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There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

thehill.com

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Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#31

Post by rozab »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #9
dheera wrote: post #6

I really wish there were also laws about not doing it in public spaces. I don't care if people do it in their own spaces, but when the smell wafts out onto the sidewalk, it makes me nauseous.

At least it isn't hazardous like cigarette smoke. I really wish cigarettes were completely banned in public spaces. If you want to destroy your own lungs on your own property, fine. But I shouldn't have to breath it in.

I don't think it's much less hazardous than cigarette smoke, it's just that people don't tend to smoke 20 joints a day.

Also, a bit of secondhand smoke outside isn't dangerous, it just smells bad.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#32

Post by [deleted] »

MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #18
Wowfunhappy wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least it isn't hazardous like cigarette smoke. I really wish cigarettes were completely banned in public spaces. If you want to destroy your own lungs on your own property, fine. But I shouldn't have to breath it in.

Smoke is bad for you period. The chemicals and nicotine content is irrelevant.

[deleted]

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#33

Post by option »

I am in favor of legalizing and regulating marijuana. But I’d also like to see tax dollars from it to be used on educating public on its danger, much like we do for tobacco.

A personal story - when I was a teenager, a friend of mine smoked weed, thought that he can fly and jumped from the roof of 9 story building. He was 15. Just a warning that this is not all just fun and games.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#34

Post by dalbasal »

dcolkitt wrote: post #7

I think it would make a fascinating poli sci case study about why almost all cannabis legalization came from popular referendum instead of legislation. What is it about cannabis that makes it so much more amenable to direct democracy compared to representative democracy. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in most states support legalization. Yet elected representative have been extremely reticent to move policy…

One way or another, it does demonstrate a medium-is-the-message dynamic in politics. How democracy is structured is the deciding factor. Referendum, sortition, representative democracy, etc. will have wildly divergent vote counts on a lot of issues.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#36

Post by munk-a »

creato wrote: post #22
dcolkitt wrote: post #7

I think it would make a fascinating poli sci case study about why almost all cannabis legalization came from popular referendum instead of legislation. What is it about cannabis that makes it so much more amenable to direct democracy compared to representative democracy. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in most states support legalization. Yet elected representative have been extremely reticent to move policy…

I think being pro legalization doesn't win many votes, but being anti legalization could cost votes. It's an easy attack ad to make. One of the worst things about politics seems to be that the substance of the attack doesn't really matter, just the fact that it exists. With popular votes on the topic, everyone wins: people get what they want, and no legislator needs to grow the courage to stand up for it.

Sadly being pro-legalization loses you older voters that were exposed to a lot more propaganda during the war on drugs - legalization is inevitable as we age out of those voters but it still is a semi-risky political stance.

Bear in mind that John Boehner (yea that one) is now hawking legal marijuana himself after years of publicly opposing it.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#38

Post by djitz »

SmellTheGlove wrote: post #24
dcolkitt wrote: post #7

I think it would make a fascinating poli sci case study about why almost all cannabis legalization came from popular referendum instead of legislation. What is it about cannabis that makes it so much more amenable to direct democracy compared to representative democracy. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in most states support legalization. Yet elected representative have been extremely reticent to move policy…

> What is it about cannabis that makes it so much more amenable to direct democracy compared to popular democracy. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in most states support legalization. Yet elected representative have been extremely reticent to move policy in that direction. Two thirds of Americans support legalization, yet neither of the major party candidates for president do. It's counter to "tough on crime"…

It turns out alcoholic beverage companies and big pharma have deep pockets.

Whoops, forgot the link as an example.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/one-s...

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#39

Post by rStar »

option wrote: post #33

I am in favor of legalizing and regulating marijuana. But I’d also like to see tax dollars from it to be used on educating public on its danger, much like we do for tobacco. A personal story - when I was a teenager, a friend of mine smoked weed, thought that he can fly and jumped from the roof of 9 story building. He was 15. Just a warning that this is not all just fun and games.

a personal opinion -> your friend had other problems.

Re: There was a clear winner on election night: Marijuana

#40

Post by munk-a »

djitz wrote: post #38
SmellTheGlove wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What is it about cannabis that makes it so much more amenable to direct democracy compared to popular democracy. Polls show that overwhelming majorities in most states support legalization. Yet elected representative have been extremely reticent to move policy in that direction. Two thirds of Americans support legalization, yet neither of the major party candidates for president do. It's counter to "tough on crime"…

It turns out alcoholic beverage companies and big pharma have deep pockets. Whoops, forgot the link as an example. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/one-s...

And I think it's important to fight to make sure we don't get similarly entrenched weed cartels. We now have a new fight - against market consolidation of the weed producers.
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