Steves and others attended "The Final Days of Prohibition" conference in downtown Los Angeles in early October. The conference was put on by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), and Reason TV was on the scene to ask about the future of marijuana laws in the U.S., particularly in the upcoming election where the states of Oregon, Washington, and Colorado all have marijuana legalization initiatives on the ballot.
About 3 minutes.
Produced by Paul Feine and Zach Weissmueller. Edited by Weissmueller.
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Better yet the automatic execution of any one that uses it!
Socialist and nihilistic cultures have to promote a society with a comatose mind, so they are easily manipulated and too lazy to protest. If it is legal, they can get more young people addicted-—the way they did with alcohol. They can glorify it is commercials and make it desirable—to really young, uneducated kids.
They want drugs-—just like the British pushed opium on the Chinese.
They don’t want sharp minds like the Jefferson/Franklin/Washington/Paine/Lincoln variety. Thinking people are dangerous to totalitarian states-—they need zombies.
Just wait until Madison Avenue starts actively promoting it.
De-criminalized is one thing. Legal is a whole ‘nother can of worms.
The war on drugs was lost a long time ago. Nevertheless, illegal narcotics are the fuel for a powerful parallel underground economy as well as the day to day law racket. Because of the money, everyone except the duped dopers have a vested interest in the continued prohibition and consequent high prices of narcotics. Marijuana is going to remain illegal in most of the country and in federal law. Politicians, producers, pushers, LEOs and the defense bar all benefit from the status quo.
Before, I post this.
I’m against Marijuana and will continue to be.
However, the feds under Obozo and his fast and furious AG, Holder, are cracking down and closing the previously approved MJ clinics/providers out here in California.
Makes one wonder how much money the Mexican Drug Cartel, the Asian drug gangs and our drug lords are contributing to re elect Obozo, Holder and the other Chicago thugs to close down those approved mj providers.
The problem is when the “War on Drugs” infringes on the first 10 amendments to the constitution.
Thereis a reason that the initial prohibition of alcohol took A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT, and why less than 100 years later we didn;t need one to declare a “war on drugs” it shows how far the power of the constitution has been eroded by the progressives...
Also because we don’t hold people to their consequences of their actions due to the welfare state, we can make the argument that we can ban things for the “common good”...
Just keep living the Fabian dream Americans...
Legalize marijuana, but ban cheeseburgers....that is where things are heading. There will never be a reduction in the nannystate, only changes in what is forbidden.
What this country needs are more people too cowardly to face reality. Cowardice has always been highly valued by every culture throughout time.
I really enjoy Rick Steves travel episodes on PBS—and I will admit he certainly has seen far more of the world than I have & most of us here on FR have been able to do so.
However- I totally disagree with his position on marijuana.
Let’s say that any one of you here on Free Republic are my partner in a business——We will share our abilities & responsibilities.
We own a sand & gravel business—
We have 4 trucks & 4 employees who drive those trucks—
Each truck has a total gross weight, loaded, of about 90,000 pounds. 45 tons.
You- my partner—does the phones with customers, the dispatching, the acquisition of more material sources, and keeps a sharp eye on the drivers and truck maintenance.
I do all the bookkeeping, some of the dispatching and keep the paperwork straight.
IF marijuana is legalized, what happens to my liability insurance & my personal liability if one of those trucks is involved in a crash?
A 90,000 sand/gravel truck is a huge difference against a 1800 pound KIA or similar. The KIA will look like a June Bug squashed.
A sand/gravel truck which was EMPTY hit an Amtrak train not far from where I live in N Nevada & DERAILED the train & I forget how many were killed/hurt. Truck driver for sure was killed.
I don’t see a single insurance carrier in the world carrying any insurance coverage for any business if the driver’s cannot be fired, or suspended for marijuana usage. IF they would give me coverage, the premium would not be in the budget.
It would be the same if we were running an auto parts house & had 4 drivers delivering auto/truck parts to local service locations. Small trucks.
Or a florist shop with 4 drivers delivering flowers to funeral homes, hospitals, weddings, birthday parties, etc. NId-sized van.
We cannot run our business without liability insurance & we cannot afford to be ‘self-insured’ on this topic.
At least currently, I can do drug testing and screen applicants & try our best to eliminate a problem before it hits us.
The booze prohibitionists realized that they needed a Constitutional amendment to ban booze. Modern drug prohibitionists are as bad as liberals in this respect. If the Constitution does not empower the government to do what they want, then, the Constitution must be a living breathing document that doesn’t really mean what it says, mostly because they are too !@#$%^&ing lazy to amend it.
Meanwhile, tobacco is under attack.
No. People will get tired of the potheads disturbing their lives and robbing them, just like last time.
Who takes care of all the health issues related to chronicically inhaling a carcinogen?
ObamaCare?
We can and likely will glose the prohibition of marijuana but we cannot get rid of the police state establishment it has spawned. That cancer has metastasized and infects every law enforcement agency in the country with SWATumors.
Would someone please point out to me where the Constitution grants the power to outlaw ANYTHING to the Congress? Prohibition required an Amendment and look how that turned out.
I really expect better from my fellow FReepers. Liberty means being left alone to do what you feel is best for you and nobody else. It’s nobody’s damn business but yours.
How did that old saying go? “Your right to swing your fist ends at the tip of my nose.” Well, it sure seems like noses have grown much, much longer over the years. Now they are poked into everybody’s personal business