CNN: 55% favor marijuana legalization

[Eraserhead]

It won't be legalized until we have another white male in the White House, sadly.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

On balance, federalism has probably done far more harm than good for the country.

Even though state legislatures have a tendency to pass really questionable laws at times, can we dispute that they are far more efficient and less corrupt than the federal government overall?

Yes we can.  The Federal government has more money scandals because it has more money.

[Link]

It won't be legalized until we have another white male in the White House, sadly.

Only Nixon could go to China.  I really don't think our first black president wants to have drug legalization as a high profile part of his legacy.

Interestingly when Colorado opened for business with legal pot the demographic makeup of the drug seeking crowds I saw on TV were did not match up to the right wing propaganda.  Maybe that study regarding drug usage and arrests in DC really is true.

[AkSaber]

When your nation has been "fighting" a war for 40+ years you'd expect to see some results.

Since we have absolutely nothing positive to show for our efforts, it's time to admit this experiment was wrong. To keep escalating it makes no sense.

[© tweed]

Is there any other issue where there's such a dramatic disconnect between politicians and regular people? A majority of the country supports legalizing marijuana; I doubt more than ten or twenty Congresspeople do.

Universal background checks
Raising taxes on millionaires/billionaires
Increasing minimum wage
Not cutting Medicare/Social Security

Precisely - anything that Capital wants, it gets - it doesn't matter one bit what the majority wants.  So, if marijuana were to remain illegal, one would have to ask - why do the people that matter want it to be illegal.  (as a matter of fact I doubt Capital cares very deeply about this particular bit of the oppression).

there are powerful interest groups that depend upon continued drug criminalization for survival.  some of these are not directly reducible to 'capital' (correctional officers' unions, for instance).  it also provides a cover for counterinsurgency operations in South America.  these are the main sources of resistance.

a better example of big money indifference is the gay marriage issue.  another is the abortion issue.  the idea being to draw major emotional responses out of people and get them to organize and vote along lines that have nothing to do with their own economic self-interest.

[Badger]

Is there any other issue where there's such a dramatic disconnect between politicians and regular people? A majority of the country supports legalizing marijuana; I doubt more than ten or twenty Congresspeople do.

Universal background checks
Raising taxes on millionaires/billionaires
Increasing minimum wage
Not cutting Medicare/Social Security

Precisely - anything that Capital wants, it gets - it doesn't matter one bit what the majority wants.  So, if marijuana were to remain illegal, one would have to ask - why do the people that matter want it to be illegal.  (as a matter of fact I doubt Capital cares very deeply about this particular bit of the oppression).

there are powerful interest groups that depend upon continued drug criminalization for survival.  some of these are not directly reducible to 'capital' (correctional officers' unions, for instance).  it also provides a cover for counterinsurgency operations in South America.  these are the main sources of resistance.

a better example of big money indifference is the gay marriage issue.  another is the abortion issue.  the idea being to draw major emotional responses out of people and get them to organize and vote along lines that have nothing to do with their own economic self-interest.

Oh. My. God. The number of inmates for mj offenses, and even accepting your standard internet conspiracy about CIA trafficking, the overwhelming share of drug trafficking proceeds isn't from mj.


Reliance on canards is dense.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Is there any other issue where there's such a dramatic disconnect between politicians and regular people? A majority of the country supports legalizing marijuana; I doubt more than ten or twenty Congresspeople do.

Universal background checks
Raising taxes on millionaires/billionaires
Increasing minimum wage
Not cutting Medicare/Social Security

Precisely - anything that Capital wants, it gets - it doesn't matter one bit what the majority wants.  So, if marijuana were to remain illegal, one would have to ask - why do the people that matter want it to be illegal.  (as a matter of fact I doubt Capital cares very deeply about this particular bit of the oppression).

there are powerful interest groups that depend upon continued drug criminalization for survival.  some of these are not directly reducible to 'capital' (correctional officers' unions, for instance).  it also provides a cover for counterinsurgency operations in South America.  these are the main sources of resistance.

a better example of big money indifference is the gay marriage issue.  another is the abortion issue.  the idea being to draw major emotional responses out of people and get them to organize and vote along lines that have nothing to do with their own economic self-interest.

Oh. My. God. The number of inmates for mj offenses, and even accepting your standard internet conspiracy about CIA trafficking, the overwhelming share of drug trafficking proceeds isn't from mj.


Reliance on canards is dense.

He's picking the wrong examples and kind of ridiculously paranoid, but it is noteworthy how all police and sheriff organizations always come out against legalization efforts, even though tons of individual cops see enforcing such laws as pointless and a waste of time and resources.

[TJ in Oregon]

Not surprising. After all it's a Brave New World.

[Ebowed]

Well, at this stage, anyone who supports prohibition is simply ignoring the facts.  I mean, I tried to get mentally ill (or whatever it is that is supposed to happen) from smoking marijuana, but all I ended up doing was getting addicted to alcohol.  Dealers are awful, and liquor shops are usually open.

[minionofmidas]

It won't be legalized until we have another white male in the White House, sadly.

But that will be never!

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Good developments.

I'm betting the real % number is even higher than the poll suggests.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

Well, I suppose the ol' American libertarian streak can come in handy when we start discussing these social matters.  The recent developments with gay marriage and marijuana tend to reenforce my belief in the "promise" of America, so to speak. 

[© tweed]

Oh. My. God. The number of inmates for mj offenses, and even accepting your standard internet conspiracy about CIA trafficking, the overwhelming share of drug trafficking proceeds isn't from mj.


Reliance on canards is dense.

the criminal justice system is not simply reducible to incarceration.  the cop making the arrest, the probation officer, judges, lawyers, drug treatment centers all are complicit in the game.  more than 663k arrests were made in the US for marijuana possession.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/marijuana-possession-arrests_n_2490340.html

now hopefully and probably, many of these people will not see jail time, but that does not mean they aren't being involved in the criminal justice system.  Joe Schmo busted for an eighth of pot may well have to hire a lawyer, go through several court dates, and accept a plea bargain that forces him to 'treat his addiction' for several weeks, submit to drug tests, etc.  and he's a lucky one.

another potential problem with marijuana legalization from the POV of the criminal-industrial complex is the problem of a good example: when society doesn't collapse in areas that legalize weed, the question could then be raised: why not take the same approach with cocaine, with ecstasy, with heroin?  sure, it seems like a long way away, but this is how such things get started.


as for the CIA bit, I wasn't talking about the CIA allegedly smuggling drugs into the ghettos, but rather how the drug war serves as a cover-narrative for counter-insurgency operations in places like Columbia, and against groups like FARC, allowing the US to prop up right-wing governments and sell weapons to right-wing death squads in order to stave off peasant and proletarian activism.  now that we can't call them 'Communists' and be done with it, we need another reason, and the drug war provides us with that reason.

[Marokai Backbeat]

Is there any other issue where there's such a dramatic disconnect between politicians and regular people? A majority of the country supports legalizing marijuana; I doubt more than ten or twenty Congresspeople do.

Universal background checks
Raising taxes on millionaires/billionaires
Increasing minimum wage
Not cutting Medicare/Social Security

You guys really missed Lief's point pretty hard. He wasn't saying "what other issue is there popular support on but gets nowhere?" he was saying "what other issue does there exist this much support in contrast to so little supporters in congress?" which is correct, I can't think of one.

There exists a lot of support in congress for increasing the minimum wage, for background checks, for raising taxes, even gay marriage (does have majority support in the Senate), etc, just not enough to get them passed. In contrast, there's basically, what, less than a dozen people in congress who would support legalizing pot? There's majority support for that at this point in the public, but basically nothing in congress. That is unlike any other issue I can think of.

[Gass3268]

Good developments.

What states does everything think will come next? Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont all seem possible.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

What states does everything think will come next? Alaska, Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire and Vermont all seem possible.

Schwarzafornia

[So rightwing that I broke the Political Compass!]

I would like to point out that 55% of the public doesn't mean 55% of the voting public.

[IceSpear]

Is there any other issue where there's such a dramatic disconnect between politicians and regular people? A majority of the country supports legalizing marijuana; I doubt more than ten or twenty Congresspeople do.

Universal background checks
Raising taxes on millionaires/billionaires
Increasing minimum wage
Not cutting Medicare/Social Security

You guys really missed Lief's point pretty hard. He wasn't saying "what other issue is there popular support on but gets nowhere?" he was saying "what other issue does there exist this much support in contrast to so little supporters in congress?" which is correct, I can't think of one.

There exists a lot of support in congress for increasing the minimum wage, for background checks, for raising taxes, even gay marriage (does have majority support in the Senate), etc, just not enough to get them passed. In contrast, there's basically, what, less than a dozen people in congress who would support legalizing pot? There's majority support for that at this point in the public, but basically nothing in congress. That is unlike any other issue I can think of.

Not cutting Medicare/SS still qualifies though. Very few pols will rule it out. Even the few that do rule it out would probably cave after pressure from leadership.