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America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

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Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#11

Post by ThrustVectoring »

Stratoscope wrote: post #2

> Since 1970 marijuana has been a DEA Schedule I substance, meaning that in the view of the federal government, it’s as dangerous as LSD, heroin, and Ecstasy, and has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” > Every year the percentage of Americans who favor legalization of marijuana climbs. Last year it topped 60 percent for the first time. A remarkable 94 percent support medical use. At t…

Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system. It prevents the political favor-trading between representatives which has a valuable purpose - that is, voting against your immediate interest on topics unimportant to you in exchange for votes for your important interests. If every vote is independent and there's no way to coordinate things, then you can't do something like getting national healthcare reforms passed at the cost of providing corn subsidies.

Furthermore, legalization of cannabis requires more than just saying "okay, it's legal now". There's a ton of unresolved questions: what are the rules around driving high? Who can buy cannabis legally? Which jobs are allowed to be worked high? Which businesses can sell cannabis? What license do you need? What are the penalties for flouting age restrictions on sales? Can you smoke cannabis in a bar? Can you vape cannabis in a restaurant? How is cannabis taxed, and at what rate?

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#12

Post by twright0 »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #10
GuiA wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have to regularly remind people that Trump did not win the election with a majority of votes. I am flabbergasted by how frequently I hear Americans say of Trump "... well he was chosen by the people".

He was, in fact, chosen by the people in accordance with our voting system. Both parties win with it, and nobody who's won ever tries to change it... leaving suggesting it's "unfair" to the realm of people who are just upset that they lost. I definitely would like to see it improved, I think the two party system sucks, and our voting system guarantees it, and the fact that my vote doesn't count for much because I liv…

> Both parties win with it

As far as I can tell from Wikipedia, only five elections have ever been won by someone lacking a plurality of the popular vote. Three of those cases happened before 1900. If we look only at the more modern examples, the Republicans have won the presidency but lost the popular vote twice (2016 and 2000) and the Democrats have never done this. In fact, this is a true statement over all of time, but once you get back more then a century the political parties are so different as to make the comparison meaningless.

That is to say: the Democrats have never had a presidential election that they won without winning the popular vote. I do not love the two party system either, but in this case it doesn't feel fair to say that both parties are currently equally benefitting from the Electoral College.

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#14

Post by chepaslaaa »

kiliantics wrote: post #3

Now that there are some people who are surely becoming considerably rich from the sale of cannabis in the US, it's strange that they aren't pushing for this kind of research to be allowed - i.e. out-lobbying the anti-cannabis lobby. Is there really still that much money going against legalisation? Are the people who have been getting rich just not politically savvy enough yet? This seems unlikely because it's not lik…

The people that produce it right now don't want more competition. It's real easy to grow pot.

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#15

Post by mulmen »

GuiA wrote: post #6
Stratoscope wrote: post #2

> Since 1970 marijuana has been a DEA Schedule I substance, meaning that in the view of the federal government, it’s as dangerous as LSD, heroin, and Ecstasy, and has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” > Every year the percentage of Americans who favor legalization of marijuana climbs. Last year it topped 60 percent for the first time. A remarkable 94 percent support medical use. At t…

I still have to regularly remind people that Trump did not win the election with a majority of votes. I am flabbergasted by how frequently I hear Americans say of Trump "... well he was chosen by the people".

Trump read the rules and was selected by the will of the people as we define it in our electoral system. If plurality of votes was relevant the strategy would have been completely different and so we cannot know the outcome in that case.

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#16

Post by mulmen »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #10
GuiA wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have to regularly remind people that Trump did not win the election with a majority of votes. I am flabbergasted by how frequently I hear Americans say of Trump "... well he was chosen by the people".

He was, in fact, chosen by the people in accordance with our voting system. Both parties win with it, and nobody who's won ever tries to change it... leaving suggesting it's "unfair" to the realm of people who are just upset that they lost. I definitely would like to see it improved, I think the two party system sucks, and our voting system guarantees it, and the fact that my vote doesn't count for much because I liv…

The two party system moves slowly which at times like this looks like a feature to me. In a parliamentary system it is easier for extreme views to advance their agenda.

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#17

Post by owlsaway »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #11
Stratoscope wrote: post #2

> Since 1970 marijuana has been a DEA Schedule I substance, meaning that in the view of the federal government, it’s as dangerous as LSD, heroin, and Ecstasy, and has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” > Every year the percentage of Americans who favor legalization of marijuana climbs. Last year it topped 60 percent for the first time. A remarkable 94 percent support medical use. At t…

Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system. It prevents the political favor-trading between representatives which has a valuable purpose - that is, voting against your immediate interest on topics unimportant to you in exchange for votes for your important interests. If every vote is independent and there's no way to coordinate things, then you can't do something like getting nationa…

As someone living in Canada, where we're going through that literal same process, you seem to be right on the money.

Although admittedly, I'm not as well-read as I'd hope to be, so take this with a grain of salt. But the way the media I've read has portrayed marijuana in Canada has been "Pot's legal in 1 year! ...okay, how are we going to implement this? [provinces rush to come up with plans]"

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#18

Post by Consultant32452 »

twright0 wrote: post #12
ocdtrekkie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He was, in fact, chosen by the people in accordance with our voting system. Both parties win with it, and nobody who's won ever tries to change it... leaving suggesting it's "unfair" to the realm of people who are just upset that they lost. I definitely would like to see it improved, I think the two party system sucks, and our voting system guarantees it, and the fact that my vote doesn't count for much because I liv…

> Both parties win with it As far as I can tell from Wikipedia, only five elections have ever been won by someone lacking a plurality of the popular vote. Three of those cases happened before 1900. If we look only at the more modern examples, the Republicans have won the presidency but lost the popular vote twice (2016 and 2000) and the Democrats have never done this. In fact, this is a true statement over all of tim…

Our electoral college and Senate system is designed to occasionally let the minority get stuff they want. The coastal cities have all the money and all of the media, they aren't hurting for power. The slight tip to the "flyover" states is an attempt to balance the mega-steamroller of coastal wealth and power.

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#19

Post by [deleted] »

bastawhiz wrote: post #7
kiliantics wrote: post #3

Now that there are some people who are surely becoming considerably rich from the sale of cannabis in the US, it's strange that they aren't pushing for this kind of research to be allowed - i.e. out-lobbying the anti-cannabis lobby. Is there really still that much money going against legalisation? Are the people who have been getting rich just not politically savvy enough yet? This seems unlikely because it's not lik…

It makes sense to do what they're doing right now: get legalization done at the state level. If the federal government lifted restrictions tomorrow, state-level prohibition still applies in 21 states. 21 of the 29 states where marijuana is legal are medical-only. If you legalize it at the state level, you create a new market. Nobody is shipping weed in--crossing state lines with marijuana is, as it turns out, frowned…

[deleted]

Re: America Is Giving Away the $30B Medical Marijuana Industry

#20

Post by cinquemb »

ThrustVectoring wrote: post #11
Stratoscope wrote: post #2

> Since 1970 marijuana has been a DEA Schedule I substance, meaning that in the view of the federal government, it’s as dangerous as LSD, heroin, and Ecstasy, and has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” > Every year the percentage of Americans who favor legalization of marijuana climbs. Last year it topped 60 percent for the first time. A remarkable 94 percent support medical use. At t…

Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system. It prevents the political favor-trading between representatives which has a valuable purpose - that is, voting against your immediate interest on topics unimportant to you in exchange for votes for your important interests. If every vote is independent and there's no way to coordinate things, then you can't do something like getting nationa…

I think it is theoretically possible to build systems where you can coordinate things on independent issues (and for bringing up and addressing questions) on a direct level.

I don't think there is much incentive to build such systems now outside of say voting systems for user feedback/issues on product systems (which also have lower barriers as for the ultimately philosophical issue on deciding who is allowed to vote, and face virtually no push back from those who benefit most from the incumbent systems).

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