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Posted on 01/26/2011 5:09:27 PM PST by djf
OLYMPIA – Imagine if you will, shoppers could have a choice.
Pot or Patron.
Marijuana or Monarch Rum.
Cannabis or Crown Royal.
That’s what Representative Mary Lou Dickerson wants to do.
“I’m not kidding around when I’m doing this. I’m dead serious. We need to stop handling Marijuana the way we have been,” says the Seattle Democrat.
She dropped House Bill 1550 on Tuesday, which she says will allow for the sale of marijuana in state-run liquor stores.
“There really is a great comparison between the prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and what we’ve been doing with marijuana now,” says Dickerson. “We need to regulate it, get it out of the hand of criminals and drug cartels and tax it.”
The bill also calls for the state to license marijuana growers. Dickerson says the proceeds could go to paying for health care and substance abuse treatment.
“Why not?” says shopper Rob Vorheis, spotted in a Tumwater Liquor Store Tuesday Night. He believes the state should profit from sales and believes pot users cause fewer problems. “I have yet to hear about someone taking a bong hit, jumping into their car, going to McDonalds to get a double cheeseburger and killing (someone).”
Critics argue further legalization would increase the rate of marijuana use among teens and would be a gateway for people to start using harder drugs.
Representative Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, chairs the House Public Safety Committee. He will grant the bill a public hearing, but admits “I have questions about the legality and public support for it.”
Attorney General Rob McKenna, who has opposed expanded legalization in the past, said through a spokesperson Tuesday night the office will not support the bill and will make its opposition formally known.
State Senator Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, also says she will present a companion bill in the Senate.
“I’ve never smoked a joint in my life,” she says, “but we’re making millionaires out the world’s worst people."
Oh please.
These people are insane.
Where is that link to the Temple Prostitute article?
Mary Lou is a far out chick, man.
At some point, we need to reexamine whether or not we are responsible for our own selves or can we make someone else responsible for us.
Whose judgment do you trust more, yours or a gevernment powered stranger's? Personal liberty or what someone else dictates is best for you? Which set of consequences do you prefer?
Bottom line to me still seems to be that the crime IS NOT driven by the drugs involved.
It is driven by THE MONEY INVOLVED!
We have mechanisms and therapies and programs in place to deal with people who abuse alcohol. Granted, they are not always as successful as we might like.
But it’s not like we have no experience whatever in dealing with substance abuse.
What would scare me the most is not the guy who smokes a reefer with his girlfriend before they go to a movie or whatever, it’s the dealers who get weaned off of selling nickel bags. Because then they might turn to selling black tar or whatever.
And then you’re starting to talk Uzis and stuff like that.
Let’s legalize pot. Let’s have more shootings like the one Loughner allegedly did. Then the Democrats could blame any future mass murder on Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, and the tea party as they did in Tuscon.
Is that before or after they dismember the garbageman and then communicate telepathically with the aliens from Arcturus??
Here ya go:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2FZgErvNTE
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Well they know where to sell it, that’s for sure.
I’m with you.
I've always said that the only thing that has stopped the Gubmint from legalizing pot is their failure, thusfar, to come up with a solid plan to do just that.
Nah. Since when has the lack of a solid plan ever stopped the government.
One problem I see with the whole arrangement is that the gov is not doing this with any serious consideration of the users or the social consequences, you can bet yur behind the government is thinking about it because they see DOLLAR SIGNS!!! BIG TIME DOLLAR SIGNS!!
Say WA? Evergreen State ping Isn’t that the spirit of the market though ?
See, not even the government is immune to the market!
Mary Lou loves MaryJane, man...Cool
Well, if somebody sells a nickel bag in an alley, we call him a pusher, a criminal.
Will we say the same about the state?
Just sayin...
You've apparently never lived in a neighborhood being consumed by crack and meth.
The lucky ones quit before they have so many holes burned through their brain that they don't remember who they - or you are.
The unlucky ones are the citizens who happen to have a few bucks on them when they cross paths with a speedster/crackhead that's been sketching for hours.
Why do they call drugs like crack and meth "Dead End Drugs"?
It's because after after they take their 1st hit of the day, they'll either run out of drugs/money or keep raising the dose trying to get the same rush as the 1st one until they're dead.
Believe me, the drug is in the the drivers seat.
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