House will vote on cannabis legalization bill in December

There is no evidence that driving while "High" has a significant impairment to driving - especially in the case of a regular user.

Your "Driving while impaired" generalization is pure fallacy - define impaired - Should someone who is getting older have their license taken away simply because their reaction time is slower ? Pot does not create a significant impairment risk - and you have given no evidence that it does.. Twirling around crying "your impaired" does not cut it. I could just as easily claim that dumb people are "impaired" - many more so than a not so dim person on Pot.

They you rail on about the damage of drug abuse - as if this is a legitimate justification for law - in of itself.

In a free society folks have the ability to risk a reasonable amount of harm to themselves. Your whole argument is Fallacious Utilitarian hogwash.
Utilitarianism is Justification for law - solely on the basis of "what will increase happiness for the collective" - with no regard for the rights of the individual.

 

I have been a constitutional conservative on the right for over a half century and have always been opposed to marijuana being illegal. One just has to know the genesis of making it illegal to understand the absurdity.

 

Me too although I prefer the term "constitutional republican" for myself - not sharing many of todays conservative values adopted after the Religious Right took over - and subsequent demise of the GOP on this basis - as foretold by Goldwater in no uncertain terms.

For me it is a simple issue - if you can get 33.6% to agree with you - Gov't has no legitimate authority - in areas of essential liberty.

This is not complicated - and it is no secret that this is the principle on which this nation was founded - 50+1 and/or "Simple Majority Mandate" being decried as "Tyranny of the Majority" in both Classical Liberalism - and Republicanism.

and good luck to one who would challenge that this is the bar - for if it is not - then answer me this !?

If all some elected official needs is Simple Majority Mandate to mess with essential liberty - then everyone who is elected has this power.
Essential liberty is then not protected - Gov't has unlimited power to mess with essential liberty.

The difference between a Constitutional Republic and pure democracy "Tyranny of the Majority" .. is that "essential liberty" and various rights and freedoms are "Above" the legitimate authority of Gov't.

Do we believe in Limitations to the Power of Gov't - or would one rather have totalitarianism ? if so -- OK - Then what are those limitations.

If you tell me Simple Majority Mandate is sufficient to mess with essential liberty - then there are none .. and you have no protection against Gov't .. the safeguard has been removed.

So 1) in a constitutional Republic - "Tyranny of the Majority" is verboten - by definition. and
2) Verboten as per the founding principles in the DOI - where essential liberty is put "Above" the legitimate authority of Gov't - then goes on to outline when it is acceptable to oust a Gov't on the basis of "Illegitimacy of Authority"

This is what being an "originalist" is being about in my books. .. giving the power back to the poeple.. and we have a system that does this - but do not follow it.

In the case of Pot .. this is absurdity - 68% in favor of legalization/decriminalization - Federally this was an imperative to expunge this law - based on public opinion getting near 33%

Getting to 50% ? and you still don't do it ? This pisses me off.

 

It is a bit off topic but constitutional republican I would agree with, but not constitutional Republican. Also I prefer constitutional conservative to just conservative mainly for the reasons you cite.

I agree with this and the rest of your post. However, I would go one step further. Per the Constitution, whether 20% 33%, 50%, or 75% want pot to be legal or illegal, the federal government has no right or authority to pass a law one way or another.

 

There are plenty of people that use marijuana in small amounts to ease anxiety, increase appetite, or reduce pain and inflammation. It is ironic that you say you will not support it because you believe it is only used to “f’ you up” as if you know what you are talking about.

You sit there screaming on your high horse while people risk felony convictions — if they can get it at all — just for possessions to help their anxiety, seizures, cancer, or numerous other medical conditions. It is ****ing disgusting

Prosecute people that drive under the influence, as the law already allows.

 

Although I DO drive while under the influence of THC, always have car or bike I'm also a HONEST cannabis users Why lie about it now

 

"near impossible" to find weed? LOL
Not that I care to but with cash in hand, I could procure some in about 20 minutes, even in this podunk backwater of a town.

 

You've obviously never grown any crippler weed.

 

I believe one must have over 20 grams for a felony in florida. I always considered a half ounce or even a quarter, more than adequate for a stash. How much is a felony in your state?

 

You DO realize how much weed is domestically produced now? Oh the stories I could tell....
I only grow tomatoes now but I once had a greenhouse, the skeleton of which, still stands rotting in the yard. That was a good year but the risk is not worth it. I sleep better knowing the man can come here at any time and find nada.

 

About time, our court systems are already overburdened enough with these horse crap possession offences which are designed for nothing more than to generate revenue and appease puritanical morons who think they have a God given right to police everyone's lifestyle. Perhaps with all the saved money we could actually do something useful, like funding mental health programs and improving schools. Yes yes it sounds naive but one can dream right?

 

Sad, you should move to a state that embraces freedom!

 

I've quite the green thumb. But I'll take Fl over a high tax blue state any day. Hell, we dont even have a state income tax but when we do, you can bet it will be enacted under a Democrat governor. Legalization is coming. Florida is where I was born and where I will die, even if I have to pull a Seminole and move deep off in the everglades! Wolverines!!! (some will get that) Plus the growing season here is virtually all year except for that pesky problem of seedlings going into bud right away in the late fall/winter

 

Like why blow your argument with "duh, man it don't affect your coordination..."? DUI laws cover more than just alcohol, determine a THC blood level for "impairment" and go with it. The weed of today makes the Mexican crap of my misspent youth look like oregano.

 

You could barely sell that now for pennies on the $.

 

No clue, I don’t use marijuana — I do know an acquaintance that received a felony in TN because he had a firearm and a small amount that he uses to treat seizures. Amount isn’t the issue, access is — cancer patients typically don’t have a “dealer” and instead are placed on pharmaceuticals when marijuana would be a better alternative (I have personal experience here)

 

yep, depends on the state

"This man is sentenced to die in prison over marijuana"

https://www.vox.com/2016/4/20/11467558/marijuana-life-sentence

"Lee Carroll Brooker, a 75-year-old disabled veteran, is sentenced to die in prison thanks to a mandatory sentence involving marijuana."

 

That's funny.

My wife has a bunch of poppies and Texas Star hibiscuses that look just like pot plants growing in our front yard. There's a couple of weeks after the poppies drop their blooms and before the hibiscuses start flowering when our place looks like a massive heroin and cannabis operation. Every year I get paranoid that DEA agents are going to drop out of the sky in helicopters and drag us off to Club Fed.

Look at the leaves on these things:



DEA AGENT: Alright, buddy, you're coming with us...

ME: But officer, they're hibiscuses!

DEA AGENT: Suuuure they are......and what's up with THAT?



ME: Mommy...

 

Everybody at least knows someone who knows someone, c'mon man!

 

Alabama locking people up for pot definitely doesn’t surprise me.

 

that could be dangerous if the wrong militarized drug police show up being a little too trigger-happy, tossing in flash grenades and the like

 

LOL, i once brought some cow patties home that I collected shrooms off of (so i know the mycelium was there) in the hopes they would have another flush, but no dice. I have heard of people cutting pot leaves in a rounded shape and tying fake flowers on them. LOL . These cranberry hibiscus grow all over my yard, some are well over 10 ft tall. All from one plant I brought home and just scattered seed.

 

Bill Clinton pardoned this guy, he had life over growing weed on his farm. The old timers here still talk about that Myakka gold. This was about 20 miles from here. Has one caution light that I know of. Post office, a store ran by Arabs, a bar and a ranch supply store. If you have the time to read, it's interesting, even a you tube song called "Myakka gold" and some bigfoot videos. If there's one thing a redneck Fl Cracker can do, it's grow some good weed! I swear when you drive thru there on the Hwy you can smell weed growing to this very day

Anderson: The marijuana legend of Myakka Gold - News ...
www.heraldtribune.com › news › anderson-marijuana-l...
Mar 25, 2019 — They called it Myakka Gold, and the stuff was legendary. No seeds, leaves or stems, the buds so pure one even made the centerfold of High Times magazine. When business was cranking, they were selling it for $3,500 a pound, and they could harvest 300 pounds a year. No one could touch them.

 

No kidding.

I heard about some dude who got hauled off to jail because some dumbass thought his OKRA plants were weed.

It's thrill seekers like him that get me paranoid...