Every cop I’ve ever met wants it legalised, pretty much every sane politician (well, for relative values, natch) also. It’s the fucking red tops. It’s always the fucking red tops.
7 Likes
What’s the benefit of the government declaring “we’re going to keep this thing illegal but we aren’t going to punish users for breaking the law” instead of just legalizing it?
Legalization moves the industry out of the shadows. That means you don’t have to go through violent cartels to produce or ship your products, nobody starts destructive and illegal weed plantations on public lands, everyone pays taxes, and it’s possible to regulate products for public safety to make sure producers aren’t tainting their products with dangerous pesticides or whatever.
Legalization is a much more comprehensive strategy for harm reduction than just decriminalizing personal posession.
6 Likes
… who are a major reason, in general, why we have delusional, dysfunctional politics. (Though let’s be fair the only red-tops left are, technically, The Sun and The Mirror - but the Hate Mail, Express and Torygraph would declare a national emergency if any politician ever mentioned even the possibility of legalising weed they’d lose their collective shit for weeks on end.)
4 Likes
Oh, I count those weasel rags in with the actual red banner ones, aye.
3 Likes
This is essentially what the state of Virginia has done.
They’ve decriminalized possession but have offered no methods for purchasing it or selling it aside for medicinal use which you still need a card for. You can grow it, but not more than an ample personal amount.
There’s a bill on the governor’s desk to start implementing a sales system, but despite the millions of dollars that nearby Maryland has received from sales, he has no interest in signing it. And, like I said before, there are lots of prohibitionists who are on his side just because they don’t like the smell of it burning.
2 Likes
In Wisconsin, our governor is not the problem, but instead we have a GOP-majority legislature that has repeatedly refused to legalize marijuana. This is despite voter referendums coming out in favor of it at least three times, numerous bipartisan bills in favor of it, and numerous municipalities going ahead with their own decriminalization laws.
Literally every state surrounding us has legalized it to some degree. It’s difficult to not notice the Wisconsin facing billboards along the Interstate advertising dispensaries in nearby towns. I’ve even received a flyer to “Current Resident” advertising one in a town between my home and where I work in Illinois! (Pretty decent discount too – going to have to take them up on that.)
Two weeks ago my neighbor across our backyard fence once again started burning yard debris, apparently including green wood, in his back yard. I’ve never gotten even a slight hint of pot smell from that, but the smoke he puts out makes the neighborhood look like a scene out of 1800’s London. Even with all of our windows completely closed, enough of it gets in to make my headaches spike.
I don’t smoke pot, being an edible only person, although I don’t object to others smoking it. I’d much rather be around pot smoke than anywhere in the neighborhood when that jerk decides to smoke us all out. (At least twice a month from April through November.)
2 Likes
I presume he’s falling within what is allowed in local ordinances? But it’s certainly a jerk move burning green wood
2 Likes
I honestly have no idea, it’s not like I’m going to call the police. I know the smoke drifts for several houses in every direction, depending on which way the wind blows, and he’s been doing it every year for the past four years. 
(I just checked, yeah, he’s definitely violating our village’s burn ordinance.)
2 Likes
In theory. Slowly and gradually in practise. Black market cannabis is still thriving in BC despite the slow trend moving to legitimate markets.
From an OC in Canada perspective, about half of high profile gangs are still in the business: https://rcmp.ca/en/cannabis/organized-crime-and-illegal-cannabis
A 50% cut in organized crime still sounds like a win to me. When the United States passed the 21st Amendment it didn’t get all the gangsters out of the liquor business but it sure helped.
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
