cannabisnews.com: Are Nevadans Ready To Roll Dice on Legal Marijuana
Are Nevadans Ready To Roll Dice on Legal Marijuana
Posted by CN Staff on August 15, 2002 at 22:11:53 PT
By Ivy Main
Source: Prince George's Journal
If proponents of a popular ballot initiative in Nevada have their way, theirs will be the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Under their proposal, the state would regulate the production and sale of marijuana to adults, and collect taxes on it in the bargain. It makes sense that this would happen in Nevada. This is a state that already makes recreation out of activities other people consider vices: gambling, prostitution and assaulting normal standards of good taste, to name a few.
So maybe they figure if they're going to hell anyway, they might as well go stoned. Or maybe the whole thing is a ploy to get more tourists. Maybe they've already got a new ad campaign in the works, using the slogan ``Las Vegas, the Amsterdam of the West." All they lack are tulips. On the other hand, Nevadans have no monopoly on vice, or their tourist industry wouldn't be so successful already. Lately, Las Vegas has been trying to encourage people to think of it as a ``family" destination, but let's face it, about as many people go to Vegas for the shows as read Playboy for the articles. So possibly Nevadans simply figure they should deal with marijuana the way they do other vices: If you can't beat it, regulate it. And if you're doing that anyway, then this being America you might as well make a profit from it. Most states and the federal government are still trying to beat it, but the national consensus on marijuana does seem to be changing. Nine states (including Nevada) have passed legislation to allow patients with a doctor's prescription to use marijuana for pain relief. These laws are in defiance of federal law, but a bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives with bipartisan support would allow states to legalize medical marijuana. These changes have widespread support, even among people who have no interest in using marijuana. If it's medically superior to the alternatives for certain conditions, we figure, then what's the big deal? Save the worrying for addictive tranquilizers, not a cancer patient's painkiller. Of course, Nevada's law would go much farther, though its conflict with federal law means it couldn't take effect even if passed. Even supporters don't expect Nevada to start contracting with marijuana growers next spring. What they want is to make Americans rethink our drug policy. Certainly some impatience with the current approach is in order. We've spent about as much on the war on drugs as we did on the Cold War, but there's no Soviet Union to pack it in and declare us the winner at the end. The best we can hope for is to keep spending billions more every year just to hold the line. If this were a military strategy, we'd fire the general. The fact that Nevada's legalization effort focuses on marijuana also reflects the maturing of the baby boomers, who were the first Americans to use cannabis on a large scale. So many potheads of the '60s and '70s grew up to be normal, middle-class adults that it's hard for this generation to accept the demonization of the drug that's been the establishment party line for almost 40 years. And now that we boomers have suddenly discovered we ARE the establishment, that line's become just a little embarrassing as well. But whether legalizing marijuana would really result in a net societal benefit is the megabillion-dollar question. Proponents say it would conserve law enforcement resources and let the police and courts focus on more serious crimes. Critics fear marijuana use would increase. And the effect on children - who are always at the center of any drug debate - is wholly unknown. The Nevada initiative would ban sales to people under age 21, but it's fair enough to worry that legalizing sales to adults will lead to an increase in consumption by kids. (Though it could hardly make marijuana easier to obtain; the class druggie is already closer than the corner drugstore.) The closeness of the polls in Nevada (currently 44 percent are in favor and 46 percent opposed) shows voters there understand that legalizing marijuana would be a major gamble. But what makes gambling such a popular vice is that every once in a while, somebody wins big. And watching this gamble unfold would offer more than entertainment value for the rest of us. If Nevadans have found a way to beat the house, it would be worth a trip to Vegas to see how it's done. Main is a regular columnist for Virginia editions of The Journal. Complete Title: Are Nevadans Ready To Roll Dice on Legal Marijuana?Source: Prince George's Journal (MD)Author: Ivy Main Published: August 15, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Journal NewspapersContact: pgedit jrnl.comWebsite: http://cold.jrnl.com/cfdocs/new/pg/Related Articles & Web Sites:NRLEhttp://www.nrle.org/Marijuana Policy Projecthttp://www.mpp.org/Pot Proponents Have Good Points http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13757.shtmlMedical Marijuana: An Issue of States' Rights http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13756.shtmlNevada Blazes Trail for Legal Marijuana http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13689.shtml
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Comment #13 posted by The GCW on August 16, 2002 at 23:23:09 PT
Cops against the drug war...
http://drcnet.org/cops/
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Comment #12 posted by FoM on August 16, 2002 at 12:48:27 PT
Toker00
Thank You!
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Comment #11 posted by canaman on August 16, 2002 at 11:23:59 PT
I should read these links better
I guess a few people didn't like the book......Here is a link does.Confessions of a Medical Heretic
http://www.vegfamily.com/book-reviews/confessions-medical-heretic.htm
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Comment #10 posted by canaman on August 16, 2002 at 10:56:17 PT
In defence of doctors
Without going into details I nearly died taking my prescribed 'medicine'years back. Boy, was that enlightening to go to the hospital with a minor ailment and have the 'cure' nearly do me in. Needless to say I started to take more personal responsibilty for my health. A friend gave me the book Confessions of a Medical Heretic(Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.). Reading it changed the way I thought about the Medical Profession.I guess it may be a little simplistic but I sort of look at doctors like I look at police. You got your good ones and you got you bad ones with most somewhere in between. I think most go into their profession wanting to help folks. It's the bureaucracy of medicine and law enforcement that strives to keep the status quo. It stifles new ideas and marginlizes those that might speak out.But things do change, I remember when vitimins where thought of as quackery by most doctors. And MJ was the evil, dangerous, killer weed that police where saving us from. Confessions of a Medical Heretic
http://www.hcrc.org/special/bookrevs/confessi.html
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Comment #9 posted by Toker00 on August 16, 2002 at 10:46:44 PT
Dr. Russo...
...I apologize. You're absolutely right.I'm sorry, FoM.Peace. Realize, then Legalize.
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Comment #8 posted by goneposthole on August 16, 2002 at 09:26:10 PT
Adolf Hitler
Really, to know something about Hitler was the last worry. However, I wanted to know more without reading voluminous archives about what and who he was.Look up the word 'demagogue' in the dictionary, and you will find a picture of Hitler.Just kidding.Anyway, I found this vignette on Adolf Hitler. Just to get a bigger picture.You will have an idea just how stoopid dubya, dubya two was.Persecute cannabis users, and use persecution to quell any reform.Vote for legalization, Nevada. Stop the persecution.
http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler
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Comment #7 posted by VitaminT on August 16, 2002 at 08:02:29 PT
Sure There is Ivy!
Certainly some impatience with the current approach is in order. We've spent about as much on the war on drugs as we did on the Cold War, but there's no Soviet Union to pack it in and declare us the winner at the end.Well maybe no Soviet Union but we've got a Czar and a repressive para-military aparatus complete with a gulag full of politically 'undesirable' people.
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Comment #6 posted by Ethan Russo MD on August 16, 2002 at 07:10:50 PT:
Sam: A Plea to You and Others
Sam, I am not singling you out, but people here need to be very careful of what they say. Some doctors distrust the powers that be every bit as much as you.In the last week at CannabisNews.com, we have seen people hurt very badly, even if inadvertently. We have also seen a deterioration into needless personal attacks and irrelevancies.At the risk of arousing ire, I would urge everyone to approach this site in the wonderful spirit that FoM has created. Please read her posting instructions and follow them. Save your venom for those that would persecute us. Confine directed personal attacks for letters or E-mail if your are so inclined. Keep it clean. You can be compelling with mordant wit without resort to gutter talk. Remember what the issues really are. Honor our hostess and make her proud. That is all I suggest.
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Comment #5 posted by Sam Adams on August 16, 2002 at 06:49:04 PT
major gamble my ass
More media writing from the "land of the make-believe". Ivy would have us believe that no one in Las Vegas smokes herb right now at all. Believe me, even if they sold it on street corners, usage would only go up 5% from what it is now.Last time I was there, we brought our own and did massive wake-n-bake every morning before heading out for the day.You're absolutely right as usual, Lehder. It's only recreational use when you get the herb on your own and use when and how YOU want to. It's "medication" when the corporate/government elite have their controlling representative, DOCTORS, dole it out. The men in the white coats are like the mental slave masters of our Brave New World.
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Comment #4 posted by Lehder on August 16, 2002 at 06:41:14 PT
sixty days of freedom
We who grew up since the youth and social justice movements of
the 1960s used to ask ourselves: How could the intelligentsia in
Germany have been so acquiescent in the 1930s? Could Germans
really not have known that mass extermination of Jews was under
way? Why didn't the Jews fight back? Why did they let themselves
be annihilated? Why was there nobody able to pinpoint the precise
nature of what was happening, until after it was over? How could
these things have happened, and could they ever happen again?
http://www.counterpunch.org/shivani0813.htmlThe experience with Lindh has apparently convinced the Bush
administration that it must not allow detainees access to defense attorneys
at all. As a “senior official” told the Wall Street Journal, “There is a
different legal regime that we’re developing.” This “different legal regime”
consists of using the military to lock people up indefinitely—without
charges, court appearances or lawyers. It is widely believed that Ashcroft wants to use two prisoners, Yaser
Hamdi and Jose Padilla, to establish the precedent for indefinite,
incommunicado detentions of US citizens.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/aug2002/bush-a16.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by Lehder on August 16, 2002 at 05:27:16 PT
marijuana
It makes sense that this would happen in Nevada. This is a state that
already makes recreation out of activities other people consider vices: gambling,
prostitution and assaulting normal standards of good taste, to name a few. Smoking marijuana is hardly a vice. Many of the world's most ambitious and productive people enjoy the healthful and life-enhancing benefits of smoked marijuana. It's no secret, and here's a collection of intelligently written reports that describe how responsible people benefit by using this healthful herb and how society has benefited by their use:http://www.marijuana-uses.com/examples/The term "recreational use" is one that I just don't buy. Most smokers use marijuana effectively as enhancements to their health, their lives, relationships, work and productivity. When marijuana is used irresponsibly, usually by the very young and inexperienced, the very worst that can happen is that the smokers collapse in a pile of silliness and giggles. Compare that to the irresponsible use of alcohol. When marijuana has been relegalized and regulated so that it becomes unaavailable to children, "recreational use" will all but disappear.Those who are lucky enough to have access to marijuana should count their blessings. Those who would condemn others for being harmlessly different from themselves should step outside some evening and take a good look at our galaxy and see just how small they truly are and how little they really know.
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Comment #2 posted by AlvinCool on August 16, 2002 at 04:32:45 PT
Last Resort
I'm sure the FBI will pull out all the stops just before the election and drop their bombshell. They will show that J. Edgar Hoover smoked marijuana once, ONLY ONCE of course, and have pictures of him with breasts. Of course he will be in a cute little dress with 4 inch spikes too.
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Comment #1 posted by p4me on August 16, 2002 at 01:10:00 PT
My guess is...
the federal government will not send any radioactive material to Nevada before the election. It is strange that we don't hear more about the Alaska Iniative and isn't Oregon doing something? Well tomorrow we get to see pictures of the Seattle Hempfest and maybe next week we get to see the new Gallup Poll numbers on the legalisation issue? Maybe next week the FBI will put up the Uniform Crime Report at fbi.org. Surely they will put something up before the year runs out. Maybe they are waiting on the elections. You sure don't hear the press talking about the FBI failing to inform the public of the 2001 UCR.1,2
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