the cultural–read racial–factors are the only reason that pot’s illegal and you know it. Name me another one.

Revenge. DFHs laughed at Nixon and the Reagans.

Even though you said “not the band” I immediately thought of the time my old band opened for the Fall in the 90s and the keyboard player came up to us and furtively asked if we had any pot, nervously adding, “but don’t tell Mark I asked you!!!”

Once elected, they should have to submit to monthly piss tests, with the results made public. That’ll spur legalization efforts.

Wait a minute, stop. The rule is, if you’re a creationist, you don’t get to rail against pot. I mean, god made it, right? Who are we to say anything bad about god’s holy inscrutabilitiness?

They’d probably claim that, due to the Fall (not the band, sillies), teh weed became eeeeevil.

Cannabis truly is a miracle plant. It has so many awesome, practical, Earth-friendly applications, the fact that is provides the user with a nice, mellow buzz is just the icing on the cake

As has been pointed out above, this probably contributed to criminalization (can’t patent the shit).

Now you tell me! Where were you with this advice 22 years ago?

I wish the push wasn’t “it’s harmless/and or good for you”, but rather “Who gives a shit? Don’t like it, don’t smoke it!”

Subjectively, I kind of agree with you – but the facts are really heavily impregnated with Liberal Bias the other way on this.

A lot of folks who’re taking the former approach have/had conditions like epilepsy, arthritis, muscular dystrophy, Lyme disease, AIDS wasting, chronic nausea (from chemotherapy), glaucoma (& on & on & on, the list is staggering – these are off the top of my head) & gained major benefits from cannabis. The simple truth is, if you suffer from any such condition, it IS good for you. Prescription drugs (many of them highly addictive) which have sometimes-ferocious side-effects (& pricetags) generally are not.

You can also get a vaporiser if you can afford one, rendering any smoke-related issues moot … or just bake it into pastries.

Most bodacious high I ever had was from one-&-a-half “happiness-enriched” chocolate-chip muffins – a good 12 hours of giddy body-stoned inertia (PROTIP: when you’re still not buzzed 20-30 minutes later, don’t scarf down some more – it comes on slow but when it hits, SHAZZAM, you’d better have somewhere to lay down).

Exactly, home-growing will be like home-brewing is now: a hobby for connoisseurs and experimentalists. Given the opportunity, most people will just go buy it.

As for the economic and political model, have a look at what’s going on in Oakland, CA. I haven’t looked into who’s behind it, but they are working the political solely based on things like increased local/state tax revenues, increased tourism centered around an Amsterdam-like cafe district, etc. The same people run “Oaksterdam University” that offers paid workshops for would-be growers and trains dispensary owners the ins-and-out of the business. I saw a news story on OU a while back and the classes were not filled with the DudeMen– there were a lot of 50ish former real estate agents and other second-career Yuppies.

Point is: the most effective organization working for decrim/legalization is for-profit, doing the heavy-lifting of creating a professionalized infrastructure, and making the political case based on economic benefit not “duuuuuude mah freedoooooomz”. In other words, it aint the 60s (the 70s, 80s, or 90s) anymore.

Sockpuppet #47 said,

I think at some point, probably when the bill has solidified, there will be a big effort within the democratic party to make everyone toe the line and vote yes.

When was the last time Democrats did that? I don’t see how they’ll achieve anything serious until they get someone like LBJ again to keep their sorry asses in line. Supermajority much?

we have ceased to be a nation of laws.

See: December 12, 2000.

Or eaten by animals, long before dense humanoids even noticed the stuff.

My mother, who grew up in the 1930s in Silicon Valley (Not called that at the time, though.) said that, pre-Anslinger & “Reefer Madness,” muggles was thought of as “that weed that grew in San Francisquito Creek that the Mexicans smoked.”

After all, at some time in history there must have been reefer in the wild that would give you a buzz.

I think the distinction is that the stuff you find growing wild aint worth diddly squat. The seeds your “friend”’s “roommate” started with were a worthwhile strain to begin with.

Hemp bred for producing rope and textiles and such has exceptionally strong fibers and very little THC content. That type of hemp used to be a major crop in the Midwest and the stuff growing wild there today is descended from it. It is indeed worthless for smoking, as several of my friends found out back in the day.

I’ve never heard of useable recreational marijuana growing completely wild in the US, but I don’t see why it couldn’t… other than that it would be smoked up by humans if they found it.

If you want spider-blogging, I’m all over it.
~

orly?

Genesis 1:29

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth

So really, the battle at the moment is to persuade those who are drafting things, and influencing what will be in the final bill. Matheson certainly doesn’t sound like he is going to be influential in that.

Thanks – I’ll keep an eye on whoever’s persuadable. I have a feeling Matheson would be most inclined to listen to his also-dumb Blue Dog peers, but you have a point.

Working on the more easily persuadable reps, and encouraging those already on the right side will help build up the numbers, until there is sufficient momentum for all the yes voters to put pressure on their blue dog comrades.

After all, who is your congresscritter going to listen to? You, or his peers?

The fact that your congresscritter hasn’t bothered to learn what the terms of the debate are, even in the midst of one of the biggest debates for years, means he is a fucking idiot, and he will NOT understand the bill that he eventually votes on. In that case, I think a bit of bullying is a fair tactic.