Marijuana
I know In this blog I will be opening myself up to a myriad of reactions and comments. I personally have so many views that contradict each other in a traditional moralistic sense. Accepting marijuana in our society as another normal natural and common thing in our lives is something that I always stay away from when conversing. legalizing it and taxing it would do this state good only if the people running it would stop ripping us off. If our government would first take care of the management then maybe we as a state can prosper without the legalization first and then having that extra revenue would only strengthen this great state we live in. If our state was managed correctly we could have the best education in the USA.
With all the wealth we have in this state and the taxes we get from them why do we have a problem? For all the taxing we already imposed on ourselves from the initiatives we voted for....why do we have a problem? I am very ignorant when it comes to politics and that is why I keep this small voice of mine to myself. I put it on the ballot and I speak there. Sometimes I am mis informed with measures and initiatives and laws and such so my voice just becomes that much more annoying.
Where do we go from here? I see the rhetoric of political figures when they talk of how bad it is for our country to legalize. they make all the excuses in the world. I also know of why law enforcement and some of our leaders are not seeing eye to eye. Half of them feel all the deaths fighting drugs and the exploitation of them would be for nothing. Some feel that fighting marijuana causes more law enforcement deaths and our prison system would be alleviated from small time criminals. there are two sides in every section. We are truly divided on this one.
There was a time in this country where marijuana was being consumed by the general public and virtually no crime was attributed to the use. The crime was coming from when our powers that be decided it was illegal and then the criminals capitalized on the sale so it became like anything else that is illegal.....can we say prohibition? Let me go there. Conservatives thought alcohol was very bad and from the devil. Many law enforcement lost their lives fighting this bad thing in our society. Maybe alcohol should have stayed illegal for all the lives it has taken since it has been legalized. All the families it has destroyed because of the irresponsible exploitation in the media. We advertise it like it is a wonderful thing. Yet it is like smoking, once it was commercialized it became addictive. Why? Like processed food. MC Donalds. Somehow when something is not natural to our bodies and it is made from a laboratory we are addicted to it.
I am not making sense here i know. Marijuana is a nice little plant. It dries and is smoked. It calms and soothes. If used responsibly like anything else it is like drinking green tea or coffee. I would rather smoke a joint than drink a bottle of rum to calm me down. It will save my liver. But it is illegal. I will get arrested. Yet liquor does more damage to my body. Oh and as for the moralistic conservative thought worrying about our health and well being....why is it that at some church functions i see beer truck at their festivals? Anyway. I think I have probably either confused all of you or pissed you off. Off to paint!
With all the wealth we have in this state and the taxes we get from them why do we have a problem? For all the taxing we already imposed on ourselves from the initiatives we voted for....why do we have a problem? I am very ignorant when it comes to politics and that is why I keep this small voice of mine to myself. I put it on the ballot and I speak there. Sometimes I am mis informed with measures and initiatives and laws and such so my voice just becomes that much more annoying.
Where do we go from here? I see the rhetoric of political figures when they talk of how bad it is for our country to legalize. they make all the excuses in the world. I also know of why law enforcement and some of our leaders are not seeing eye to eye. Half of them feel all the deaths fighting drugs and the exploitation of them would be for nothing. Some feel that fighting marijuana causes more law enforcement deaths and our prison system would be alleviated from small time criminals. there are two sides in every section. We are truly divided on this one.
There was a time in this country where marijuana was being consumed by the general public and virtually no crime was attributed to the use. The crime was coming from when our powers that be decided it was illegal and then the criminals capitalized on the sale so it became like anything else that is illegal.....can we say prohibition? Let me go there. Conservatives thought alcohol was very bad and from the devil. Many law enforcement lost their lives fighting this bad thing in our society. Maybe alcohol should have stayed illegal for all the lives it has taken since it has been legalized. All the families it has destroyed because of the irresponsible exploitation in the media. We advertise it like it is a wonderful thing. Yet it is like smoking, once it was commercialized it became addictive. Why? Like processed food. MC Donalds. Somehow when something is not natural to our bodies and it is made from a laboratory we are addicted to it.
I am not making sense here i know. Marijuana is a nice little plant. It dries and is smoked. It calms and soothes. If used responsibly like anything else it is like drinking green tea or coffee. I would rather smoke a joint than drink a bottle of rum to calm me down. It will save my liver. But it is illegal. I will get arrested. Yet liquor does more damage to my body. Oh and as for the moralistic conservative thought worrying about our health and well being....why is it that at some church functions i see beer truck at their festivals? Anyway. I think I have probably either confused all of you or pissed you off. Off to paint!
Comment
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Comment by ryanthelion on October 29, 2009 at 3:06pm -
thanks for the post, with california changing it's laws i think this is a great discussion, on a side note for the future please break up your paragraphs, my eyes tend to blur words when I'm at work staring at the computer screen for 8 hours.
I agree with many of the statements above. MJ enforcement jails too many non-violent individuals and ends up costing us a huge amount of money to house prisoners, lost productivity of said population, and tears families apart. California by itself has a larger prison population that in the entire country of China (last figure i heard please correct if i am wrong).
Tax revenue from legalization would help the state solve it's woes, we have a definite tax problem here in California and the amount of money we bring in through taxes just do not cover the amount of money the state spends. I agree with your stance that sometimes the money does not get allocated to the right areas, but if you look at the distribution of who are representatives for California i think you would understand better. Many many counties are very conservative, here in LB we are in a bubble because everyone is so progressive. Go inland to Imperial Valley, Riverside, Modoc, Tulare and they are all Republican. Democrats even with a majority cannot get everything passed because of the conservative block that stops most funding we would agree with. We are at an impass with the state budget because of the block that stands in the way of raising California's revenue.
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Comment by JulsnMatt1028 on October 29, 2009 at 11:07am -
YES Daniel, exactly! Don't worry you made perfect sense! Two sides to every coin. I would hate to see the organic nature of marijuana get ruined by additives, supplements, and addictive stimulants. I think that's when the abuse would come in. Also, you're right about the taxation issue. In our current system this would just mean even more dollars getting wasted!
I'd like to see it at farmers markets, but not at liquor stores... Dang, what is the right approach here... I like what you said here tough:
"Yet it is like smoking ...once it was commercialized it became addictive. Why? Like processed food. MC Donalds. Somehow when something is not natural to our bodies and it is made from a laboratory we are addicted to it."
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