Legalization of Marijuana in Washington and Colorado good policy?

1. 64

   Ralph Deedsposted 11 years ago

   Do you think the legalization of marijuana in Colorado and Washington is good public policy?
   
   https://www.google.com/search?q=colorad … mp;bih=373

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   1. 74

      AMFredenburgposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I have very mixed feelings about the legalization of pot that essentially focus on two issues: public safety and the welfare of children. I'm not sure how exactly you protect people under the influence of marijuana from putting themselves and others in danger; one train wreck that killed a number of people in the Washington, D.C. area a few years ago was attributed to an engineer who tested positive for the components of marijuana. I've seen kids who grew up in a household with pothead parents, and the result wasn't pretty. In one notable instance, one kid I met got one present from his parents for Christmas when he was in seventh grade: a bag of pot.
      
      I do think we need to stop building prisons and start building rehab centers. It's ridiculous to send nonviolent pot users to jail, sometimes for years, when what they need is an intervention, possibly on many levels: medical, psychological, educational, and vocational.

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         wildernessposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         These are very valid concerns, and there are others as well.  Still, we allow alcohol - the single attempt to deny it to the public was a rather dismal failure.  Is there any real difference when it comes to public safety or even child safety? 
         
         Most will use it responsibly, some will not.  The only question is do we wish to grant a right rather than (as with alcohol) take one away.  It's much easier to retain a ban than to impose one.

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   2. 60

      Josakposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent thing as similar experiments in Portugal amongst other places proves.

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2. 82

   psycheskinnerposted 11 years ago

   This is permitted medical use via prescription, not legalization.  It makes pot similar to plenty of other drugs people use recreationally, but that are only legal to use medicinally.

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   1. 64

      Ralph Deedsposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      I don't believe that's correct, at least in Colorado.
      
      On Tuesday, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed several historic measures to implement marijuana legalization in the state, establishing Colorado as the world's first legal, regulated and taxed marijuana market for adults.
      
      Hickenlooper, a vocal opponent of marijuana legalization who said that "Colorado is known for many great things, marijuana should not be one of them," signed the first bills in history to establish a legal marijuana market as well as starting the development of a regulatory framework for the cultivation, distribution, and processing of industrial hemp.
      
      "Recreational marijuana really is new territory," Hickenlooper said at Tuesday's signing. And although the governor has expressed opposition to marijuana legalization in the past, he called today's pot bills "common sense," the AP's Kristen Wyatt reported.
      
      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/2 … 46798.html

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3. 66

   innersmiffposted 11 years ago

   Yes - as I've said before on here: there is no argument for prohibition. Literally, you can never be right for arguing for prohibition.

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