Beer for College Students vs. Pot for Patients

Jacob Sullum | October 5, 2004

Ari Armstrong notes that Pete Coors, beermeister turned Republican senatorial candidate, believes in federalism when it comes to alcohol but not when it comes to marijuana. Go figure.

Comments

|10.5.04 @ 11:09AM|#

Well, 1/2 is better than 0/2, I guess. Right?

|10.5.04 @ 11:13AM|#

1/2 of a circuit is about as worthless as 0/2 if you're trying to establish current flow.

|10.5.04 @ 11:16AM|#

1/2 of a circuit is about as worthless as 0/2 if you're trying to establish current flow.

|10.5.04 @ 11:19AM|#

D-oh! I'd settle for 1/2 of my last post though.

|10.5.04 @ 11:24AM|#

Well of course. He might lose sales if pot's as available as his swill.

|10.5.04 @ 12:03PM|#

JC got it right. Has anyone heard the figures for how much money alcohol companies contribute to keep marijuana illegal?!?! It isn't just Coors. They all know they would lose sales if pot became legal.

|10.5.04 @ 12:21PM|#

I don't think it's anywhere near as simplistic as "Coors is against legalization because beer sales will go down". First of all, most of my ex-pothead friends consumed vast quantities of beer and pot, so that dog doesn't necessarily hunt.

We all hang out in an insular community where legalization makes perfect rational sense. NEWSFLASH: Nobody but us lives there. The other 289 million people in the US genuinely believe that drugs are bad and beer isn't (although I know some people that think Pete Coors and the Boys at Busch should be strung up from the nearest yardarm same as the local crack pusher).

No matter how wrong their arguments are we aren't going anywhere with this until we can convince a significant number of people to agree with us. And that just ain't going to happen. Ever.

|10.5.04 @ 12:26PM|#

I would think the pharmeceutical companies spend more than liquor companies, as they have higher initial costs for their products.

The big question is: how much does Frito-Lay spend on legalization efforts?

Xrlq|10.5.04 @ 12:45PM|#

There is a difference, Jacob. A flat out ban on marijuana is arguably justified under the commerce clause, as legal marijuana in State A will severely undermine the ability of State B to keep the stuff out. The same argument could be made for exhuming National Prohibition, relying on a modern interpretation of the commerce clause rather than on a new 18th Amendment. However, it's a very strained argument to say that Nebraska's ability to enforce its 21-year drinking age would be severely hampered by Colorado lowering the age to 18, except maybe as to the three or four people who live on the state line.

fyodor|10.5.04 @ 12:46PM|#

I agree with TWC' first two points. I've said it before and I'll say it again: it's silly to focus on the perceived evil or hypocrisy of politicians who are just keeping the customer satisfied. Yeah, sure politicians are exploiting what their consituents want and maybe they have nefarious agendas of their own, but until we get some movement from the populace in general, few if any politicians with any chance of winning are gonna stick their neck out for a distinctly minority POV.

That said, I think he's overstating the case to say (or to claim to be able to say) that it ain't gonna happen ever. Who knows, attitudes and popular memes change. True I ain't holding my breath, but neither do I think it's worthless to say what I think is right and hope it catches on.

|10.5.04 @ 1:21PM|#

"We all hang out in an insular community where legalization makes perfect rational sense. NEWSFLASH: Nobody but us lives there. The other 289 million people in the US genuinely believe that drugs are bad and beer isn't"

That's just not true, at least when the drug in question is marijuana. Check out the following poll from 2002:

http://www.norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=5550

Over 1/3 of those surveyed favor legalization, over 3/4 favor at least decriminalization, and 4/5 favor legalized medical marijuana. And where comparison data is given, the 2002 results are considerably more favorable to decriminalization/legalization than 1980's results.
All of the other polls I've seen, including more recent polls, show more or less the same result. And there's a steady, if not overwhelming, stream of ballot initiatives to decriminalize or legalize MJ that generally do fairly well, especially on medical MJ. I think there's a trend toward more tolerance and I don't see evidence of a reversal. It may not be happening as quickly as we'd like, but it's happening.

|10.5.04 @ 1:45PM|#

it is changing, or at least appears to be. however, i can't say i have all that clear a view, as i live in a city where everyone seems to get high at least once in a while.

but obviously the beer market would suffer somewhat if people had alternative mindblender choices. coors has a business interest in keeping it illegal, in addition to whatever philosophical reasons they may have.

|10.5.04 @ 2:37PM|#

Is Pete Coors really concerned about competition in the recreational chemicals market, or is he just a right-wing asshole? There's evidence to support both positions.

Warren|10.5.04 @ 3:29PM|#

Ditto Orrin Hatch and "Dietary Supplements"

|10.5.04 @ 3:57PM|#

I'll confess to the threadbare notion that MJ is a gateway drug long before I accept the idea that a hawker of liver-rotting swill has the best interests of America at heart.

|10.5.04 @ 4:20PM|#

Pete Coors does have something to fear. All through highschool, I drank silver bullets like it was water. Once I started smoking pot in college, I spit that shit out and reached for a Sierra Nevada pale ale! Now I mock the domestic beer consumer, or more commonly known as a republican! ;-)

|10.5.04 @ 4:23PM|#

"I drank silver bullets like it was water."

You mean it's not?

|10.5.04 @ 5:42PM|#

Hel-LO! He running for the REPUBLICAN ticket. Even if he believed in legalization, if he were to start calling for it he'd lose all those lovely campaign money from the drug-warriors and JEEZ-us freaks.

Follow the money.

|10.5.04 @ 5:50PM|#

edit: ...all that lovely...

|10.6.04 @ 5:55PM|#

Coors makes all these:

http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/review/306/

A couple of them sorta like beer.

Kevin