April 20, 2010
Another national marijuana day has come and gone. It gets better every year.
Washington DC this year is decriminalizing medical marijuana. If weed can treat grief from loss, can treat depression, anger, hysteria, fears of bugaboos or treat periodic loss of contact with reality, then it may be a purifying force. At worst, depressed people under medication may suddenly have all sorts of happy people wanting to come by to help cheer them up. Spiritual suffering caused by mental addictions will be relieved by a growing appreciation of the greater whole.
That is to say, the commons is the cure for those who would joust at windmills, but that's a post for another day.
Californians will vote this November on whether to legalize weed, totally legalize it. Let the sale of it be taxed, like wine and beer. California needs the money.
Other states need the money, too. Many are in dire straits. If California's marijuana tax produces a healthy revenue stream, then other states might consider doing the same. Especially adjacent states, whose citizens will undoubtedly send local money over the state line - send it out of state - to make legal buys.
If California legalizes marijuana, then research will happen. The true nature of the weed will be known. The government of these United States has suppressed research for decades. An open field beckons. Surely, the drug companies will fund research at California universities, hoping to be first to codify its essence.
Has anyone died from marijuana? If not, something special may be happening. Soon, we will know what it is.
Predictive logic once led many people to think that since smoke from any burning vegetation is bad because it includes bad chemicals, then marijuana smoke is also bad because it is from burning vegetation. So why hasn't anyone died from marijuana smoke? Why hasn't anyone destroyed their lungs?
Could it be protecting them? Soon we will know. Perhaps it "walks back" cells into being stem cells, allowing adaptive growth. It rejuvenates. Better than Viagra.
If shown harmless - as personal experience, if not science, has proven for many people - then the illegality of the drug will be in question. Its illegality appears to be arbitrary. Marijuana illegality is an instance of the government making something illegal for the sake of showing that it can do whatever it wants, logic be damned.
If government can make marijuana illegal - then it can make anything illegal. It can be arbitrary.
The marijuana law instantiates government's right to be arbitrary. To the point that the John Roberts Supreme Court has recently ruled that people who grow the weed for personal use inside their own homes are liable under federal laws because the Commerce clause in the Constitution lets federal government regulate the commerce between states. Growing it in your home reduces your participation in the - illegal - commerce that happens between states. Ergo, it affects interstate commerce.
Why growing marijuana should affect interstate commerce and growing radishes should not, I would love to discover. I have grown radishes. I did not eat the imports from Mexico. I took my dollars out of the system, both interstate commerce and international commerce. It was a global act, growing my radishes. And my tomatoes. So therefore, the United Nations has a right to inspect my back yard?
Hello, John Roberts Supreme Court...?
As California shifts the tax burden to marijuana and prepares to welcome many tourists traveling in motor-homes pulling trailers, the federal government will have a lot of unwinding to do. Hello, reality.
I would invest in California motor-home parks and service shops. Time-shares. Tourist lodges.
Where would you rather vacation?
Washington DC this year is decriminalizing medical marijuana. If weed can treat grief from loss, can treat depression, anger, hysteria, fears of bugaboos or treat periodic loss of contact with reality, then it may be a purifying force. At worst, depressed people under medication may suddenly have all sorts of happy people wanting to come by to help cheer them up. Spiritual suffering caused by mental addictions will be relieved by a growing appreciation of the greater whole.
That is to say, the commons is the cure for those who would joust at windmills, but that's a post for another day.
Californians will vote this November on whether to legalize weed, totally legalize it. Let the sale of it be taxed, like wine and beer. California needs the money.
Other states need the money, too. Many are in dire straits. If California's marijuana tax produces a healthy revenue stream, then other states might consider doing the same. Especially adjacent states, whose citizens will undoubtedly send local money over the state line - send it out of state - to make legal buys.
If California legalizes marijuana, then research will happen. The true nature of the weed will be known. The government of these United States has suppressed research for decades. An open field beckons. Surely, the drug companies will fund research at California universities, hoping to be first to codify its essence.
Has anyone died from marijuana? If not, something special may be happening. Soon, we will know what it is.
Predictive logic once led many people to think that since smoke from any burning vegetation is bad because it includes bad chemicals, then marijuana smoke is also bad because it is from burning vegetation. So why hasn't anyone died from marijuana smoke? Why hasn't anyone destroyed their lungs?
Could it be protecting them? Soon we will know. Perhaps it "walks back" cells into being stem cells, allowing adaptive growth. It rejuvenates. Better than Viagra.
If shown harmless - as personal experience, if not science, has proven for many people - then the illegality of the drug will be in question. Its illegality appears to be arbitrary. Marijuana illegality is an instance of the government making something illegal for the sake of showing that it can do whatever it wants, logic be damned.
If government can make marijuana illegal - then it can make anything illegal. It can be arbitrary.
The marijuana law instantiates government's right to be arbitrary. To the point that the John Roberts Supreme Court has recently ruled that people who grow the weed for personal use inside their own homes are liable under federal laws because the Commerce clause in the Constitution lets federal government regulate the commerce between states. Growing it in your home reduces your participation in the - illegal - commerce that happens between states. Ergo, it affects interstate commerce.
Why growing marijuana should affect interstate commerce and growing radishes should not, I would love to discover. I have grown radishes. I did not eat the imports from Mexico. I took my dollars out of the system, both interstate commerce and international commerce. It was a global act, growing my radishes. And my tomatoes. So therefore, the United Nations has a right to inspect my back yard?
Hello, John Roberts Supreme Court...?
As California shifts the tax burden to marijuana and prepares to welcome many tourists traveling in motor-homes pulling trailers, the federal government will have a lot of unwinding to do. Hello, reality.
I would invest in California motor-home parks and service shops. Time-shares. Tourist lodges.
Where would you rather vacation?
posted by Dan McIntyre at 5:43 PM
0 comments
