The war on marijuana

Politics and religion
1

Oh boy. Jeff Sessions really has a hard-on for doobies and spliffs.

[quote]
I realize this may be an unfashionable belief in a time of growing tolerance of drug use. But too many lives are at stake to worry about being fashionable. I reject the idea that America will be a better place if marijuana is sold in every corner store. And I am astonished to hear people suggest that we can solve our heroin crisis by legalizing marijuana – so people can trade one life-wrecking dependency for another that’s only slightly less awful. Our nation needs to say clearly once again that using drugs will destroy your life.[/quote]

Marijuana characterized as “slightly less awful” than heroin is one of the dumbest things I’ve read in a while.

Buckle up Washington and Colorado!

2

I think we all know they don’t have the capacity to take on the states like this, and it’s not just WA and CO anymore. Anyone at the state side might as well commit career suicide if they decide to help the feds with this. These were state side votes, not just the whim of some governor.

3

Hey man, those privatized prisons aren’t going to fill themselves. Won’t somebody think of the stockholders?

4

I am, which is why they are on my list of people who will be put against the wall when the revolution comes, in Armando speak ;)

5

“States Rights! Hold on now, we only meant for that racist stuff.”

6

Good luck taking on California, Sessions. They are the 2000 lb bear you will never outmaneuver. Just wait until the tax money starts rolling in this year.

7

This is exactly what it’s about, imo.

Well and Sessions is a human-shaped piece of living shit, but mostly money. The backlash is going to be epic if Trump doesn’t reign his ass in.

8

This is a fairly widely held belief by a lot of babyboomers who never tried weed.

I think most folks who have smoked weed recognize that it’s a pretty harmless substance… Less harmful than alcohol, I would say.

But there are a ton of folks who bought into the “Reefer Madness” type propaganda, or the stuff from the 80’s saying how it killed your brain cells.

9

I’ve never smoked it. I have no desire to smoke anything, but the data says it’s more harmless than tobacco and alcohol although there are a few unique health issues that can crop up with it for some people. My point, you don’t have to experience it to make a logical decision.

10

Sure, but actually experiencing it tends to at least have the effect of proving to folks that it’s not the devilweed.

You’re totally right though, that simply being objective and looking at the data shows this is the case. But for most folks who actually tried it, the claims that it will ruin your life, or make you go psychotic, or cause schizophrenia, or get you addicted? They know from experience that’s not true… which then erodes the entire anti-drug argument, since if they’re lying about that, what else are they lying about?

11

But but but gateway drug!

12

Won’t they sidestep state level stuff? Just send in the Feds, make the arrests, and try in Federal courts? I think they will hit the suppliers, if indeed they do anything other than talk.

13

Yes, this is the theory. States can do what they want, but the ATF/FBI will be used to hit the shops and growers, choking out the business.

14

It sucks, but I’d rather Sessions use his political capital fighting states on Marijuana than pushing Voter Suppression or whatever. It’s going to a messy struggle on many different levels to reverse the state level legalization. Waste ALL his time please.

15

I’m right there with you, Nesrie. It’s certainly not 100% harmless, but neither is seemingly half the stuff we legally ingest on any given day. Congresscritters should learn to choose their battles a little better.

16

The question then becomes, do the feds have the resources necessary to do such things without cooperation from local and state law enforcement?

17

They’ll probably just drone strike all the growers or something similarly ridiculous.

18

That’s a great question. I imagine it won’t take much to put a bunch of shops out of business. Just hit a few in each state and you’ll get a lot of people skedaddling to something less risky. Especially if you’re hitting owners with 20,000 counts of intent to sell.

19

Look at what the Feds did with civil rights and schools in the South. They can do a lot, and it’s not like they have to go after every supplier. They hit a few and the others may get scared and back off.

OTOH I could see a state like California striking back by legalizing medical marijuana for a variety of ailments – back pain, arthritis, stress, etc. Not sure exactly about the legality of all that, but they could try something like that.

Also, Sessions is just an ass. Worry about some real stuff, like the Russians interfering with our electoral process, etc.

20

I’ll never understand the anti-Marijuana mindset.

I never smoked until it was legalized in Washington. Was around it of course, and my lack of smoking wasn’t directly because it was illegal, but rather a side-effect - it was harder for me to find, so I just didn’t bother.

Now that it’s legal, my wife and I and some of our friends smoke/vape/eat it from time to time, but it’s never something I’m constantly thinking about, I certainly feel no dependence toward it (definitely not physical, but not even psychological) - I can easily go months without thinking about it and not even realizing it.

Fast forward to last Friday, and I had a pretty major tooth operation. The doctor prescribed Percocet (Oxycodone).

Jesus fucking christ is this stuff dangerous. The prescription included only 20 pills, and over the first few days I took only half of them, but taking one made me feel so happy and content. And when I went back to work and didn’t take one? I had a serious mood crash. I felt more depressed and/or apathetic than I had in months and months.

My reaction after taking such a low dose of Percocet for such a short time was fucking scary. I simply cannot believe that Percocet is the legal drug, while Marijuana is still illegal in more than half the country. What a stupid thing, and what an awful and absolutely catastrophic thing that the Attorney General is making such a false equivalence between them.