Obama administration "open for questions"

To stimulate the economy I'd propose amphetamins instead.

Pot smokers have had ample opportunity to vote to legalize it, but they're too stoned to mobilize their ranks.

Haha. Funny but not true. The last time marijuana legalization on a national level even had a fair hearing was when Jimmy Carter was President. That chance was blown on the oil crunch and the Iran hostage crisis. The rest of it flew out the window with Ronald Reagan. And now, with 25+ years of "just say no" etc., the idea might be popular with the public, but the politicians in Congress are too conditioned with fear to bring it up.

Quote:

Original post by Zahlman Do you think this reflects reality? Is there some organized effort here, or simply selection bias?

">it reflects a bias of realty...

I don't think marijuana legalization has a majority (my guess is that it's about 33% of the population). Even "stoner" states and cities are having difficult times getting more than 50% of the vote. However, there is enough people that support it to get major attention. With the economic situation where it is, there is enough drive for people that don't really want to smoke to still care about the issue.

If the economic crisis gets too long or gets worse, it will probably be legalized in some fashion. There's not too many things that with one stroke of a pen the government can raise taxes, create thousands of jobs, bolster the economy by billions, sizeably reduce the jail population, and deal a major blow to drug cartels.

That being said, I don't understand why Obama went through the trouble of creating a "we're going to answer your question" website and never answered any of the questions that were asked. Last night for instance, he didn't answer any questions that major reporters didn't already bombard him with for the last 60 days. I'd like to see him start answering some of the most asked questions, by far, on the order of hundreds, people are asking about pot. And just to bolster awareness, the same question is being asked about poker too (a $12 billion dollar industry that is now outsourced).

I notice that he took out the "miscellaneous" section of the site as well. A section that had thousands of questions about out of the box issues. Why not go on tv and answer a few questions, or get an official to answer a few on the site. Throw the people a bone.

So let me get this straight. Up until now, we were all fine with keeping marijuana illegal because we didn't want people doing that, bad for their health, bad for society, whatever the reason. Now that cash is tight, we're saying, "eh, let's start selling drugs to make ends meet, who cares about health or society or some shit." Yeah... I don't buy it.

If you want to legalize marijuana, do it for the right reasons, because it's an issue of liberty.

Quote:

Original post by owl To stimulate the economy I'd propose amphetamins instead.

So true. [grin]
By legalizing marijuana the economy is really going to take a dive as the workforce will be found passed out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos.

Regarding one of the questions under Financial Stability: I lost the game.

Quote:

Original post by polymorphed Quote: Original post by owl To stimulate the economy I'd propose amphetamins instead. So true. [grin] By legalizing marijuana the economy is really going to take a dive as the workforce will be found passed out on the couch with a bag of Cheetos.

Doubt it, marijuana is already readily available, whoever wants to get it, gets it, besides the workforce is more likely to be addicted to crank in order to work more hours.

Quote:

Original post by Oberon_Command Regarding one of the questions under Financial Stability: I lost the game.

:( I lost the game.

I totally agree with capn, it is totally the wrong reason and does nothing to fix the underlying problem of the government interfering with personal liberties.

But having said that, the government has never been about liberties or freedoms or any of that crap. Its all about the almighty dollar. It was when the country was founded and so it is today.

And what better way to improve revenue!! Honestly, i know there are some negatives in there somewhere but honestly the positives FAR outweigh the negatives. All the negative effects of the drug are already there and present in the smoking population. And smoking population isn't going to explode like some people seem to think, it didn't in other countries and it just wouldn't make sense since it is already so easy to get! (I'm not positive but I believe with the legalization of marijuana in Amsterdam there was a short burst of a year or two in usage, then the rates fell back to normal levels. I have no reference on this but had read that somewhere, for whatever its worth)

I don't think legalizing pot would create that many more 'pot-heads'.

If I didn't need a prescription I might try it or have some laying around 'for the lols', but I can't get myself addicted to cigarettes or alcohol so I doubt I can get addicted to a non-addictive drug!

Actually, pot may be useful for me. I have pretty bad insomnia, and the drugs I am prescribed for it have some pretty serious side effects (I either have to take antidepressants off-label.. which, er, fuck with your mind... nice to get warnings on the package about 'you might want to kill yourself', or highly addictive sleep aids).

Quote:

Original post by LessBread Haha. Funny but not true. The last time marijuana legalization on a national level even had a fair hearing was when Jimmy Carter was President. That chance was blown on the oil crunch and the Iran hostage crisis. The rest of it flew out the window with Ronald Reagan. And now, with 25+ years of "just say no" etc., the idea might be popular with the public, but the politicians in Congress are too conditioned with fear to bring it up.

This comes up frequently at the state level but it seems that voters are not willing to make any but the slightest concessions. Once enough states legalize it, the Fed will have no choice.

Quote:

Original post by trzy This comes up frequently at the state level but it seems that voters are not willing to make any but the slightest concessions. Once enough states legalize it, the Fed will have no choice.

what does the Federal Reserve have to do with marijuana?

Medical marijuana initiatives win more often than not.

---

Legalize for reasons of Liberty? Please! Give me a damn break. If Liberty was as important as so many people claim, then politicians like Ron Paul would never stoop to joining the Republican party, a move which inevitably forces them to compromise on Liberty. Liberty! Hmph! Liberty for the powerful to coerce the weak without government interference (i.e. labor). Liberty for the powerful to compel the government to interfere with the lives of the weak (i.e. abortion). Liberty for the powerful to control the bodies of the weak. Liberty for Slavery!

---

The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal

Quote:

In 2001, Portugal became the only EU-member state to decriminalize drugs, a distinction which continues through to the present. Last year, working with the Cato Institute, I went to that country in order to research the effects of the decriminalization law (which applies to all substances, including cocaine and heroin) and to interview both Portuguese and EU drug policy officials and analysts (the central EU drug policy monitoring agency is, by coincidence, based in Lisbon). Evaluating the policy strictly from an empirical perspective, decriminalization has been an unquestionable success, leading to improvements in virtually every relevant category and enabling Portugal to manage drug-related problems (and drug usage rates) far better than most Western nations that continue to treat adult drug consumption as a criminal offense. ...

Quote:

Original post by LessBread Legalize for reasons of Liberty? Please! Give me a damn break. If Liberty was as important as so many people claim, then politicians like Ron Paul would never stoop to joining the Republican party, a move which inevitably forces them to compromise on Liberty. Liberty! Hmph! Liberty for the powerful to coerce the weak without government interference (i.e. labor). Liberty for the powerful to compel the government to interfere with the lives of the weak (i.e. abortion). Liberty for the powerful to control the bodies of the weak. Liberty for Slavery!

So then, I take it you think liberty is a bad idea? You twist yourself into knots, trying to pigeon-hole everyone into Basket A or Basket B, Basket "Agrees With Me" and Basket "A Bunch Of Fascists (wait, we don't like that word any more) Neo-Cons". You don't care about freedom and justice, you just care about labeling people and making them feel inferior to you and your grand example of "social consciousness". Oh, you've caught me out in my lie. I want to grind the babies of single, black mothers into dust to make my bread. I want to steal little old ladies' medicine and boil it down into opiates with which I can control my workers. I want to subjugate all the brown peoples of the world to be my slaves in my ever growing oil empire that my daddy willed to me. Hellspawn! Brimstone! I am the Dark Lord Lucifer, Satan of this realm! Hear my name and tremble in fear.



You are a caricature.

Quote:

Original post by LessBread Medical marijuana initiatives win more often than not. Legalize for reasons of Liberty? Please! Give me a damn break. If Liberty was as important as so many people claim, then politicians like Ron Paul would never stoop to joining the Republican party, a move which inevitably forces them to compromise on Liberty. Liberty! Hmph! Liberty for the powerful to coerce the weak without government interference (i.e. labor). Liberty for the powerful to compel the government to interfere with the lives of the weak (i.e. abortion). Liberty for the powerful to control the bodies of the weak. Liberty for Slavery! The success of drug decriminalization in Portugal Quote: In 2001, Portugal became the only EU-member state to decriminalize drugs, a distinction which continues through to the present. Last year, working with the Cato Institute, I went to that country in order to research the effects of the decriminalization law (which applies to all substances, including cocaine and heroin) and to interview both Portuguese and EU drug policy officials and analysts (the central EU drug policy monitoring agency is, by coincidence, based in Lisbon). Evaluating the policy strictly from an empirical perspective, decriminalization has been an unquestionable success, leading to improvements in virtually every relevant category and enabling Portugal to manage drug-related problems (and drug usage rates) far better than most Western nations that continue to treat adult drug consumption as a criminal offense. ...

Why do you insist on the conflation of ideology and political parties? Haven't we discussed this before?

Quote:

Original post by capn_midnight Quote: Original post by LessBread Legalize for reasons of Liberty? Please! Give me a damn break. If Liberty was as important as so many people claim, then politicians like Ron Paul would never stoop to joining the Republican party, a move which inevitably forces them to compromise on Liberty. Liberty! Hmph! Liberty for the powerful to coerce the weak without government interference (i.e. labor). Liberty for the powerful to compel the government to interfere with the lives of the weak (i.e. abortion). Liberty for the powerful to control the bodies of the weak. Liberty for Slavery! So then, I take it you think liberty is a bad idea? You twist yourself into knots, trying to pigeon-hole everyone into Basket A or Basket B, Basket "Agrees With Me" and Basket "A Bunch Of Fascists (wait, we don't like that word any more) Neo-Cons". You don't care about freedom and justice, you just care about labeling people and making them feel inferior to you and your grand example of "social consciousness". Oh, you've caught me out in my lie. I want to grind the babies of single, black mothers into dust to make my bread. I want to steal little old ladies' medicine and boil it down into opiates with which I can control my workers. I want to subjugate all the brown peoples of the world to be my slaves in my ever growing oil empire that my daddy willed to me. Hellspawn! Brimstone! I am the Dark Lord Lucifer, Satan of this realm! Hear my name and tremble in fear. You are a caricature.

Hah! Funny. You've just caricatured yourself. Even funnier! I put people into baskets? Yeah, right. Since when have I put you into a basket with a label? And what are you trying to do to me here but put me into a basket with a label? It's hypocrisy as empty as your calls to Liberty! I don't think Liberty is a bad idea, I just think that most people who push it as the only idea are fools being led around by the nose. So too with Freedom and Justice. Those words are jokes used by politicians to deprive people of freedom and justice. You talk up liberty and freedom and justice, but when was the last time you called your representative in Congress demanding the criminal prosecution of Bush administration officials? They plotted the torture of prisoners from the White House. How do you feel about that? They suspended habeas corpus and illegally detained a U.S. citizen for years without trial. How do you feel about that? They spied on everyone in the country. How do you feel about that? And how can you talk up Liberty without demanding accountability of those who violated their oaths of office by shredding the Constitution rather than defending it?

Quote:

Original post by Dreddnafious Maelstrom Why do you insist on the conflation of ideology and political parties? Haven't we discussed this before?

Why do you insist on living in a fantasy world and ignoring the obvious? If Ron Paul was true to his ideology, he would leave the Republican Party. It's as simple as that. Instead, he remains signed up with his favorite team in order to keep playing the power game.

At any rate, I knew you guys would freak out if your holy words were not taken with the devotion you assign them. If that's what it takes for you guys to wake up, then so be it.