The Reason We Don’t Get Stoners to Write Laws
Stacy McCain, always on the lookout for an uplifting news story, finds that California may be ready to legalize marijuana. But before all your bong-hitting libertarians light up in celebration, you might want to read the fine print.
Marijuana would be sold and taxed openly in California to adults 21 and older if legislation proposed Monday is signed into law.
[Emphasis mine]
As Shakespeare wrote: Aye, there’s the rub.
The day that pot becomes legal in California, it’s going to double in price, at least. Mark my words. That what our government recently did to smokers with the S-CHIP legislation. The tax on loose tobacco – the kind that folks who roll their own smokes buy – went from a little over a buck a pound to $24.62 per pound.
You think that California is going to treat marijuana any differently? If you do, maybe you need to put down the joint and pay attention. That baggie that cost you ten bucks today will cost you 20 dollars or more when pot becomes legal.
The truth is that pot smokers are a lot better off if marijuana stays illegal. I’ll let you in on a little secret. If you smoked your weed indoors and didn’t let anyone post pictures of you taking a huge bong hit, you could smoke all you wanted and no one would bother you. No police officer in this county wants to lock you up for having a baggie of weed in your pocket. They arrest people not because they want to but because they have to. See, cops would much rather be out busting real criminals but they can’t because your dumb, stoned ass is driving like a maniac with a couple of burned up doobies in the ash tray. Once upon a time, they’d throw out your pot and let you go with a stern warning. But people, including pot smokers, griped so now they have no leeway. If they see pot on you, they have to lock you up.
Here’s why they don’t want to arrest you. The one thing a cop hates more than anything else in the world is paperwork. And arresting you means at least three hours of filling out forms and writing reports. There isn’t a cop in the US who really wants to spend hours dealing with you and your quarter ounce of weed. But you left them no choice because you couldn’t handle your high.
Here’s the other little secret you should know. Marijuana is illegal but not really illegal. In truth, most Americans don’t care if you light up once in a while in your living room. The biggest reason that marijuana is illegal is because we don’t want it to become common. We want to discourage lots of people from doing it by leaving our official seal of disapproval on it, but we turn a knowingly blind eye to people who do make an informed choice to do it anyhow. The law is there to provide a deterrent. In truth, most of us don’t really care about your recreational use of the stuff. We just don’t want our kids thinking it’s AOK and we sure as hell don’t want pot use to be more prevalent than it already is.
We have plenty of laws like work just like that: speed limits, gambling (you know, poker night with the guys?), even the Sunday “dry” laws that are still on the books in many counties. Yeah, that stuff is illegal, but we aren’t going to break our heads over them. We’ll just pick off the occasional moron who flouts the law and abuses our lenient natures.
So don’t be a moron. Knock off the legalization crap, smoke your pot at home or at your friend’s house, control your smoking, and don’t let the cops see you! Your pot will be cheaper and you’ll be able to get it anytime you want (since there’s no way that the government will let just anyone sell pot). It’s a better deal for you and the rest of us.
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Category: The Social Issues
Well, I won't give up advocating legalization. But I do agree that some forms of legalization are less preferable than the current situation.
The same thing can be said for Nevada's legalization of prostitution. It doesn't allow for discreetly provided services, part timers, or the ability to be a true independent provider (as opposed to an 'independent' forced to work in someone else's facility)
The cry of 'legalize it, so we can tax it' doesn't exactly warm the heart of this libertarian either.
I don't know that there can be any other form of legalization, though. Once weed is okay, it's going to be handled just like cigarettes and pot smokers will be treated just like cigarette smokers. Is that something they really want?
At least with the status quo, their weed is cheap and plentiful and they can smoke it in relative peace. So long as they're smart.
It's not often I agree with you, so I had to post. But it is my nature to be a dick, so I'll do it, anyway. There are plenty of cops in this country who really do want to bust hippies. Not for smoking pot, but for breathing air. They simply want to throw them in jail for their very existence, not for smoking pot. But our pot laws allow them to do that. But pot smokers have places to move if they had some guts. But most hippies do, and they move to such places. I live in such a place, and that's where I take issue with this:
"and don’t let the cops see you! "
Where I live, it doesn't matter at all whether they see you. Hell, I've smoked pot with two sheriffs, one federal prosecutor, and more judges and cops than I can count. And one of those judges threw me in jail on an alcohol charge (which was perfectly legitimate, I hold no grudge). Legalize it for anyone with medical needs like glaucoma and cancer, and decriminalize it for anything else.
I'd also take issue with this:
"The one thing a cop hates more than anything else in the world is paperwork."
No, that's only the second most annoying thing for cops. The most annoying thing is to be laughed at by your coworkers. Here in Boulder, there's nothing that will create more laughter and derision than busting a guy for marijuana possession. Here's the deal: possession of under an ounce (read: quarter pound, because that's the plea level) is a $50 fine. A "Dog at Large" charge will bring a $350 fine. A noise violation produces a similar penalty (And yes, I've received it). In other words, if your dog gets away, it will cause you to face a more serious penalty, and possible jail time on multiple offenses. I have a friend who got busted on multiple Dog at Large charges. When the cops came to his house, they noticed his bong and two ounces of marijuana. They took those items and him down to meet the District Attorney. He got a good scolding from the DA about his dog. After that, the DA gave him his pot back and warned him about possible negative effects of smoking marijuana. And my friend walked right of the courthouse with two ounces of pot in his pocket. But the DA did keep the bong. No surprise, it was the nicest bong I've ever seen. That's how you deal with marijuana. But understand that we in Boulder are clear about this. We only keep judges and council members that agree with us. The rest of the country is free to come to the same conclusion at the discretion of their voters.
"The one thing a cop hates more than anything else in the world is paperwork."
As a cigarette smoker, I'd like to be treated as well as a pot smoker. If I light up a joint in a bar, I'd face a lighter penalty than if I lit up a cigarette. Lighting up a cigarette is a $1000 penalty. And the cops will bust you for it. But it creates a good scene. In the alley behind any bar, cigarette smokers and pot smokers face the same exile, but it's a fun exile community. And many of us are in both.
Oops, this was the quote I wanted:
"Once weed is okay, it’s going to be handled just like cigarettes and pot smokers will be treated just like cigarette smokers."
Sometimes, my computer seems to want the second to last copy over the last. I'd say I'm just smoking too much pot, but I haven't smoked it in a week. But sobriety can be a drug, too.
I guess I should say that there is one drug that could stabilize my mind. But it's illegal in this country, and most others. But that's not unusual. And it's no surprise that that I don't even give a damn about it. I'll find it in Australia against their government's wishes. There is a man there who cares even less about the government than me. And he has made this drug even better than the best drug companies in the world have ever made it. But this is a problem, my health shouldn't rely on meeting a person I'm unlikely to find. But it's a lot better than relying on the mercy of those that will specifically deny me the drug I need.
Ask yourself which choice you wold take. Would you choose the mentality you express over your life? In my case, the drug in question is LSD. For me, there's no no dilemma, it's a drug I always liked, but it's the only drug that will keep me alive. And that's just normal living. Unusual circumstances make it much more difficult. But think about it this way, if you were denied sugar and you needed it to keep you alive (as if you were hypoglycemic), would you deny access to it? You, and the United States government have always done it and still do. And this is no joke. I have a more particular issue than sugar problems (such as joke diseases like diabetes). I have the most extreme case of bee sting allergy ever registered in world history. My blood tests are such that it they are not only considered out of range, they produce results that are completely different from anyone who has ever been stung by a bee. There are drugs that have kept me alive (obviously), but no country in this world will let me carry them. If I'm more than thirty minutes away from a hospital and get stung by by a bee, I will die. There's a steroid cocktail that will keep me alive, but if they don't believe me, they'll give me drugs that will kill me. So far, I've able to explain that to people. But that's been in the US, I haven't had this issue in other countries. But here's the problem: the drugs I need for this are illegal to prescribe in every country in the world. But if the US were willing to prescribe me such drugs, I could carry them anywhere. But my country is completely unwilling to do so. I will continue to travel to other countries to find some country who will. I want that drug cocktail, and I'll go to any country and risk my life to get it. In the process, I faced the most dangerous thing I've ever faced in my life: a swarm of bees. My best friend, a Tibetan refugee, said I shouldn't worry. He didn't know, because I don't tell people about this issue. When I told him, he was stunned. But that's normal.
So Jimmie, if you don't support the health any of the people of the people of the United States of America, will you at least support my existence? I can only assure you that that no other person will ever get helped, just as you want, I only ask that some extremely dangerous steroid compounds be released to me. I understand that such compounds do not get distributed to any street people who might need it, and that such compounds don't get distristibuted phamacucutical companies.
If you ever wonder why I'd hold a cobra, understand that that's a mildly dangerous animal. A bee is far more dangerous to me. It can kill me in seconds. I need certain drugs to make bees safer than a cobra. I only ask to make such a drug legal for me to carry with me. Maybe I can save myself. Until then, then I'll walk with safe animals like cobras.
You know, every day is lucky day, and I'm grateful for it. Because that day is a day I didn't get stung by a bee. It's really too bad my government says I can't have the antidote. Having such a thing would open up my world. Until then, I just assume that every day is my last day. So I don't care at all. When someone points gun at me, I tell them to shoot me. And they never have the guts to do it. Maybe I'd have a different attitude, maybe if I had the drugs I need to save my life. Until then, I surely won't give a damn. For now, a guy pointing a gun at me is less threatening than the bees that land on me. I can survive a gunshot, a bee sting is different. I wish my government could understand that. And I really wish that they'd let we carry that antidote. But they want me to die. They just don't have the guts to point a gun at me and pull the trigger. I do have that guts, but you can't shoot the government. You can only shoot some representative, and he's just some dumb employee. It's not his fault, it's just a job. So I'll just die knowing it was just some absurd bureaucracy. But that's okay for me. That's just how it is, and it's how it always has been and always will be. When the universe ceases to be and becomes the same thing again, I might worry about it. But probably not. The Buddha never understood this, only Avalokiteshvara ever really got it. There are Buddhas, and then there are some Bodhisattvas who transcend the very concept. That's where Buddhism fails. Jesus was a great Bodhisattva, and he really tried, but we failed. Muhammed tried again, and we failed again. But this is exactly what Avalokiteshvara said it would be. It is not the failing of our prophets, it has always been the failing of ourselves, and it always will be. The is only one concept: we are the only people who can save ourselves. The Buddha tried to say that, and nobody really got it. Jesus tried to say it, but he got the same results. Muhammed did the same, with exactly the same results. The problem with it is that we ask someone to save us, but the truth is that only we can can save ourselves. Only Avalokiteshvara ever really understood that, and it's doubtful that he ever existed in any concept that we might perceive. In my world, he came to me when I was in a coma as Haragriva. In the modern world, he is said to come to us as the Dalai Lama, and in other forms as well. You can either accept or reject that at your will. I don't care and neither does he. And neither do I. But the message is the same: we can choose to save ourselves or not. Sadly, I see that we will continue to delude ourselves into oblivion rather than face the reality that only we choose to create our reality. I can't say we would succeed if we tried, but trying would be a good start. Jesus tried just like every other prophet. And he wasn't good enough. But the message is always the same. If we try to help each other rather than profit from each other, we really do have a chance. Every prophet has said that. Pick one and listen to him.