Washington will be talking about it tomorrow.
And it’s about damn time.
If you want to be able to grow or sell marijuana legally in Washington, next Wednesday you want to be in Olympia.
At 1:30 p.m., the House Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Committee will consider House Bill 2401 to have the state treat marijuana like it does alcohol. The bill is sponsored by Democratic Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson.
What that means is if you are 21 or older you won’t face civil or criminal penalties for growing, possessing, transporting, selling, or using marijuana. Like with booze, you can’t smoke and drive or provide any to minors.
Under the proposed legislation, pot could be purchased at state liquor stores. A hefty tax would be added on with proceeds going to drug education and awareness programs.
Other than the state psuedo monopoly, it sounds reasonable to me.
Discuss.
YES YES YES.
Marijuana is dumb. Yes. Using marijuana habitually, going to work stoned, being an idiot, is idiotic. Yes. But the costs of keeping it illegal are MASSIVE and cost us far more than legal, controlled marijuana would.
All those dealers out there, existing on the fringes, living a life of minor criminal activity? They will have to find something else to do. No, I don’t think that “more dangerous drugs” will fill in the gaps. Most of their customers are casual users, and more dangerous drugs are not something that you use casually. Nor are most of those dealers committed criminals. They are marijuana enthusiasts who basically pay for their own use and little more by selling.
The massive criminal networks that are involved in marijuana? We know that they won’t go away, but the marijuana aspect of their biz will be gone. No more Mexicans camping out in parks with guns, growing weed. Boo hoo.
I think it’s a great idea. I would be concerned about potential clashes with federal law however. California has medical marijuana “clinics” that were getting raided quite frequently by the fed if I recall, until the Obama administration put a stop to them.
I really don’t think it can hurt – may even save lives as it would be one less reason for swat teams to kick in your door and kill your dog and/or family.
I almost agree except the grow part. Except for small amounts of non-hard liquor I need a permit and tax stamp to make my own. So, if the bill includes a permit and tax stamp for home grown then I could agree with it. (or better yet, let me distill with no permit or tax)
Plus, legalization should help unemployment by providing additional demand for late night Denny’s employees.
Games and grain!
Can’t argue this. How much money have we spent on the war on altered states of consciousness, with how much to show for it?
So yeah.
Well, my preferred state of altered consciousness IS alcohol-induced, with 12-year old Scotch, but there is a charming ring to easing the insane “War on Drugs”. That said, here are the pitfalls, straight up:
1. Lots of cops will have nothing to do. The government will set them against US now, since the pot-people will be off limits.
2. There WILL be a steep and expensive learning curve in dealing with the effects of having 5-10% of the society stoned forever. Don’t forget that legally-drunken Russkies are what torpedoed the Stalinist Empire previously known as the USSR.
3. State control? Dude, what ARE you smoking? In WA and OR, the State has screwed up liquor sales six ways to Sunday. Go to AZ, NV, or even Kali to find out how liquor (and now pot) SHOULD be handled.
4. The Mexican crime lords might just get into wimmen if their income from pot goes away. Lock up your daughters.
Well, that little list should start some discussion. Now where did I put my Dewars?