Oh well. It's illegal status hasn't stopped anyone and won't stop anyone still. I think it would've been more of a symbolic victory if anything. It's already been decriminalized a great deal in California anyway.
i was in the bay area in sept and it was everywhere. its not legal, but it sure seems like it is. i smoked a few times w/out even putting any effort into it. i live in austin and ive been to amsterdam, but i must say the stuff they grow out there is potent!
I wish I could say that this is the stupidest idea to come from a government entity but sadly there are many others worse then this. I am happy to see that they voted against this idiotic proposition by a pretty nice margin. It restores my faith that the people in California aren't as liberal as the media paints them to be.
Just wondering, but where is your high regard for individual freedom? What do you really care what somebody puts into their own body? It seems like drug laws go against the libertarian rhetoric you're so fond of most of the time.
right now anyone who wants to smoke pot legally can - getting a medical mar1juana card is easier than getting your drivers license renewed. what is stupid to me is that they did not legalize it b/c its literally everywhere. the whole notion that pot is illegal is a total facade. like i said, i wasnt even trying to smoke weed when i was out there and people kept handing me doobies left and right. it was glorious!
Nah, he's more about telling people what they can't do. The hypocracy would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.
Democrats are no better. They can't expand freedom for Californians because doing so would undermine the federal government's authority. Obama Administration to California Pot Smokers: We Will Still Lock You Up Attorney General Eric Holder says the federal government will enforce its mar1juana laws in California even if the state's voters approve a ballot measure to legalize the drug. He made the comments in a letter to former chiefs of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the letter, dated Wednesday. "We will vigorously enforce the CSA against those individuals and organizations that possess, manufacture or distribute mar1juana for recreational use, even if such activities are permitted under state law," Holder wrote. He also said that legalizing recreational mar1juana in California would be a "significant impediment" to the government's joint efforts with state and local law enforcement to target drug traffickers, who often distribute mar1juana alongside cocaine and other drugs. Holder said approval of the ballot measure would "significantly undermine" efforts to keep California communities safe.
Oh come on... a significant impediment to the government's "joint efforts?" Who writes this stuff, Jay Leno?
I'm upset Californians didn't legalize mar1juana. They were too stoned to vote . Would have been the first step in the rise of weed and the fall of booze. The vote was closer than I thought it would be though. With more word and knowledge on mar1juana and how it is much, MUCH less harmful to a person than cigarettes or alcohol, and I think it may pass. If voters aged 18-25 voted in full force yesterday though, it would have passed. There is absolutely no reason why mar1juana should be illegal. When I get high, the only thing I want to do is hit up McDonalds and listen to music insanely loud. If I'm in an "active, got to get things done" mood, I do some homework with ease, as long as it doesn't involve too much thinking. It seems to me that almost everyone has smoked at least once. You'd be amazed at who has and still does if you just talk to people (like I was today). It comes out eventually. Now, people can abuse mar1juana, almost like anything else. It got to the point with me last year that I wouldn't eat unless I smoked. Grades started slipping, but then I realized what the hell I was doing and regulated it. Went back to normal. The government has had this propoganda machine against it for a while. I guess they don't want the pharmaceutical companies to go out of business, because who wants to take a pill, with all its side effects and addictiveness when they can help their pain with a j? I knew someone with cancer (RIP) and he would smoke, so he can eat and have energy for chemo. He was tired of taking one pill that would help his headache, but give him the runs, or take a pill for the runs, but get a headache. Too many pills to take, too. I think in 2012, if the vote is put up again, the reeferendum will pass. More people will have knowledge about mar1juana and its effects instead of thinking its bad because it is illegal. Speeding is illegal, yet people do it all the time. Portugal legalized all drugs and it seems to have worked well for them. A lot of organized crime gone. Plus, if cocaine and heroin became legal, it doesn't mean people are going to go and try it. If they wanted it, they'd try it now. Cigarettes are legal and you don't see people buying it for the hell of it. It would be much easier to regulate weed if it was legal, too, because you don't need an ID to buy it now... Dealers just want the cash.
So here's an interesting take from CNN as to why pot wasn't legalized: http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/11/03/miron.pot.vote/index.html?hpt=T2 Here's another interesting take from the Internet (reddit? Has one large word that may be NSFW) as to why pot wasn't legalized: Spoiler
"A final problem with Prop 19 is that it would only have legalized mar1juana under state law, since federal law also bans mar1juana. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, moreover, announced just weeks before Tuesday's election that the administration would enforce the federal law fully even if Prop 19 passed." "A final key to legalizing mar1juana is to get conservatives, not just liberals, more involved." rrrrrr.......sounds like the liberal Obama administration was the "final problem", maybe it should have been the final key too. Also, 26 of California's 30 largest daily newspapers (plus USA Today) had run editorials on the issue, and all 26 (plus USA Today) were opposed.
Parents still want to keep their kids away from it, simple as that really. Its mostly a parenting issue and not really a liberal vs conservative one. If half the US population has tried it at least once in their lifetimes, you can assume that a good number of people against Prop 19 actually HAVE tried it and decided its not anything they want to advocate to others, yet. Not saying prevention works in affecting usage and demand any, its just the mindset behind a 'no' vote.
But if people want it, they will get it anyway. A lot of people are the same way with drinking, but since it is legal, it's alright. mar1juana is a lot less harmful than alcohol, but since it is illegal, and through propaganda, it is seen as something dangerous.
I hear it's also getting easier in Colorado. I drove through Salida and they had a "medical" dispensary right on the edge of town - it looked like the tourist center!
More Hope and Change <iframe title="YouTube video player" width="640" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZzkKzvhTA70?hd=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents with the help of the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Sheriff's Department raided the Zen Healing Collective and Alternative Herbal Health Services medical mar1juana dispensaries in Hollywood, California on March 15, 2011. The warrants served were federal and law enforcement took one individual into custody, which may result in arrest. Agents did not want to speak on camera but spokesperson for the DEA Sarah Pullen gave this statement to Reason.tv: "DEA, with the assistance of the LAPD and the LASD served federal search warrants at approx. 210 pm this afternoon, March 15, 2011, as part of an on-going investigation. The warrants are federal and under seal by order of the court. Locations were 7800 and 8400 blocks of Santa Monica blvd, West Hollywood. We have one individual in custody right now, which may result in an arrest. Since the warrants are under seal I am unable to discuss any details regarding the warrants or investigation at this time." When asked about raids on medical mar1juana dispensaries in California in February 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder indicated raids would end on state approved dispensaries. “What the president said during the campaign ... will be consistent with what we will be doing here in law enforcement … What (President Obama) said during the campaign ... is now American policy,” said Holder. Obama told the Medford Mail Tribune in Oregon during the 2008 campaign “I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue.” “I think the basic concept of using medical mar1juana for the same purposes and with the same controls as other drugs prescribed by doctors, I think that's entirely appropriate." On March 10, Los Angeles voters passed Measure M, or the “pot tax,” which will tax dispensaries by collecting $50 out of every thousand dollars made.
