On Marijuana Legalization, Chris Matthews Sounds Dumber Than Donald Trump

"Does anybody trust anybody that's high to do anything?" the MSNBC host wonders.

MSNBC

During his "town hall" with MSNBC's Chris Matthews on Wednesday, Donald Trump said "I'm getting some very negative reports" about the consequences of marijuana legalization in Colorado. He did not get more specific than that, except to suggest that "there's a lasting negative impact" if "you do too much of it."

Trump said something similar at the Conservative Political Action Conference last year, claiming that legalization has led to "some big problems" in Colorado. But he also said states should be free to legalize marijuana: "If they vote for it, they vote for it." Trump reiterated his support for marijuana federalism while campaigning in Nevada last October. "In terms of marijuana and legalization," he said, "I think that should be a state issue, state by state."

The dumbest comments about marijuana legalization on Wednesday actually came not from Trump but from Matthews:

What are the problems you've heard about Colorado? Because a lot of people wonder about who do you want smoking dope. I mean, do you want your train conductor, the bus driver, the airplane pilot? No. What do you want? Maybe the guy who teaches philosophy might be OK.

I mean—I mean does anybody trust anybody that's high to do anything? I mean, I'm serious about this….

Recreational drugs. What's that mean?

Matthews mentioned stoned train conductors, bus drivers, and airplane pilots but somehow left out stoned brain surgeons, another favorite prohibitionist trope. Like most drug warriors, he seems to think that if the government stops putting people in jail for growing, selling, and using marijuana, everyone will be high all the time. That expectation was clearly absurd even before any jurisdiction legalized marijuana (is everyone drunk all the time because alcohol prohibition was repealed?), and it's demonstrably false now. So contrary to what Matthews says, he is not at all serious about this.

Maybe this is one of the "very negative reports" Trump had in mind.

[via Westword]

Comments

[Episiarch]

Recreational drugs. What's that mean?

How was that martini you had last night with dinner, shithead?

[Vapourwear]

GET 0UT OF MY BRAIN!

[Adans smith]

Yeah,just insert drunk in place of high in his tirade.

[UnCivilServant]

I've never had someone stoned out of their mind on pot try to rip my head off.

Drunk people have been known to do that.

Of course the loss of coordination makes it easy to dodge.

[Adans smith]

Same here,I've seen my share of mean drunks.Not with pot.I do almost all my drinking at home.It's cheaper and better company.

[Vapourwear]

Bars really do suck.

[Old Man With Candy]

I've never had someone stoned out of their mind on pot try to rip my head off.

Try getting stoned with Epi.

[UnCivilServant]

I'd rather not be anywhere near him.

[Hamster of Doom]

Not after what happened last time.

[SIV]

I've never had someone stoned out of their mind on pot try to rip my head off.

George Zimmerman begs to differ.

[UnCivilServant]

It seem to recall that whatever trace of THC was in Trayvon's blood was so low as to have zero impact on his cognitive abilities.

[Hamster of Doom]

Shhhh...

Strength of ten men, and the speed of a cheetah. Also, I can fly.

[HeteroPatriarch]

It's SIV. He's pretty much Tulpa with brain damage.

[Trigger Hippie]

No no, you see the sweet leaf stays in your system for weeks on end. Once there it can randomly attack your motor skills and cognitive reasoning ability without warning, causing death and destruction all around you. Thus, it's by far the most dangerous of all drugs and should be banned for infinity.

/somebody I know, I shit you not.

[UnCivilServant]

I've been the only sober person in a room full of people who were stoned.

They were completely harmless.

[Trigger Hippie]

I've been the only stoned guy in a room full of sober people hundreds of times.

No accidental injuries due to my actions as of yet.

[UnCivilServant]

...hundreds of times

Have you thought about cutting back, maybe just a little? Or are the people in your life so insufferable that you can only deal with them if you're stoned?

[Trigger Hippie]

This is over a 22 year span.

And yes.

[pan fried wylie]

He didn't say over what span of time, but I'm going to assume more than a few years.

Chill out, man.

[UnCivilServant]

I can't chill out, I'm the designated driver.

[Vapourwear]

Maybe he's a lawyer?

Then we can be glad it's just the weedz.

[Trigger Hippie]

Personal trainer/boxing coach. I spend a lot of time around health nazi drug warriors and meatheads. Youz guyz are by far the most intelligent people I interact with on a regular basis.

There's an old saying in boxing; you'll never improve your skill set unless you train and compete against people better than you. I apply the same principle to my online philosophical and political interactions. I love you brilliant bastards.

[Chumby]

Folks appreciate the sentiment. But you needed to pass the dutchie to the lefhand side before you started. Puff, puff, give.

[Episiarch]

Sounds dangerous. I'd better think about that when I get high tonight.

[John]

You might be high right now and just not know it. You could feel the urge to play jazz music and corrupt white women come over you at any moment.

[John]

You have to love the rank hypocrisy of this society. We dope our kids up on adderall so they don't bother us when we are trying out that new bourbon the neighbor brought over. Anyone who ever feels a bit down runs to the doctor and gets put on anti depression meds.

But God damn it we can't have people smoking weed!!

[Fist of Etiquette]

So contrary to what Matthews says, he is not at all serious about this.

Medical marijuana could probably help Matthews with his leg thrill problems.

[Vapourwear]

Or Depends...

[Slammer]

I don't trust people like Chris Matthews, high or not.

[Chumby]

On marijuana legalization everything Chris Matthews sounds dumber than Donald Trump.

[HeteroPatriarch]

Sadly, not everything.

[Vapourwear]

I wish Some experienced user in a legalish state would debate this stuff while under the influence, sound intelligent and cogent, and make "bee tee dubs, I'm high right now" his closing statement.

[Episiarch]

I would, but I'm too high right now to bother.

[Vapourwear]

+1 Afroman

[Jerryskids]

I'm sure Chris Matthews has no use for marijuana - it makes you more introspective and the one time he tried it, it made him seriously confront the awful truth that he's Chris Matthews. Better to have a couple of stiff drinks that blot out that sort of horror.

[Anarcho-Woodchipper]

I trust someone stoned over someone drunk, any day.

I know a guy who knows a guy that totally isn't me who noticed an improvement in attentiveness at work, and even an increase in quality of work. Obviously, different people will handle it differently. It's comparable to banning milk to because you're lactose intolerant. I can't help but think they despite that pearl clutching, people like Matthews actually have connections in the illegal trade and financially benefit from keeping it illegal. Kinda like that California senator that was hocking off guns to the cartel...

[UnCivilServant]

I was going to argue that Leland Yee was more famous for being anti-video game, but I looked up his history just to be sure. He was officially anti-video game and anti-gun during the time he was a gun runner.

[Hamster of Doom]

When you go out to a restaurant, if your cook is not drunk or high it's because it would ruin the cocaine.

Hyperbolic. I'll leave it to your imaginations on just how much so, though.

[BYODB]

Well, to the political class cocaine isn't a drug it's more akin to coffee. Now if it's crack, well you better put that person in jail forever because they are either darker than you or have a less refined nasal palate.

The same is basically true of pot. Sure, every politician did it when they were 'younger' but now that they're big boys it's cocaine or nothing. Also, kids today can't handle their shit like Obama could when he was younger, so clearly they need to go to jail in order to learn that it's dangerous to do drugs.

[Malcolm Kyle]

I've personally known three cooks in my life. Two were meth-heads the other was a rampaging alcoholic. Probably goes with the terrain.

[Rich]

I mean, do you want your train conductor, the bus driver, the airplane pilot? I mean?I mean does anybody trust anybody that's high watching the Chris Matthews Show to do anything?

FTFY

[UnCivilServant]

This is to the original idiot, not Rich:

A train conductor conducts passengers. It does not require fine motor skills. A train Engineer drives the train.

[Vapourwear]

Does that require fine motor skills?

Buttons a levers seem pretty gross to me.

[Vapourwear]

"&"

[UnCivilServant]

All I know about being a Train Engineer I learned from "Train Simulator" (it was free and I was bored - even while trying it). And getting it to stop at the right place was a pretty finicky thing...

[Mustang]

Because prior to legalization, no one smoked weed, ever, in their free time then conducted a train or flew a plane without incident. People were never, ever high and productive simultaneously. The magic of laws made sure of that.

[Rich]

Recreational drugs. What's that mean?

"If you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know."

[UnCivilServant]

Whenever someone pulls that lazy rhetorical device out ("If you have to ask I can'y tell you/you'll never know/etc") it just paints the speaker as obnoxious. there is such a thing as genuinely being ignorant of something and can be introduced to it.

[egould310]

it's not obnoxious. Its a pedagogical device. Sort of a "finger pointing at the moon" type deal.

[UnCivilServant]

Those are not mutually exclusive traits.

And if it's just a fancy way of saying "Fuck off, I don't want to spend any time teaching you" it doesn't really qualify as a pedagogical device.

[egould310]

You seem to have a sandy butthole this morning.

[UnCivilServant]

No, I just have no tolerence for pretentious twattle.

[egould310]

Not helping.

[Rich]

/Louis Armstrong

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Mathews is a collectivist. So of course he doesn't think that anyone (other than enlightened ones like himself, natch) is capable of making wise choices.

[sarcasmic]

That which is not prohibited is mandatory.

[WhatAboutBob]

So Trump says States have a right to legalize marijuana but Reason has to imply he said something dumb about marijuana legalization in the headline. It must be very hard for them to say anything about Trump that doesn't fit the narrative.

[Mustang]

It's not hard for them to say anything about Trump. They do it 15 times a day at least, even when it's not about Trump.

[Toast88]

Makes sense. I mean, since alcohol is legal, everyone in the professional world is drunk all the time.

What's that? It's actually fairly rare for someone to be drunk at work? Huh.

Well, I mean, since guns are legal, everyone's shooting everybody everywhere, right? I mean, we regularly see people shot over parking spots and who gets the last cantaloupe at the grocery store.

What's that? Random shootings are actually rare? Huh.

[John]

Millions of people get proscribed opioid pain medicines every year. And since opioid is nothing but a fancy medical name for heroin and heroin is the like the most evil addictive thing in the universe and everyone knows a single shot of heroin condemns you to a life of being a degenerate junky, most of America is hooked on heroin right?

Or maybe people use drugs irresponsibly because they are irresponsible people and the drugs have nothing to do with it? What a crazy idea.

[UnCivilServant]

Heroin is merely an opioid, not all. It was invented to replace morphene and... oh, you were being sarcastic.

[BearOdinson]

Absolutely. I have been known to indulge in some Vicodin even when not in pain. However, only when I have some left over from a legitimate medical Rx. If I happen to have some around, great. If not, no big deal. I never take anything before work, or driving or anything else. I never seek it out illegally.
I could understand if someone was on large doses constantly for a long time that some sort of dependency could occur.
But then I also love me my single malt Scotch. But I only have 1-2 drinks a week at most. So maybe I don't personally have an addictive personality.
While It seems to me that the more available the lighter stuff is (Vicodin vs heroin, pot vs other stuff), it is probably more likely the avg joe will occasionally indulge. But also far less likely to go for harder stuff.
But this country is so fucking batshit over "drugs".

[John]

The reality is that it sucks to be a drug addict and most people understand that. And no matter how fun being stoned is, most people grow up and get tired of it and find better things to do. You have to be a complete retard to actually believe that the police are the only thing keeping people from becoming degenerate drug addicts.

Tens of millions of people in this country have tried even the hardest drugs recreationally when they were young and for whatever reason decided it wasn't worth doing anymore. Drugs do not take away your free will or make you anything other than what you already are, good or bad.

[James Ard]

It's hard to know if Mathews cares one way or the other about pot when he's in the middle of a badgering operation designed to illicit a soundbite Hillary can use in the campaign.

[Mickey Rat]

Why would you think Chris Matthews would sound smarter than anybody about anything?

[Hamster of Doom]

Someone needs to update the straights. Dope doesn't mean marijuana in street language anymore, hasn't for a while. It's jarring.

[UnCivilServant]

If non-street people understand what a word means, that word is no longer street language and must be replaced.

[Hamster of Doom]

Or they're just that damned slow at picking up the dank linguistic memes.

Hey, what does a pothead say when they run out of weed?

God, this music sucks.

[UnCivilServant]

lol @ last two lines.

Also, I have trouble speaking my native language - Upthread I just used a form of a word that expired in 1782.

[Curt]

How do you hide money from a hippie?

Put it under the soap.

[BearOdinson]

So I guess 1 positive thing to take from this, is that both the leading Rs and at least 1 of the 2 Ds for POTUS are at least willing to allow power to devolve to the states IAW the 10A. It may not be a totally "libertarian" position, but it at least is more in line with the Constitution.
And saying he has heard negative things about legalization, but is still for states deciding, is overall a pretty fair position.

[Curt]

"So contrary to what Matthews says, he is not at all serious about this."

Saying something that is clearly stupid does not mean he isn't serious about it. It seems quite clear that he is completely serious... and completely stupid.

[Spartacus]

Jeopardy Final Round:

Answer:"there's a lasting negative impact" if "you do too much of it."

The Question is: "What happens if you listen to Donald Trump?"

Judges will also accept "Chris Matthews" in place of "Donald Trump."

[DWC]

Has anybody in public, political life, aside from Ron Paul, even brought up the whacky idea that the government has not business dictating what we may or may not ingest into our own bodies. Does anybody even bring up the insane notion of self ownership?

[John]

I have brought it up with drug warriors and the answer is "but drugs are different because they take away your free will". They actually believe that, even in the face of millions of examples of people trying drugs and not becoming addicts or even wanting to do them again.

There is no reasoning with them on the issue.

[Bill Dalasio]

I have brought it up with drug warriors and the answer is "but drugs are different because they take away your free will".

I've never quite been able to grasp the line of reasoning with that one. Even if you accept that premise, it's only possible that they can do so after you've decided to consume them.

[John]

It goes back to the assumption that sometimes people cannot be expected to act in their best interests such that the government has a duty to step in and make the decision for them. The argument is that even thought drugs take away your free will and are horrible, some people will inevitably not believe that and choose to take them thus enslaving themselves. Therefore, the government has a duty to ban the product and take away that temptation.

The argument is so ridiculous I can hardly type it with a straight face. It is however what they believe. It is possible that drugs are in fact that addictive and enslaving, though all of the evidence say otherwise in my view. Conservative drug warriors refuse to grasp the implications of that. If it is true for drugs, then it is likely true for other things. Once you buy into the idea that the government has a duty to step in and save people from their own decisions by taking away their ability to make them, then you really have no standing to object to the entire Progressive project of government. Yes drugs are harmful and take away your free will but have you seen the obesity problem this country has? Clearly food does the same thing. America is eating itself to death. We need to control their decision about eating just like we need to control their decisions about drugs.

[John]

Conservative drug warriors never understand that once you buy into the drug war, you can't then dismiss arguments like the one i just gave. They are left sputtering about how the evil weed is different when clearly it is not.

[Robert]

You need go no farther than the combination of beliefs that abortion is murder and that women who order one (or do one) for themselves should not be penalized for that, because penalizing them would just be crazy. Not that it would be unpragmatic to enforce penalties vs. them, but that it would somehow be immoral to have penalties for them?but immoral to not have penalties for those who carry out their order.

Hell, we see crazier all the time when kiddie porn statutes are enforced vs. selfies. But then at least there's very little support for such cases when they're publicized.

[Notorious UGCC]

""there's a lasting negative impact" if "you do too much of it.""

Perhaps that's true of MJ. It's *certainly* true of Prohibition.

[Notorious UGCC]

"Matthews mentioned stoned train conductors, bus drivers, and airplane pilots but somehow left out stoned brain surgeons, another favorite prohibitionist trope."

The dope turns those Negro brain surgeons into really eccentric Presidential candidates!

[Notorious UGCC]

"(is everyone drunk all the time because alcohol prohibition was repealed?)"

"I never realized Daddy drank until one day he came home sober."

[Oma'sFavorite]

Both of those a-holes in the same room. Somebody missed an opportunity to shoot them . . . some questions.

[HeteroPatriarch]

How many times did Chris Matthews say "I mean?"

[Mainer2]

Chris Matthews was on celebrity Jeopardy once. He was so bad, so dumb, so ignorant that I actually felt sorry for him. He's so dense, it wasn't clear he understood how badly he was being humiliated.

[Justin Hale]

The idea of any government, especially one in a so called "Free" Society declaring a plant "illegal" is absurd. The idea that any citizen in a "Free" country need ask permission from the government to use it is ridiculous. The idea of otherwise peaceful citizens being thrown in cages for enjoying it is obscene. Adults should be free to grow what they want to grow.