"Go home, and get stoned"
Why is one of my pet political topics something that doesn't affect me in the slightest?
As I learned from the "Skinny" segment on the Rod Ryan show and verified in an article that Jeff linked to in a recent blog entry, Denver has made it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. As a law, this means pretty much diddly squat, since state and federal laws win out in this case. However, I see a silver lining, which is that people (at least 54% in Denver) are beginning to realize certain facts:
I could go on, but you get the hint. Kudos to Denver. Maybe next an entire state will get some balls and throw this on a ballot. I can see the tagline right now: "The United States has by far the largest prison population in the world. Want to fix that?"
Out of curiosity, anybody outside of Texas get the song reference in the title of this post. It's been a guilty pleasure for me these past few months. However, talking about gateway drugs has led me to a different song lyric of the day...
"Turning to drugs to help you sleep
Will only lead to sleep
And sleeping is a gateway drug
To being awake again"
- They Might Be Giants, Wearing a Raincoat
As I learned from the "Skinny" segment on the Rod Ryan show and verified in an article that Jeff linked to in a recent blog entry, Denver has made it legal for adults 21 and over to possess up to an ounce of marijuana. As a law, this means pretty much diddly squat, since state and federal laws win out in this case. However, I see a silver lining, which is that people (at least 54% in Denver) are beginning to realize certain facts:
- marijuana is generally less harmful to health than either alcohol or cigarettes
- marijuana is not, I repeat, NOT a gateway drug. I would need to borrow several hands to count the number of people I know who have used marijuana and not tried harder drugs, whereas to count the number of people I know who moved to harder drugs I can leave my shoes on.
- jailing people for marijuana use and possession is exposing them to other dangerous criminals (thieves, murderers, rapists) incarcerated in the same facilities, and is likely to lead those people down unwieldy paths.
- people are more inclined to do something when they are forbidden to do it. Jeff often called this the "Bernard effect", referring to a Trivial Pursuit question that revealed playing cards were not popularized in Europe until St. Bernard began widely decrying them as a form of gambling.
I could go on, but you get the hint. Kudos to Denver. Maybe next an entire state will get some balls and throw this on a ballot. I can see the tagline right now: "The United States has by far the largest prison population in the world. Want to fix that?"
Out of curiosity, anybody outside of Texas get the song reference in the title of this post. It's been a guilty pleasure for me these past few months. However, talking about gateway drugs has led me to a different song lyric of the day...
"Turning to drugs to help you sleep
Will only lead to sleep
And sleeping is a gateway drug
To being awake again"
- They Might Be Giants, Wearing a Raincoat
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