Trump Signals Support For Legislation Easing US Ban On Pot

[catfish1957]

Bottom line. 

More and more states are legalizing it, and that means eventually more Representatives and Senators are going to find themselves at the business end of a voter revolt if they don't pay attention to what their states are doing back home.

Do you think this is that much of a hot button issue with voters back home?

$2.3T additional Trump debt is what is giving me the most heartburn.

[roamer_1]

The problem here is the same as what caused the problem in the first place.

Federal legalization is no better than Federal illegality.

[Cyber Liberty]

Do you think this is that much of a hot button issue with voters back home?

Yes, I do.  Many of these states legalized it through ballot referenda, so the  voters think the Federal recalcitrance on the issue is an affront to them, personally.  They care a lot more about this than they do about numbers on a ledger.

State Legislators have been finding this out the hard way, too, when they try to thwart the wishes of the voters by throwing roadblocks in the way of implementing the ballot initiatives.

[Chosen Daughter]

I disagree with you for once @Mesaclone   This state to state thing always causes troubles.  People will drive over state lines to get pot which could lead to legal complications.

Most people are not addictive personalities, but for those who are, anything can be addictive.  Pot is probably the safest thing to be addicted to other than chocolate.

Oh, that is the most deceptive post yet.  You cannot compare pot to chocolate.  There are many negative health affects to smoking pot.  At the rate many young users are smoking I guess you could say that is really dumbing down America!  Not to mention the damage to the lungs.

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/is-marijuana-safe-web#2

The issue is that with states legalizing and Federal government keeping it illegal there is conflict.  I don't know how you could stop it now.  But I will say that they are going to see the increasing negative affects of widespread marijuana use.  In highway deaths.  In health conditions that relate to smoking the resins into your lungs.  From the damage it does especially to youth who's brains are still forming.  Attention and loss of memory.

[Oceander]

Oh, that is the most deceptive post yet.  You cannot compare pot to chocolate.  There are many negative health affects to smoking pot.  At the rate many young users are smoking I guess you could say that is really dumbing down America!  Not to mention the damage to the lungs.

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/is-marijuana-safe-web#2

So shouldn’t cigarettes also be illegal?  Smoking them causes harm, too.  And what about internal combustion engines?  Breathing in the fumes from an engine is not good for one, even if it doesn’t kill you on the spot.  What rational basis is there for singling out marijuana alone.

[Chosen Daughter]

So shouldn’t cigarettes also be illegal?  Smoking them causes harm, too.  And what about internal combustion engines?  Breathing in the fumes from an engine is not good for one, even if it doesn’t kill you on the spot.  What rational basis is there for singling out marijuana alone.

There has been a campaign against smoking for a very long time.  I remember when it was acceptable to smoke anywhere and everywhere.  Now its hard to find a place that it is allowed.  I used to smoke but have quit for many years.    Smoking pot is just another resin to coat your lungs.  And just like the messages on a pack of cigarettes every package of marijuana should be labeled with the health risks.

Just saying that this is going to cost in the long run the health care system from health related issues.  Emjay recently brought up people wearing seat belts and the concern was the care required for people who are injured because they didn't wear them.  What about the people who have accidents because they are baked?  What about the ones who require medical treatment for depression, or lung related issues due to marijuana use?

It is a lie that it doesn't have negative affects.  It does.  I posted the link.

[ABX]

I can get totally behind this even though I would never touch the stuff. The size of the police state and government interventionism revolving around the war on drugs is out of hand.  Like prohibitions before it, it has created a massive criminal enterprise simply because it is banned. We've already seen in places like Colorado that lifting prohibitions do not create the nightmare scenarios that many warned about. Liberty always wins in the end.

[Chosen Daughter]

Look at this Bellingham Herald report in the rise of fatalities due to legalizing marijuana use.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/traffic/article166826757.html

[ABX]

Look at this Bellingham Herald report in the rise of fatalities due to legalizing marijuana use.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/traffic/article166826757.html

Which is a fraction of drunk driving related fatalities in that state. Yet we don't ban alcohol, we blame the individual choice of the person involved. Just like we don't blame the gun for the shooting but the choice of the individual.

http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-statistics-washington.html

Also, gang violence and deaths associated with that have crashed since Washington legalized it.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/marijuana/article163750293.html

It is also killing Mexican drug cartels.

http://time.com/3801889/us-legalization-marijuana-trade/

[Emjay]

Oh, that is the most deceptive post yet.  You cannot compare pot to chocolate.  There are many negative health affects to smoking pot.  At the rate many young users are smoking I guess you could say that is really dumbing down America!  Not to mention the damage to the lungs.

https://www.webmd.com/pain-management/features/is-marijuana-safe-web#2

The issue is that with states legalizing and Federal government keeping it illegal there is conflict.  I don't know how you could stop it now.  But I will say that they are going to see the increasing negative affects of widespread marijuana use.  In highway deaths.  In health conditions that relate to smoking the resins into your lungs.  From the damage it does especially to youth who's brains are still forming.  Attention and loss of memory.

@Chosen Daughter   I have a feeling you mean well.

[Oceander]

There has been a campaign against smoking for a very long time.  I remember when it was acceptable to smoke anywhere and everywhere.  Now its hard to find a place that it is allowed.  I used to smoke but have quit for many years.    Smoking pot is just another resin to coat your lungs.  And just like the messages on a pack of cigarettes every package of marijuana should be labeled with the health risks.

Just saying that this is going to cost in the long run the health care system from health related issues.  Emjay recently brought up people wearing seat belts and the concern was the care required for people who are injured because they didn't wear them.  What about the people who have accidents because they are baked?  What about the ones who require medical treatment for depression, or lung related issues due to marijuana use?

It is a lie that it doesn't have negative affects.  It does.  I posted the link.

So shouldn’t cigarettes be illegal?  In fact, shouldn’t private automobiles be illegal?  Since you never know who is not wearing a seatbelt, or who is drunk, or who is texting, driving should be allowed only to those select few who are constantly tested and who drive mass transit so the rest of us can get around?

The mere fact, standing by itself, that somebody might get injured if they engage in a certain activity should generally not be a sufficient basis for prohibiting that activity.  If we’re not going to ban guns, then banning marijuana because smoking it might not be the healthiest thing the smoker could do makes zero sense. 

[Chosen Daughter]

@Chosen Daughter   I have a feeling you mean well.

I do.  I think that we have to be real about the dangers.   Perhaps we cannot ban marijuana use but we certainly can regulate it.  If we need labels on cigarettes we also need them on marijuana.  And we need to accept the responsibility for impaired deaths on the highway.  If you give your stamp of approval you better also be awareness training and added highway patrol to handle drug related impairment.  It is a reality.

[Cyber Liberty]

So shouldn’t cigarettes be illegal?  In fact, shouldn’t private automobiles be illegal?  Since you never know who is not wearing a seatbelt, or who is drunk, or who is texting, driving should be allowed only to those select few who are constantly tested and who drive mass transit so the rest of us can get around?

The mere fact, standing by itself, that somebody might get injured if they engage in a certain activity should generally not be a sufficient basis for prohibiting that activity.  If we’re not going to ban guns, then banning marijuana because smoking it might not be the healthiest thing the smoker could do makes zero sense.

This is a consequence of socializing all responsibility for unhealthy behavior.

[Oceander]

This is a consequence of socializing all responsibility for unhealthy behavior.

Huh?

[Cyber Liberty]

Huh?

If I operate my vehicles in a manner that causes injury, either to myself or to others, the cost of that is spread to others, either through insurance or through the state (by picking up the tab for an indigent person, or somebody on Medicaid/Medicare).  That's "socializing the costs" to my understanding. 

My opinion, so YMMV.

[Oceander]

If I operate my vehicles in a manner that causes injury, either to myself or to others, the cost of that is spread to others, either through insurance or through the state (by picking up the tab for an indigent person, or somebody on Medicaid/Medicare).  That's "socializing the costs" to my understanding. 

My opinion, so YMMV.

That still makes no sense in context.  So if you drive negligently, someone else gets hurt.  Uh, yeah, almost by definition. 

[Cyber Liberty]

That still makes no sense in context.  So if you drive negligently, someone else gets hurt.  Uh, yeah, almost by definition.

Follow through:  If innocent people get hurt, who pays the medical bills?  Somebody other than the cause.

[Oceander]

Follow through:  If innocent people get hurt, who pays the medical bills?  Somebody other than the cause.

Not necessarily. 

[RoosGirl]

Trump will change his mind when he realizes how much Bezos stands to benefit from legalization.

[Cyber Liberty]

Not necessarily.

There exists an exception to every rule.  My point was, when the consequences of acts by individuals are spread out among people are innocent of the act, that's "Socializing" the consequences.  This gives everybody a reason to try to control individuals.  Next thing you know, prohibitions are justified on financial grounds, and liberty starts to die.

[edpc]

Trump will change his mind when he realizes how much Bezos stands to benefit from legalization.

And when he finds the best weed comes from shithole countries.

[Cyber Liberty]

Trump will change his mind when he realizes how much Bezos stands to benefit from legalization.

I reckon that's somewhat tongue in cheek, but President Trump does seem to have a burr under his saddle over Bezos.  Trump's war with Amazon is just plain stupid.

[RoosGirl]

I reckon that's somewhat tongue in cheek, but President Trump does seem to have a burr under his saddle over Bezos.  Trump's war with Amazon is just plain stupid.

Only somewhat.  I really think that if Bezos started publicly making plans to distribute through Amazon, same day deliver and delivered with your munchies, that Trump would back pedal.

[corbe]

   As one of the few Briefers here that openly admits that I take a toke or two, on occasion (only way I can understand half of ya), I believe this to be a STATE Issue, NOT Federal.
  Perhaps President Trump is throwing some Cheeto's at stoners believing they'll vote GOP in 2018/2020.
  It may work, but I doubt it.

[roamer_1]

I believe this to be a STATE Issue, NOT Federal.

THERE IT IS.

It is a wonder to me that so many of my fellows, ones that I KNOW to be federalist and libertarian in large part, are content to seek a federal remedy on this.

I will reiterate: Federal legality is just as bad as being federally illegal.