Local News | Bill introduced to legalize, regulate, tax marijuana | Seattle Times Newspaper

[polaris93]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014036828_marijuana26m.html

As a 64-year-old woman with a grandchild, state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle, says she's not the type of person you would normally associate with marijuana

Comments

[jasolater]

Wow. Common sense, amazing.

I've always believed that alcohol is much more dangerous than pot.

“They lie about marijuana. Tell you pot-smoking makes you unmotivated. Lie! When you're high, you can do everything you normally do, just as well. You just realize that it's not worth the fucking effort."-Bill Hicks

[polaris93]

And there's the fact that the reason marijuana was criminalized is that it was so great for making newspaper, and William Randolph Hearst wanted it made unavailable for that purpose because otherwise it was just too much of a competitor for his woodpulp process for making paper.

Also, with Prohibition overturned, there had to be a way for those who had been the enforcers for government sanctions against the production, distribution, sale, and consumption of alcohol to keep their jobs. So . . .

[jasolater]

Two more stupid reason I wasn't even aware of. I also read somewhere that it was made illegal in order to keep out Mexicans, some History Channel show I saw a long time ago.

[polaris93]

I'd take anything the History Channel says with a carload of salt. They've gone downhill a long way since they began.

I've heard something similar in connection with black Americans, that banning pot was a way of keeping them poor and therefore not in a position to change the system

Hemp -- marijuana -- was once used for all sorts of things: paper, oil for industry, cloth, canvas. Originally taxes in this country were paid in hemp -- which the government preferred. Hemp was a valuable commodity, and it was a matter of patriotic pride to grow it. How far we've come from those days -- and not in a good direction.

[absynthe77]

I really hope they can get this passed, it's far past time to admit that the outlawing of pot is a ridiculous drain on law enforcement resources and society as a whole.

[polaris93]

Yep.

[dexeron]

The problem is that this question seems to have been settled with Gonzalez v. Raich: the Federal Government won't allow the states to have a "market" for marijuana because an "interstate" market already exists, so they claim that the Federal Anti Drug laws take precedence through Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution.

It's absurd, of course, because the only "interstate" market that exists is an illegal one, but the court sided with the Feds last time. I'd love to see this placed in the hands of the states: Sandra Day O'Connor wrote a wonderful dissent back then that I feel was the correct course.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses, should this pass.

[polaris93]

If it comes down to civil war, something like this could precipitate it.