Everybody Must Get Medical Marijuana

As Daniel Weintraub points out, there was but a single point of consensus in last night's Arnold-free California gubernatorial debate:

The big winner in the debate: marijuana. All five candidates declared their support for making it available for medicinal purposes. It was the only thing on which they all agreed.

Comments

[Andy]

If you want to listen to the whole thing, including the Q&A session with Gray Davis, you can go to http://www.kqed.org/topics/news/recall/

There's a link on the right half of the screen where you can "listen" to the debate.

[Balasubramania's Mania]

Seems like water under the bridge, given the fed gov/Ashcroft's stance on the issue.

[Anonymous]

They were subsequently detained for questioning by the FBI. . .

It would be cool if some governor somewhere
*really* decided to take on this administration's fair weather federalism. I dunno if a democrat's heart would really be in it, and if a republican would put up much of a fight against a fellow republican.

[tony]

too bad none of them will win

[fyodor]

Perhaps this is an easy position to take for these candidates since, as BM points out, it's basically meaningless under the current circumstances.

What we need is for candidates for national office to take a stand!

[James]

Popularity for the med pot movement grows in California with each federal raid on a state approved pot provider/farm. The more the feds push, the more California pushes back. It would be bad for any candidate to go against this rising popularity at this time.

Maybe in the next election, Californians should consider what Nevada tried to due, decriminalize possession of 3 ounces or less. When Walters comes into California to do what he did in Nevada leading up to the election, the proposition would most likely pass.

One thing for sure, California could sure use the taxes generated by a legal pot market right now!

[Plutarck]

I like it if for no other reason than the following:

How is it that happyness isn't included in medicinal goals, nor that misery is not considered a condition treatable by any useful, ethical medical means?

Just by the by, I have a question. How is it that caffeine is a drug, and is regulated as such (as with NoDoz), but coffee and chocolate are not as such regulated, because they aren't drugs, and nicotine is a drug, and is regulated as such, but tabacco is not regulated as such...but marijuana is regulated as a drug, even though it is not more meaningfully a drug than coffee, chocolate, and tabacco is - it just contains drugs, particularly THC. After all, marijuana can be smoked and/or heated like tabacco, and it can be eaten or used as a seasoning/additive just like coffee and chocolate.

Have I found yet another fallacy/hole in the reasoning of the FDA, US 'drug' policy, and Drug Warrior arguments, or am I missing something?

[fyodor]

Plutarck,

Of COURSE you've found a fallacy in US drug policy, but I wouldn't be so proud!! 🙂

[joe]

Don't be so defeatist, fyodor and BM! A pro-medicinal mj candidate being election Governor of California is a lot more important than Rosa Parks sitting in the wrong seat on a bus.

[Mudflap]

James said:

"One thing for sure, California could sure use the taxes generated by a legal pot market right now!"

We coud use the pot right now!! Forget the money

[Anonymous]

Mudflap, as the old song goes, I think:

Grow, Grow, Grow your own,
gently in the stream (hydroponic meaning)
Merrily, Merrily, Merrily,
Light your pipe and dream.

[John]

Without strong laws against recreational drugs, we don't have a pretext to throw several million young men who suffer from Excessive Melanin into prison every yet.

[Plutarck]

fyodor:

LOL!

I guess it's like finding a needle in a haystack made entirely of needles, isn't it? 😀

[Citizen]

I was particularly pleased with McClintock. Here's a guy that opposes medical marijuana, but is honest enough to say "The people of California have spoke, the federal government has no right to interfere." He stuck to his commitment to states rights even when it gives a result he doesn't like. Nice work!

[Gene Berkman]

I was pleased when I read in the LA Times that all five candidates at the debate expressed support for Medical Marijuana. Schwarzenegger has also stated his support for Medical Marijuana.
Tom McClintock has not opposed medical marijuana in the past, he has just not spoken on it. According to California NORML, McClintock has voted right on marijuana issues about 75% of the time since Prop. 215 passed.

[J. Alexander Lowman]

Unfortunately, if it was only a matter of the gov't making tax money off of mj, it would already be a non-issue and it would be legal. The thing is, the gov't makes a lot more money keeping a lot of these drugs illegal.

[Blazed]

I would disagree that the gov't makes more money by keeping drugs illegal. Private individuals and companies make money off of the prison industrial complex. The gov't spends money on prisons and enforcement, but it doesn't get back the billions it spends.

[Andy]

J Alexander Lowman, I must not be thinking too clearly today, but how exactly does the gov't make money from keeping mj illegal? Gov't revenue comes from taxes... so what taxes are propped up by keeping drugs illegal? And keeping drugs illegal certainly costs lots of money....

I can see that keeping mj illegal gets gov't funding to certain groups, but I don't see it increasing revenue in general. Am I missing something big?

[B. Frank]

Assest seizures seem to get local precints new computers, cruisers, among other equipment. Then there is the usual elevated street values reported to the media by the busting agency to get federal kick backs.

Maybe the federal gov't isn't making millions, but the local municipalities are sure doing well with illegal drugs.

[thoreau]

Maybe it would be more accurate to say that the treasury (and hence the taxpayers) takes a hit on drug prohibition, but law enforcement is guaranteed lots of funding for this insane war. And they get some money off of asset seizures.

And let's not forget how drugs corrupt law enforcement. Quick story: A relative of mine has been known to launder drug money. One of his friends paid for college and law school by selling pot. His first job after law school: prosecutor in south Florida. I met this guy once, 15 years ago, and he was allegedly a federal agent (but I never saw a badge, so who knows?). Gee, I wonder how drugs get into this country...

[James Merritt]

A governor with a little backbone on the states rights issue could mobilize forces to sue the federal government. This would be a useful thing, and perhaps even a productive thing. The California State Constitution (I've read the appropriate passages) says that constitutional officers of states and counties are obligated to resist the feds, unless and until the ruling of a court of appropriate jurisdiction strikes down state law. Where is the resistance?

I loved seeing Cruz B. talk about how many big, bad plaintiffs he sued on behalf of the people of California. But Cruz B. is apparently not so big and bad as to take on George B. and John A. on med-MJ! He seems puffed up with hot air; I'd like to see a governor with something inside him (or her) other than feces, hot air, or turkey stuffing.

[Dabney Braggart]

• Glad to hear someone else making the Melanin Possession joke/point.
• I don't know how much money the government could make from legal marijuana, or pretty much any other drug. In the absence of the prohibition laws, they'd all be really cheap...still, those nickels could mount up.
• Accepting legal med-pot, and illegal otherwise, might be the perfect Drug Warrior's solution---it would make them look less like jerks, and it would allow the Right Sort of Person to get their dope and have their kids stay away from prison. Middle- and upper-class people would probably show the same facility at getting doctor's notes as they showed during the Vietnam War. Smart Drug Warriors will want this, since the less the Drug War messes with the more influential parts of society, the less of a chance of it being called off.

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