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.
@corbe Almost a year ago, recreational marijuana became legal in my Nevada. I remember well when the dispensaries opened at midnight. There were lines comparable to those I remember for getting into certain exhibits and pavilions at the New York World's Fair 1964-65. Within a few days, those lines disappeared and things went much to normal shopping even at the pot dispensaries, even as more of them opened as the year went on.
And, you know, some funny things happened.
The sun still arose the following mornings. The moon still arose in the evenings. The morning and afternoon rush hours remained about the same. The casinos continued doing boffo business; likewise, the Fremont Street Experience, where it's fair to say you see creatures at almost all hours of the kind that make you mourn the loss of the great circuses less and less as time goes by.
And Nevada---whether around my Las Vegas or elsewhere---didn't suddenly become wall-to-wall potheads.
There was also no noticeable increase in the scattered fragrances of pot smoking after legalisation than there'd been before legalisation, and those fragrances were few enough and far between enough as it was. Total sales from the moment it became legal through the end of November 2017 hit $126 million, which put plenty of pelf into state and local coffers since Nevada charges a 15 percent sales tax on the stuff.
And, deaths in accidents involving driving while impaired
fell, both in my locality and across the state, while there were fewer road fatalities overall but a slight increase in pedestrian deaths caused by drivers---which usually happens in Las Vegas because pedestrians aren't exactly the most careful creatures crossing or walking The Strip. If you're behind the wheel on or crossing The Strip and stone cold sober, you take your life into your hands because of pedestrian crowds making simple crossing or simple driving a challenge comparable to trying to mine diamonds with a toothpick.
Seeing the crowds on those first three or four days of legalisation, I simply bided my time and waited for them to dissipate. Then, I went to a dispensary not far from my home and decided to give it a try again. (I had only ever smoked pot once before in my life, with my second wife, back in 1996; let me say about that experience only that I understood at last why there were those proclaiming pot a phenomenal aphrodisiac!) I bought a tiny quantity of the smokable stuff, plus a chocolate candy bar made with the stuff in it, the bar being sectioned off into teardrop-shaped pieces.
I couldn't handle the smoke anymore, so that was the end of that, and you're talking to a fellow who smokes a few cigarettes a day*, but you don't need me to tell you the smoke from pot is way more powerful than that of even a full-flavoured cigarette. Likewise, with pot vaping. But the following night I broke off one of the sections of the candy bar and ate it before going to bed for the night. It provided a nice, relaxing, small high, enough to qualify as a fine sleep aid, very useful when you have three ornery dogs liable to blast you awake at any time unless you're so deep in sleep they figure out fast that you can't be moved yet and thus settle back to their own sleep. I still buy one of those candy bars now and then and have a piece every so often.
(* I'm almost to the level my maternal grandmother was: she liked to have a cigarette after her breakfast, another after her lunch, a third after an afternoon cup of coffee, a fourth after dinner, and a fifth with her coffee while watching the evening news before going to bed. Almost. She smoked Winston for many years; when I was a small boy thanks to her I thought Winston was a woman's cigarette! [She switched to Parliaments during my college years, the brand she smoked for the rest of her life.] If you were to spend a day with me you might get the impression I smoke heavily, but that's because of a peculiar habit I got into while I work---I might light one up while working on a project, then get back to my work and forget I'd lit one up, and it would be burned out before I reached for it again, so I light another one up and, same thing. It might take me three or even four cigarettes to get me the equivalent of smoking one while I work! That's a habit I'm working on breaking.)
