this time of much much needed change.
March 4th, 2009 at 11:54 pm
LOL John!
March 5th, 2009 at 4:01 am
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March 5th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
legalization, not decrim…..as long as it’s even A LITTLE illegal employers are endowed with the fed-given right to fire you for smoking pot in your own home on your own time. I kind of see red when I see coworkers stepping out every hour for a cigarette-to relax. I can go all day without a joint yet they couldn’y last an hour without a cancer stick. I know I have a fraction of the use of sick time that they do. So how is 10 minutes an hour for a cigarette not a productivity issue but if I have mj metabolites in my system, oh that’s costing them big bucks?!?
March 7th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
I just don’t see why we cant legalize marijuana. It would help our economy tremendously and people can do it and not feel like a criminal. Not that I’m against drinking but people die because they drink to much or they drink and drive. You never hear someone is dieing because of a weed overdose its impossible u would fall asleep before u die. ALSO WHO CARES ABOUT RUSH LIMBAUGH HE IS A IGNORANT INDIVIDUAL WHO SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE HIS RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH AND THE REST OF THE REPUBLICANS WE ALL THINK YOU ARE FULL OF IT. TAKE BUSH FOR EXAMPLE, THE COUNTRY MADE FUN OF HIM SIX OUT OF THE EIGHT YEARS HE WAS IN OFFICE. I’M JUST SAYING THIS BECAUSE I’M A DEMOCRATIC I VOTED FOR McCain.
March 13th, 2009 at 1:06 am
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March 17th, 2009 at 8:37 am
Obamas Stimulus package has put the country into debt. If pot is legalized, statistics say that America can tax 50$ per each Ounce. I love to smoke pot. If you dont, then dont do it, but dont get me into trouble because I like to.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:31 am
If CA can do this, the rest of the country will soon follow when they see the huge benefits of the legalization of hemp and the incredible amount of taxes it will generate for this country.We need an entirely new industry and HEMP is IT.