Yay.Full disclosure- I don't like Marijuana. I tried it a few times when I was in college and it made my eyeballs feel like they were deflating. Occasionally, I noticed my heart rate was higher. All in all, it wasn't pleasant.
Nevertheless, it kills me that pot is an illegal substance, while alcohol is not. Alcohol has the addiction, the deaths (due to drunk drivers), the behavioral shifts and the history. About the worst thing that can happen when you're smoking weed is you get the munchies.
That being said, we've got a alias at work called politics, and the topic of pot came up recently. I (and some others) put forth the idea of taxing the stuff, since it's California's biggest cash crop, and that income alone could save the state from sinking, financially.
I guess we're not the only ones thinking along these lines. On Monday, a San Francisco Assemblyman named Tom Ammiano announced legislation to make California the first state in the nation to tax and regulate recreational marijuana in the same manner as alcohol.
Sure there are the naysayers. "This would open another door in Pandora's box," said Calvina Fay, who enjoys mixing her metaphors to the point where they don't really mean anything. But despite the hoopla, I hope it happens. Selling and smoking weed is a victimless crime, and I think the DEA and other enforcement groups should be focused on other, more dangerous crimes.
2 comments:
I can attest to the fact that there are no doors in Pandora's Box. There is only cat poop.
Actually, it occurred to me...
IANAL and although I would hope the politicians would know better how this works, most of them ANALE (are not actually lawyers either), but marijuana is classified as a controlled substance by federal law. State laws cannot override federal laws. The state may choose not to prosecute you for its use, but the Feds can still do it in federal courts.
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