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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

#41

> 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…

>Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system.

Straw man in the wild. Nobody here advocates direct democracy on every issue.

However, one simply can't argue that a government that acts against the interest and preferences of 90%+ of the population it supposedly represents and serves is doing a good job.

>Furthermore, legalization of cannabis requires more...

You speak of these questions as if they haven't been answered already in several countries and multiple states in the US.

And in any case, this is another strawman. The problem is not the slow rate of legalization, it's that the Federal government is not moving at all towards that goal (in particular, by keeping marijuana on Schedule I), when simply letting the states regulate the issue would have satisfied many people.

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

#42

> 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…

> 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?

Those are mostly pretty easy questions.

For driving and working high, it's just the same as working or driving in any other impaired state. It's slightly trickier than alcohol because it isn't as easy to measure the level of impairment, but that's also true of many prescription and probably even some over-the-counter drugs, so it's not a new problem.

For all of the other questions, you could just copy the rules for tobacco verbatim and end up with a workable set of rules.

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

#43
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system. Straw man in the wild. Nobody here advocates direct democracy on every issue. However, one simply can't argue that a government that acts against the interest and preferences of 90%+ of the population it supposedly represents and serves is doing a good job. >Furthermore, legalization of cannabis requires more... You speak of these question…

>However, one simply can't argue that a government that acts against the interest and preferences of 90%+ of the population it supposedly represents and serves is doing a good job.

I'll bite the bullet and say that it can, in some specific cases. "Acting against the interests and preferences" of someone has a magnitude, it's not just a yes/no question. A governing system that mildly inconveniences 95% of the population to safeguard a vital liberty for 5% is doing an excellent job, IMO.

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

#44
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Direct democracy for every issue individually is not the best overall system. Straw man in the wild. Nobody here advocates direct democracy on every issue. However, one simply can't argue that a government that acts against the interest and preferences of 90%+ of the population it supposedly represents and serves is doing a good job. >Furthermore, legalization of cannabis requires more... You speak of these question…

>However, one simply can't argue that a government that acts against the interest and preferences of 90%+ of the population it supposedly represents and serves is doing a good job. I'll bite the bullet and say that it can, in some specific cases. "Acting against the interests and preferences" of someone has a magnitude, it's not just a yes/no question. A governing system that mildly inconveniences 95% of the populati…

Sure, sure, but we all know this does not apply here.
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