Posted on 09/24/2012 4:49:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
I hate to start something here with a trite phrase. But sometimes you read about things that make you wonder what some people are smoking.
In Colorado this year a cabal of known associates is getting together to try to legalize the sale, cultivation and possession of marijuana under what’s known as Amendment 64.
Their pitch says that by state regulation and control of dope deals, the consequent revenue collected can benefit K-12 education in the state, now under tight budget constraints.
Yeah, you heard that right: Make pot legal and build schools with the first $40 million in proceeds.
The Colorado Education Association, Democrat Governor John Hickenlooper and any other liberal who doesn’t want to commit political suicide has registered their token opposition to the amendment.
Some of their allies haven’t been that smart.
A score of Democrat parties, including the Colorado Democrat Party, county Democrats in Denver, Boulder, Pueblo, El Paso and Douglas counties- some of the largest populations in the state- have endorsed the measure. They are joined by their allies at the ACLU, ProgressNow, the NAACP and of course, my favorite: Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies.
Because when you are really trying to improve student outcomes, the first place you want to stop is the Multidisciplinary Association of Psychedelic Studies.
While the adults have offered thoughtful ideas on education reform like improved curricula, longer school days, more education choices, vouchers and options like STEM schools, Lefties go back to their roots: dope.
The pro-pot side says that by legalizing and regulating marijuana teen use will actually go down. That sounds like one of those arguments someone comes up when they are used to waking and baking every day.
“According to the latest report from the federal government, marijuana use by Colorado high school students has dropped since our state and its localities began regulating medical marijuana in 2009,” says the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol. “This bucks the national trend of increasing teen marijuana use over the past several years. Nationwide, past-30-day marijuana use among high school students climbed from 20.8 percent in 2009, to 23.1 percent in 2011. Meanwhile, in Colorado, it dropped from 24.8 percent to 22 percent.”
Yeah, but before you break out the bongs to celebrate, two years isn’t really long enough for all the unintended consequences of bad policy to manifest themselves. I mean even as housing was collapsing in the country, the people who designed the house of cards where cutting a new deck.
Most worrying is that media reports have indicated that this amendment to the Colorado constitution could pass.
From the Denver Post:
A new poll shows Amendment 64, the Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act, with majority support among likely voters – the first time that’s happened in the campaign. Opponents of the measure are responding by blasting the initiative from every angle, while a proponent stresses that no vote will be taken for granted.
The poll, conducted by the Denver Post, found that 51 percent of likely voters surveyed support Amendment 64, while 40 percent oppose it. Here’s a graphic displaying the breakdown:
The forces opposing the amendment however point out that there is a big difference between asking voters to decriminalize marijuana possession and asking voters to legalize it and socialize it.
More worrying is the long-term implications of trying recreational drug use to education funding. To say the least, this seems like a really bad idea.
Pot has been linked to the development of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. While the literature is not conclusive, there is enough evidence to take the link seriously.
“Repeatedly, studies have found that people with schizophrenia are about twice as likely to smoke pot as those who are unaffected,” writes Time. “Conversely, data suggest that those who smoke cannabis are twice as likely to develop schizophrenia as nonsmokers. One widely publicized 2007 review of the research even concluded that trying marijuana just once was associated with a 40% increase in risk of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.”
And then there is the moral question: Do we really want the government in the drug business? Isn’t this the same government that sued the tobacco companies?
So we are for drugs when they help education bureaucracy, but against them when they result in private profits that can be taxed.
This seems like the logical extension of liberal policies in other areas too.
But in this case, at least we know what they are smoking.
Legalize the sale of medical meth to ensue?.
Something that should be considered - if marijuana *is* legalized, most liberals would end up stoned in their parents’ basements when not forced to work and they wouldn’t be bothered to vote.
Something to think about.
Doesn’t Colorado have a state lottery with which to build schools? That’s a joke folks. Every state that has a state lottery, justified it by saying the proceeds would “go to education”, yet another joke.
Lotteries are a tax on poor people and the mathematically challenged.
Don't accuse me of being against education, I have three college degrees and I'm currently in a continuing education class. That kind of personal attack is what liberals use to deflect the debate away from the real issue. There are certain things we look to our governments to do, and many many things we wish they would stay the !&_+<@ out of. They cannot tell me some worthy activity is on the chopping block unless I surrender more of my money, freedoms, etc. Not while they continue to squander our resources. Every time they try to sell that line of BS it is time to make a change, put in people with better judgment and priorities.
Here in PA the lottery money allegedly goes to senior citizens.
So, as a society we want to build the cornerstones of our civic life on sin taxes.. Gambling and pot.. Why not just give vouchers?
Comparing meth to a weed is like comparing gun ownership to armed robbery or murder.
Are you a dealer or user?.
So what will prevent people from growing their own to (1) avoid the tax and (2) avoid having to go out and purchase it in the first place?
Besides, it’s a dumb idea to give the gov’t an additional source of revenue.
The same thing with the countless synthetic versions of heroin. Some can be crushed, dissolved and injected identically to street heroin. Synthetic opiods alone addict and kill more people than every illegal drug COMBINED.
Many ADHD drugs also act nearly identically to cocaine and are commonly snorted to get high. They are also equally as addictive.
Yet a natural plant without any physical addiction and without a single recorded case of physical harm is a schedule I drug that cannot be prescribed in most states for any reason. Yes, there are synthetic pill versions of it but it has been shown that synthetic THC acts differently from that found in the plant (read the research by Dr. Shulgin on synthetic THC). Also, the patients that need it most cannot swallow a pill without vomiting.
One does not need to smoke cannabis. It can be made into natural measured capsules using only kitchen equipment. It can also be vaporized with a smoke-free inhaler barely larger than a lighter.
If you want to see some junkies, stop by a small pharmacy or a “pain clinic” just before opening time. You will see ghost white, shaking people waiting for the doors to open in ANY weather. Sometimes the owner tells them to not stand directly in front so you may see them down the block.I know several people that own and run pharmacies.
There are also many that get their Rx dope delivered, never leave the house and have every single thing paid for by Mr. Taxpayer. The guys hanging out at pot shops in the afternoon listening to Bob Marley will never even come close to that level of addiction.
Beer is legal. Do most beer drinkers end up drunk in their parents' basement when not working and refuse to vote?
Obama will not allow legalized marijuana. His feds have been cracking down on it.
No, but I have observed what’s happened in CA post medical marijuana. Lib turnout is slightly but measurably down.
It also went down after prohibition ended.
You clearly don't know anything about the trade or are a dealer yourself. IF he was a dealer/grower he would never be publically supporting legalization.
Dealers love the WOD because they can sell a plant that grows as easily as basil and then sell it for its weight in $20 bills. Some drugs are worth more than their weight in gold. Money grows on trees for them.
The really good dealers work with Law Enforcement, give them a piece of the action and NEVER get caught. The cops then quietly bust competitors for them without making the messes you see in Mexico. The WOD is all a money making game for the connected.
So are YOU a dealer, grower, dirty law enforcement, naive law enforcement or just plain uninformed?
They used the same argument to legalize gambling in the mountain towns: part of the proceeds would go to fund ‘education’.
Legalize the sale of medical meth to ensue?.
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We have “medical” heroin (Bayer product)and dozens if not hundreds of associated painkiller products.
We have many forms of “medical” cocaine (lidocaine etc.)
Meth-amphetamine? We’ve had amphetamines for at least 80 years , Hitler was a speed freak... Your mother likely took speed in the 1950’s and 1960’s as it was the most prescribed “diet” pill ... We give kids versions of speed for ADHD a largely imaginary affliction.
I would like to see MJ decriminalized , it would starve the gangs and the government of funds... and allow people to use it in less harmful (less efficient) ways that don’t cause lung damage such as baking or using inhalers.
Next they want to abolish the age of consent
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