Itâs funny that this is now a statesâ rights issue. Versus the evil, stupid feds who keep insisting that pot is as harmful as heroin and krokodil because they make so much money that way. Where even Texas can look relatively progressive and enlightened - of course this might not pass, but now itâs out there.
Yes! When even tea baggers start seeing the sense in legalization, it canât be long until the whole thing snowballs. And it might be a long shot, but if Texas actually manages to legalize it-- holy shit! That would be a game changer.
The guy actually had reasonable and compassionate arguments that will hopefully convince a lot of his stripe how disastrous criminalized pot has been on a personal and and economic level. And⌠he had the good sense to keep the crazy religious part separate with a: âI said that really to address my fellow ChristiansâŚâ qualifier. Which is great. Rational arguments for the rational people, crazy oneâs for the religious zealots. Itâs all good as long as it results in legal weed.
Literally everybody, including those who work for the Prison Workers and Police unions, could want legalisation and there would still be no chance. The underlying system, staffed by those people would still coerce them to behave according to established protocols.
When you can use arguments to the effect of âUnconscionable behaviour X is required to continue functioning as the financial security of the entire country hinges upon it continuingâ it may be impossible to curtail. Even slavery continues to thrive under the guise of drug policy and itâs imprisonment of minorities.
A completely valid, new system could be proposed, offering commensurate monetary returns and jobs for everyone who would be impacted by the change and it would still be ignored because of the inertia of current practice.
âIt is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!â
The only way this happens is as it has been happening, with continuing harassment of individuals and businesses from the federal level, and a slow attrition in the financial viability of the current federal enterprise.
However, I believe change driven through at the social level has a chance of undermining the requirement to have an easy to abuse drug law, and IMO it is that linchpin which will eventually usher in sane drug policy. Whilst itâs still about personal choice to take a drug and financial arguments, expect no âofficialâ change.
Or maybe Iâm just too cynical. I just donât see the prison-industrial complex giving up their jobs and profits for anything, short of the curtailment of a revolution.
What kind of tea parties does he wants if he wants to legalize it?
Texas!
Agreed. On the Federal level. As you get closer to local politics (state level, possibly even city/municipal) you start moving further away from the pointy end of the lobbying stick.
The reason this has become a States Rights issue (legal in multiple states, now Texas trying to join in for that sweet sweet tax money) is all the reasons you mentioned which entrench the Drug War at the federal level. It also makes it much stickier for the Federal Govt to come in and try to just wipe away something that has the support of actual voters on the local level (not that it canât be done).
It is just much harder for the anti-drug complex (not just prisons benefit) to influence large swaths of local voters, than it is to pay off some Congressholes for the same results, now that fear mongering and Reefer Mania arnât working so well.
So remain hopeful that people will vote locally, since they have no actual voice at the higher levels, given that any elected official is reasonably easy to purchase these days.
I still say a kickstarter to buy back the politicians might work.
âOther rodentsâ? Rattlesnakes are rodents now in Texas??
Though if all marajuana related enforcement were to vanish tomorrow, all the money currently aimed at that would simply be redirect to LSD or something. There may not even be a significant drop in the prison population, given that pot is pretty much just an excuse for them to lock up undesirables, rather than the reason the people are undesirable.
The thing is, Krokodil isnât even a specific thing.
Krokodil is pretty much whatever recipe youâve found on the internet to make cheap, readily prescribed semi-synthetic opioids not immediately fatal to inject.
Itâs pretty much whatever drugs youâve got modified with your home kitchen to not have tons of wax and binders in it, but still having lots of solvents.
ThoughtsâŚ
âTexas Tea Party rep wants legal weed.â
What? Texas. TEXAS? This must be a misprint, right?
ââŚbecause God wants us to have it.â
Oh, right. Normality is restored. Or what passes for normality in some parts of the globe. I am not sure I want weed on the back of arguments like that. I want it for sensible, logical reasons, and there are plenty of those. But it might get the job done, and thatâs a good thing on the whole. I guess.
In my experience, this growing legalization movement is doing a whole lot to help improve Americaâs international reputation.
Not just in a âyay: WEED!â kind of way, but as a great example of how the US is actually a pretty complicated/diverse place than media/news/various wars would lead you to believe.
As a Canadian (who spent a lot of time growing up in the US) living in France, I get asked about America/Americans now and then. My usual answer is along the lines of âthe thing about Americans is: there are 300 million of themâ. The fact that weed is legal now in some states (and will get you a life-long prison term is others), is a good example (that always impresses, since weâre years away from that here) to show that you canât just stick the whole population/politics into the same cartoonish stereotype.
Also, as a Canadian, I am deeply disappointed and embarrassed at the missed opportunity to take the lead on legalization.
Just my 2 centimes.
People will be locked up for jaywalking if necessary - Prison Inc is hungry!
Yep on the âmaybe youâre too cynicalâ. Weâve already got four states, with more on the way. The tide is turning pretty quickly in my opinion, and the momentum has shifted. I see the majority of states having completely legal weed within 10 years, at worst. (Of course, I might be too optimistic on the power of the people, but the amazing turnaround on gay marriage made me that way.)
To be fair, teabaggers are a crazy lot of crazy, but per capita, libertarians support abandoning drug laws at similar or better rates than progressives. Itâs the only attractive thing bout em. (their) Reason(s) be damned if the outcome benefits us all.
I would never be so happy to be wrong.
They also tend to be more liberal than Democrats about things like civil rights, criminal justice, and foreign policy.
Wow. Itâs sad that Iâm so shocked to find a âsmall-governmentâ conservative in the Republican party whoâs acutally not a vicious hypocrite.
another texan has been advocating legal weed a lot longer than this yahoo and has 100% on the subject.
