cannabisnews.com: Sensible on Weed
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Sensible on Weed
Posted by CN Staff on January 06, 2014 at 15:29:04 PT
Editorial
Source: National Review
USA -- Launching 17 million “Rocky Mountain High” jokes, Colorado has become the first state to make the prudent choice of legalizing the consumption and sale of marijuana, thus dispensing with the charade of medical restrictions and recognizing the fact that, while some people smoke marijuana to counter the effects of chemotherapy, most people smoke marijuana to get high — and that is not the worst thing in the world.
Regardless of whether one accepts the individual-liberty case for legalizing marijuana, the consequentialist case is convincing. That is because the history of marijuana prohibition is a catalogue of unprofitable tradeoffs: billions in enforcement costs, and hundreds of thousands of arrests each year, in a fruitless attempt to control a mostly benign drug the use of which remains widespread despite our energetic attempts at prohibition. We make a lot of criminals while preventing very little crime, and do a great deal of harm in the course of trying to prevent an activity that presents little if any harm in and of itself. Marijuana is a drug, as abusable as any intoxicant is, and its long-term use is in some people associated with undesirable effects. But its effects are relatively mild, and while nearly half of American adults have smoked marijuana, few develop habits, much less habits that are lifelong (in another context, we might write “chronic”). Compared to binge drinking or alcohol addiction, marijuana use is a minor public-health concern. All that being the case, the price of prohibition is relatively high, whether measured in police and penal expenses or in liberty lost. The popularity of marijuana may not be the most admirable social trend of our time, but it simply is not worth suppressing.One of the worst consequences of marijuana use is the development of saucer-eyed arguments about the benefits of legalizing it. Colorado, and other states that may follow its example, should go into this with realistic expectations. If the Dutch example is any guide, then Colorado can probably expect to see higher rates of marijuana use and the use of other drugs, though not dramatically so. As with the case of Amsterdam, Colorado already is developing a marijuana-tourism industry — some hotels are considering offering designated marijuana-smoking rooms, even while smoking tobacco outdoors is banned in parts of Boulder — which brings problems of its own, among them opportunistic property crime and public intoxication. Colorado’s legal drug dealers inevitably will end up supplying black markets in neighboring prohibition states. Expected tax revenues from marijuana sales will amount to a mere three-tenths of 1 percent of the state’s budget.The payoff is not in tax revenue gained but in losses avoided. A great many people will avoid being convicted of crimes for a relatively benign recreational indulgence — and those criminal convictions often have much more severe long-term consequences on pot-smokers’ lives than marijuana does. The business of policing covert marijuana dealers has been replaced with the relatively straightforward business of regulating them in the open. A large and fairly nasty criminal enterprise has lost its raison d’être, at least so far as the Colorado market is concerned.Perhaps most important, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado — and the push for its legalization elsewhere — is a sign that Americans still recognize some limitations on the reach of the state and its stable of nannies-in-arms. The desire to discourage is all too easily transmuted into the desire to criminalize, just as the desire to encourage metastasizes into the desire to mandate. It is perhaps a little dispiriting that of all the abusive overreaches of government to choose from, it is weed that has the nation’s attention, but it is a victory nonetheless. Unfortunately, it is probably too much to hope that Colorado’s recognition of this individual liberty might inspire some popular reconsideration of other individual liberties, for instance that of a working man to decide for himself whether he wants to join a union, or for Catholic nuns to decide for themselves whether they want to purchase drugs that may work as abortifacients — higher liberties, if you will.Source: National Review (US) Published: January 6, 2014Copyright: 2014 National Review Contact: letters nationalreview.com Website: http://www.nationalreview.com/ URL: http://drugsense.org/url/qtqUtlItCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #12 posted by Hope on January 08, 2014 at 13:05:06 PT
I totally freak out just thinking of it.
Locked in a steel cage. No way out. Put there at another's whim. No real crime against anyone! Just refusing to obey a monster... over a plant!The sickness of the monsters that would do that to anyone over a plant just blows my mind. Devils! Children of The Accuser is what they are.They are monsters... all of them, from the least to the greatest. The people that support them and support what they do when they cage people for plant growing, use, or possession are monsters. True, inhuman monsters. They have no conscience. They don't know right from wrong. They are minions of true evil. If there were any true justice, you, Runruff and others who have suffered at their hands, would be able to lock them in those same cages for ten times as long as they put you there. They have tormented the innocent. Bill Bennet. Mark Souder. Andrea Barthwell. Calvina Faye. All of them. The least that should happen to them is that every time they try to close there eyes to sleep... they are in that same cage they put you in.
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Comment #11 posted by runruff on January 07, 2014 at 13:27:28 PT
6 paces.
My cage was six paces if you count the two steps into the stainless steel shower.For a boy/man who grew up wild and free up here in the Great Northwest, the sudden shock of being caged was enough to freak me out, though I maintained my cool the whole time Solitaire was the hardest. That cage is solid steel. Cold and gray. All the crazy lunatics were screaming all at the same time, 24/7. No peace, ever. I did not eat for the first eleven days I was in there. Personally, I never felt like a caged animal, I felt like a human being caged by animals!I was a farmer. A Felonious Farmer. The term is not possible except on paper and in the perverse political laws written by a perverse political system.I feel as if I have served my country in two major wars. In the longest war in American history [War on Drugs] where I was made a prisoner of war for two years and under federal supervision eight years and in the second longest war in American history [Vietnam] as a medic.Our government want to incarcerate us for planting the seeds that enabled our forefathers to create the United States of America. If I were King I would definitely cage some people. You all know who those would be, I do not have to tell you.
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Comment #10 posted by The GCW on January 07, 2014 at 12:42:10 PT
Hope,
Thank You.I couldn't do it with out My partner though. Be sure to thank Him.The GCWhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n590/a09.htmlhttp://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n593/a08.htmlIt's important to help sheriff's too :-( Since they're the ones doing the crime.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v13/n622/a07.html
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on January 07, 2014 at 10:03:01 PT
The GCW
Have BEEN is what I meant. Never the less... Have been, will be, and is... a "Good and faithful servant".
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on January 07, 2014 at 09:55:31 PT
Indeed... many years ago...
When I first read one of The GCW's letters. I forget where it was published, I was struck by his use of the term "Cage". Of course, a cell is a cage for a human. I'd never really thought about it like that. It ripped a curtain back and gave a clear view of what the situation really was. He stuck with that, and his belief in a Creator and true morality, and hammered it out relentlessly across the United States and around the world. He kept it simple, made it true, and revealed the harshness of the situation. I always felt he and his Lord had a plan and indeed they did. He never gave up and he never slowed down. I admire our The GCW so much. He's been a valiant, valiant fighter for justice. Thank you, The GCW, for serving God and your fellow man. You have, truly, be a "Good and faithful servant". Love you, so much!
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Comment #7 posted by The GCW on January 07, 2014 at 07:12:16 PT
afterburner,
ThanksCage, immoral, plant...Caging responsible adult humans for using what God created and says is good on page 1 is a CRIME.Ending cannabis prohibition, persecution, extermination and discrimination is one of the most important issues of Our time.And, it takes a very special person to cage a sick person for using the plant, Very special.Cannabis prohibition is Luciferous. It's the devil law.As We know.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on January 07, 2014 at 06:59:59 PT
Thank You All
I appreciate the links. I don't think I am allowed to use these but this way people can read them.
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Comment #5 posted by afterburner on January 07, 2014 at 06:22:07 PT
Hey, The GCW, Look What I Found at Pete's
The Green Collar Worker has worked tirelessly for many years to help bring about the change that led to the Colorado Legalization. --afterburnerHere's a tribute to your dedication that took the words right out of your mouth, "Cage Humans":It Is Immoral to Cage Humans for Smoking Marijuana.
That's why Colorado and Washington have the most moral drug laws in America right now.
Conor Friedersdorf.
Conor Friedersdorf is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
Jan 6 2014, 6:33 AM ET
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/it-is-immoral-to-cage-humans-for-smoking-marijuana/282830/You heard it here first, folks! Now, it's reached the mainstream. Another milestone. Keep up the good work, humans. We are another major step toward our goal of respecting God's created plant medicine and establishing a national and international morality that credits the centuries long benefits chosen by humans who honor their Creator.
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Comment #4 posted by Universer on January 06, 2014 at 20:47:14 PT
FoM
Actually, here's a more direct link:http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/01/06/cnn-poll-support-for-legal-marijuana-soaringDarn frame fooled me.
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Comment #3 posted by Universer on January 06, 2014 at 20:41:03 PT
CNN Poll shows 55% favor re-legalization
FoM: How's this for a postable link?CNN Poll: Support for legal marijuana soaring -- http://networkedblogs.com/SChpmRegarding this National Review editorial, I contend it is vitally important that a right-wing publication such as Buckley's Baby come out in favor of CPC (Cannabis Prohibition Correction). We all know that CPC is a cause which liberals, libertarians and conservatives all can support -- and since we know that conservatives tend to be a little slower than the rest, it's good to see them start to catch up.(Apologies to the staunch neo-conservatives who regularly follow CannabisNews.com. Both of you.)
CNN Poll: Support for legal marijuana soaring
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on January 06, 2014 at 18:12:58 PT
POLL
POLL:Would you travel to a destination just for the pot tourism?-Yes, I have before-Yes, I'd like to someday-No, I'm not interested in marijuana tourism-Unsurehttp://www.winnipegsun.com/2014/01/03/some-colorado-ski-resorts-wary-of-marijuana-tourism
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on January 06, 2014 at 16:37:44 PT
Pretty good article, but this is not true: "If the
Dutch example is any guide, then Colorado can probably expect to see higher rates of marijuana use..."http://www.nationmaster.com/graph-T/lif_can_useLet's all please just use the facts m'am!
Weed World!
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