Pot legalization thread

Slim-- "When we started out we didn't neither of us have anything but a hard-on and a guitar."

Ol'Willie-- "Well, we still got the guitars..."

(from "Honeysuckle Rose," probably not word-for-word accurate..)

 

Jay Inslee here in Washington hasn't been hesitant to go after TrumpCo, right from the issuance of the first travel ban on. His statement yesterday was pretty succinct, but the state is girding up for war on this one:

“If news reports are accurate, today’s forthcoming announcement from Attorney General Sessions is the wrong direction for our state. It is also disrespects Washington voters who have chosen a different path for our state. I am especially frustrated that this announcement comes after Sessions has refused offers from Attorney General Ferguson and myself to meet with him to discuss these policies in person, after he has disregarded the input that we and other state leaders have provided to his department.

“In Washington state we have put in place a system in place that adheres to what we pledged to the people of Washington and the federal government; it’s well regulated, keeps criminal elements out, keeps pot out of the hands of kids and tracks it all carefully enough to clamp down on cross-border leakage. We are going to keep doing that and overseeing the well-regulated market that Washington voters approved.

“Make no mistake: As we have told the Department of Justice ever since I-502 was passed in 2012, we will vigorously defend our state’s laws against undue federal infringement.”

 

I have a lot of respect for Governor Inslee. A few years ago a student delegation from the Seattle Aquarium was creating a video of environmental issues that directly affected the Squamish Nation. They weren't getting a lot of traction on useful content for the video or getting soundbites from leaders.

I have no idea how it happened (someone from the Aquarium probably called his staff) but Governor Inslee's team caught wind of this and granted an almost 30 minute interview....on the weekend on a very short notice. And hooked them up with state environmental officials.

Didn't have to do it. Twas no real benefit to him. He was on the video for less than 30 seconds. But it was a huge boost for the students and opened up a lot of doors. The video is/was on loop at the Ocean Today Kiosk at The Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

All thanks to Gov Inslee

 

I think this whole Sessions anti-grass move is just an attempt to gaslight California. It's like, "Now that the state that was the most anti-Trump has finally legalized pot, we are going to toss the whole thing into chaos."

 

A few of my throughts on this.

First is people support federalism only on things they like. Things they don't like federalism goes out the window.

Second that Republicans claim to be believers in federalism and small government but throw it out the window when they run into something they don't like (and I say this as a Republican -- at least Democrats make no hay over the fact they want big government and to toss federalism).

Third and finally, though, I throw some of this back to Congress. The constitution states that the legislative power of the federal government is set forth in Congress. Congress has passed somewhat draconian drug laws that federalize drug legislation (there is also a claim that by joining certain treaties, we are treaty bound to do so). So Congress, pass a law that decriminalizes this on a federal level. Make the interstate transport illegal (as that is the power given the federal government by the constitution) and leave it at that.

 

I doubt the federal government will start sending hordes of DEA agents into California or Colorado to arrest pot buyers (well much, they will do it occassionally for the cameras). I think the real issue will be that legal canabis sellers will be unable to use the banking system for their business. So no credit card purchases, checks to pay vendors or bank accounts to hold profits. It will be back to being a cash business.

 

Hasn't it always been a cash business in those states? In Oregon, dispensaries are only allowed to deal in cash.

 

I thought bong hits were ok if they were for Jesus.

 

One of my favorite Supreme Court cases of all time.

 

That has been a problem, in that banks are concerned canabis business cannot use the banking system (in Colorado, there was a business that just takes the cash, and drives armored cars fullof the cash around all day). They still need a bank account even if they do not take credit cards.

I am constantly getting e-mails about CLE courses regarding issues of representing legal canabis companies. Not sure what that means. My wife did not want me to put a Gary Johnson for President sign outside our house as she was afraid people would think we were selling pot (I have never even tried it, even in high school or college and am not about to start now).

 

I've just checked this is 2018. Yet this cringeworthy fool still thinks it's 1930. I really can't believe that people still talk like this let alone believe it. It's unbelievable.

Kansas Republican lawmaker says black people can’t handle marijuana because of ‘their genetics’

“Reefer makes darkies think they’re as good as white men,” Anslinger said once when explaining why marijuana supposedly caused crime and violence. The commissioner also fought for the prohibition of cannabis due to “its effect on the degenerate races,” the Telegram noted.


https://www.rawstory.com/2018/01/ka...t-handle-marijuana-because-of-their-genetics/

 

Might have been better to quote Alford for your sample rather than Anslinger? If your point is that it isn't the 30's anymore it is kind of deceptive to use a quote from the '30's isn't it?

 

Alford's material is pretty good on its own ...

As the Garden City Telegram reported, State Rep. Steve Alford (R) told an all-white crowd that marijuana was criminalized during the prohibition era in the 1930’s primarily because of black marijuana use when asked a question by a member of the local Democratic party about potential economic boons from cannabis legalization.

“What you really need to do is go back in the ’30s, when they outlawed all types of drugs in Kansas (and) across the United States,” Alford said. “What was the reason why they did that? One of the reasons why, I hate to say it, was that the African Americans, they were basically users and they basically responded the worst off to those drugs just because of their character makeup, their genetics and that.”​

​

That guy is, like, a stable genius in his own right.

 

I know some medical dispensaries accept credit cards, or at least did when I had a card several years back.

Had my first experience at a California recreational store yesterday, still hard to get used to. Very wide variety of people there, the most interesting being an elderly Asian family checking in as I was leaving. It's nice not to have to speak in code like was the case with the medical establishments. Now you can just say, "I'd like one strain that can help me chill out late in the evening and another to enhance my experience on a long hike without knocking me on my ass," none of this "Uh, my insomnia and back pain, yeah" (though it does actually help my lower back pain too).

 

I would like to read the full statement because frankly, racism did play a role in the passage of the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 (which made it illegal by taxing it) and in later efforts to combat the LaGuardia Committee's conclusion that the drug was not as harmful as stated by prohibitionists.

 

I've shown this to classes on a few occasions, and recommended it on several more.



"I have zero chill."

-Richard Nixon

 

Now that s a very good point.

 

Some day I hope to experience something so freeing as that. I bet you didn't have to match bowls with the cashier either before ya left.

 

Nope, no dealer tax, just a government tax. Sure ain't got no problem with that for the convenience and up-frontness of it all though.

 

Maybe Knight should have thrown him across the floor.

This is why I have so little hope for the future. Alford is barely 50.