CANNABIS: LEGALIZATION VS DECRIMINALIZATION

Cannabis: Legalization vs Decriminalization

Legalization of cannabis gained more than the recent approval of two American states (Washington & Colorado). It's supporters now have a poll result, conducted by that granddaddy of polling Gallup, that says 58 percent of Americans favor legalizing cannabis. No question was reported about public usage, age requirements, driving under the influence or taxation and control by government.

There is more than just a semantic difference between the legalization of marijuana and the decriminalization of marijuana. The difference is that one is a mare’s nest of logistical and pragmatic questions and the other is a benign way of ending draconian laws that account for the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of American citizens over the last fifty years, billions of dollars spent by government on a flawed War on Drugs, ruined lives and careers, and sales by an industry that is grassroots at best, violent and criminal at worst.

Legalization appears to be the best remedy: not only does it remove criminal penalties but it’s yet another source of taxation and control by local, state, and someday, the federal government (which, with the “Marihuana Act,” is where this whole fiasco started eighty years ago) so how could that go wrong? The common notion put forth by the legalization proponents is a trade off of sorts: leave us alone to smoke our pot and you can tax and regulate the hell out of us. Even some Republican legislators beginning to warm to this notion. What government wouldn't want another source of revenue, another tax on a substance, or another commodity to control?

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/25/theres-a-big-difference-between-legalization-and-decriminalization/#ixzz2rRDAFKho

Decriminalization, which is what I am in favor of, does none of that, it simply removes criminal and monetary penalties for possessing any amount of marijuana, including the “manufacture,” transportation, or storage of the substance. It does not address in any way the actual usage of marijuana, the sale of it, taxation, quality, driving under the influence, age restrictions, etc. because these are better left up to local, county and state governments to determine, certainly not the federal government which is the seminal reason cannabis became illegal and has stayed illegal throughout the United States in the first place.

Most recreational cannabis proponents are just that: they like if not worship cannabis, promote its responsible use, want unhindered access to it, and have a multitude of studies that say it is a benign substance. The upstart Marijuana Policy Project, once funded by Progressive Insurance executive Peter Lewis, is less a proponent of its use as much as a reformer of marijuana laws. They have thrown millions of dollars at efforts to get the legalization issue on state ballot questions and referenda, with some success and some failure.

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2013/10/25/theres-a-big-difference-between-legalization-and-
decriminalization/#ixzz2rRDHOc1q




This blog is dedicated to Lois Carter, my HSL. LOVE YOU!!