Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

No, actually, I don't remember that, at all. It's been about business, science, startups, tech, and anything interesting to someone with a hacker mindset from the very first day (I was around then, I have absolute confidence that this article is not all that far from HN's traditional wheelhouse).

Personally, I think there's a lot of interesting startups that will be enabled by legalization of marijuana...if you can't see the opportunities for tech in a burgeoning multibillion dollar industry...well...I dunno. I think it's an interesting change in the world; the kind that entrepreneurs love to spot early.

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#5

Post by Sevzinn » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:17 PM UTC

Neat--it will be interesting to see how all the states go along. There won't be the constitutional issue of gay marriage, so it looks like it's a matter of the federal government leaving it up to the states eventually. Even ethanol had a constitutional component (as opposed to just statute).

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#6

Post by stevesearer » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:19 PM UTC

It seems like marijuana legalization is the inevitable outcome at this point, but I do wonder what will be the fate of people incarcerated in the time between now and whatever point it happens in the future.

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#7

Post by Tenhundfeld » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:26 PM UTC

I see two interesting things about this story:

1) There's no mention of tourism in that article. Vegas seems like a natural fit for marijuana legalization, as a party destination, and while I don't have hard data on this, I do wonder if they are/fear seeing a negative impact on tourism as people seek out more "green friendly" destinations.

2) The utter lack of surprise about this. Another state legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana, ho hum, whatevs. The issue has reached the point where it feels inevitable. That's still a bit shocking for me (in a good way).

I don't mean to equate the substance of the issue, but in my mind it feels similar to the march of progress on marriage equality (AKA "gay marriage"). They're both areas where I've long thought our society needed obvious reforms, but as the years marched by, I began to expect not to see any substantive changes in my life.

Now I sit here in my 30's, and by the time my daughter is an adult (~15 years), she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me.

P.S. For those who think it trivializes marriage equality to compare it to marijuana legalization, I'll remind you that this issue isn't about making it easier for people to get high. It's about the millions of lives hurt by a drug arrest, over 11,0000,000 arrests for marijuana possession from 1996-2012 – and the unequal enforcement of drug laws. For example, in California, a black person is 10 times more likely to serve prison time for a marijuana arrest than a non-black offender. And across the US, black offenders are 3.7 times more likely than white offenders to be arrested for possession. Even ignoring the unequal enforcement, about 12% of prisoners are serving time due to a marijuana-related offense. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#8

Post by grecy » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #7

I see two interesting things about this story: 1) There's no mention of tourism in that article. Vegas seems like a natural fit for marijuana legalization, as a party destination, and while I don't have hard data on this, I do wonder if they are/fear seeing a negative impact on tourism as people seek out more "green friendly" destinations. 2) The utter lack of surprise about this. Another state legalizing/decriminali…

> she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me.

Welcome to the majority of developed countries on the planet now.

One day, you might even see universal healthcare!

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#9

Post by jgrowl » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:41 PM UTC

Tenhundfeld wrote: post #7

I see two interesting things about this story: 1) There's no mention of tourism in that article. Vegas seems like a natural fit for marijuana legalization, as a party destination, and while I don't have hard data on this, I do wonder if they are/fear seeing a negative impact on tourism as people seek out more "green friendly" destinations. 2) The utter lack of surprise about this. Another state legalizing/decriminali…

It is strange how fast things can change. I remember thinking 10 years ago that even decriminalization was an impossibility.

I am not sure if I am willing to say that legalization is an inevitability yet though.

Re: Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

#10

Post by seattlegal » Mon, Mar 16, 2015, 4:54 PM UTC

Meowmore7 wrote: post #2

Remember when this site was about tech?

If you think this doesn't relate to Tech, you must have never worked with programmers on the west coast.