Drug law reform advocates worked very hard over the last year, won the election, and today marijuana is legal in two states: Washington and Colorado. As the new law (Initiative 502) kicks in today in my state, I was wondering how to celebrate. While many will just smoke a little pot, I would rather focus on building on our victory and contributing further to the end of the Prohibition of our age. Should this movement go nationwide? Watch the following clip, from today’s CBS This Morning, and tell me what you think.
Comments
I didn’t watch the clip but I suspect people have mixed emotions about this hallucinogenic product. On the one hand, it’s mildly hallucinogenic. It’s possibly less harmful than cocaine and heroin – and on a par with nicotine for addictiveness. It might be helpful in dealing with glaucoma and nausea associated with chemo. But for some it indeed might be a gateway drug. It could contribute to lung cancer. I wouldn’t want my pilot or surgeon or bus driver or company commander or rick steves guide or aircraft mechanic using it. There are artificial types sometimes known as “spice” which are downright dangerous. But we have tens of thousands of people in prison for using weed – at an annualized cost of $40,000 per person versus the eight to ten thousand per year we spend on students in our K-12 system. And we could shut off huge Mexican cartel profits by legalizing. So pick your poison. But remember that anybody who is totally on one side of any issue merits less consideration than those who are balanced and objective about their beliefs.
So glad to see this finally happen. As a Washington state voter, I signed the petition and voted yes. Whereas the state politicians were too timid to take up the issue, the voters had to force the issue. Just don’t see the point of putting people in jail for smoking pot. Having been the Amsterdam a few times, and not smoking a thing, I can say that my experience was that it’s just a non-issue there. The place doesn’t feel unsafe or weird. I feel way less safe at Pike Place Market than in an Amsterdam coffee shop. This issue feels just like gay marriage to me. Once the old voters that are easily scared are gone, we can finally move on beyond these small issues.
I had a totally different experience in Amsterdam. Prostitutes who are not regulated for disease and mobs of young people hanging out on the streets. Give me the Pike Place Market anyday! Not to mention the fact that this is one more method for people to escape reality and endanger others through reckless behavior. I wouldn’t be so concerned if they were just smoking in their homes but you can be sure they will be driving, operating machinery, etc. Addictive behavior is additive behavior. What is really creepy is Greg’s comment about “old voters” being gone. Heads up there, Greg…you owe those old voters your freedom. Show a little gratitude!
As a past marijuana user, I can attest to its dangerousness. It causes such diseases as schizophrenia (if you are predisposed) and it can wreck lives. The jails may empty out but the mental health institutions will fill up. Using marijuana wrecked my life. I am just getting it back now thanks to a new psychiatrist with a fresh new opinion. But it has taken ten years. Those are ten years that I will never get back thanks to pot. And 99% of people who get a mental illness from marijuana are not going to be nearly as lucky as me. You are looking at a lifetime of medication that has horrible side effects, especially if taken long-term, and they make you take them long-term. Side effects such as weight gain (and I don’t just mean 30 pounds), diabetes, hyperglycemia, dementia, Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrom, tardive dyskinesia, and so on. Look up the side effects on the internet for one anti-psychotic and it will boggle your mind. Basically you will be a twitching vegetable who doesn’t know your own name, with extreme restlessness that feels like being tortured from within, morbidly obese … at the end of your life on those drugs. Shoot me now! No please, I’m begging you! And it all begins with a little hash . . .
We are celebrating in California, just hoping that all our Pot production moves to Washington and Colorado. Been a miserable and smelly fall here in California. We figure the cost of living is better in those two states, California is not a desirable place to live, so our heart ache may be gone this spring! Say what you want but you really don’t know what you are in for. Good luck we have been living it for a couple years now. Oh and you cannot believe all the people from other countries that are in this business and I am not talking about Mexico.
Great Victory Rick! When can the public expect to see the full line of Rick Steves’ Travel Bongs and accessories?
Isn’t this about the time Steve Smith interjects a marketing device to deflect any criticism of Rick’s personal agenda? That’s fine. But readers ought to be sensitive to what goes on.
a good day for liberty. other drugs should be legalized as well as prostitution.