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The real life outcome of careful, sustained political action. Don’t forget, ordinary people fought for this. I first went door-to-door for marijuana legalization in San Francisco in 1972.
Source – theantimedia.org
– In the state of Oregon, where marijuana for recreational purposes was legalized just over a month ago, there are already more retail marijuana shops than there are McDonald’s or Starbucks.
According to Oregon’s Health Authority, there are 281 marijuana businesses in the state due to the fact that there was already a vast network of medical dispensaries there. When legalization kicked in, these dispensaries were able to quickly repurpose themselves as retail outlets. This allowed the industry to grow much quicker in Oregon than it did in Colorado or Washington.
In Oregon, there were over 250 medical marijuana dispensaries that were immediately able to sell to recreational customers, while in Colorado there were just 24 retailers open on the first day of legalization — and Washington had only four.
In fact, in Oregon, the cannabis industry is already becoming as visible as major fast food…
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The Most Revolutionary Act 
If booze is legal, and it is, then doobie should be as well!
But do we really need more drunk and stoned people than we already have? I mean most Mericans are already in a prescribed psycho-drug state as it is.
But damn the torpedoes, more power to folks who want to blope. I believe in the individual’s right without restrictive laws.
But being a musician, I also know that stoned people aren’t much different from too many to drinkers. I knew some pretty null and void guitarists, in particular, who played like shit when they were stoned. And they would swear they were playing great.
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Sojourner, the primary issue for me is that locking people up is not an effective way to address drug problems. In the US, The drug war is being used as an excuse to incarcerate African Americans because their communities are selectively targeted for enforcement. It’s virtually destroying African American families and communities by locking away one-third of their men for nonviolent crimes.
I also don’t like the way prohibition is fueling gang violence or turning Mexico into a war zone or lining the pockets of professional criminals in the DEA and CIA. By legalizing drugs, we make it possible to divert all the money wasted on this bullshit on treatment – as they do in Portugal, where they find that drug de-criminalization is reducing, rather than increasing, drug addiction among young people.
I also feel a bit uncomfortable about comparing alcohol and cannabis as drugs. Alcohol is extremely dangerous medically – it kills a hell of a lot of people – in addition to fueling major domestic and criminal violence.
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First and foremost, I am not against the use of or legalization of marijuana! Secondly, I understand how “illegal drugs” are being used to harass and imprison the disenfranchised in general, and not just poor blacks. In fact, I may have a better sense of this than you, without going into details. I also know that alcohol is not healthy and very addictive, whereas mj has many beneficial properties and less addictive.
I am sorry this made you uncomfortable, but I am only going by my experiences as a musician, which were many, and a user. I am no uniformed or inexperienced novice when it comes to this subject.
My last paragraph was more tongue in cheek than trying to make a point. My humor failed me, which is nothing new!
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What a waste of time. Instead of closing Guantanamo Obama decides to legalise marijuana?!?Fucking dumb ass!
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Thanks for commenting, tawnystranger. Obama is an excellent example of too little too late. He should have closed Guantanamo while he still had a Democratic majority in Congress. At the moment, however, cannabis use is still a federal crime in all 50 states. It’s just that the Obama administration has decided not to prosecute marijuana users in states that have legalized it. The Justice Department decided it was a waste of time because juries wouldn’t convict.
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Oregon is now a healthier state. Way to go!
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Ain’t it grand, Lou?
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Mote pot shops than McDonald’s, that’s the way it should be!
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‘Everybody must get stoned.’ B. Dylan, 1966 🙂
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Good point, Alan. Everyone has an addiction, even if it’s sugar or shopping.
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Cannabis has a wealth of medical properties and if it can’t be given by doctor at least people there can self medicate.
Also looking at Portugal’s example they decriminalised drug and did not punish but provided rehab for users. This resulted in a small decrease in most drug use with some having a tiny iincrease. Does this not show that banning it is ineffective at least if it’s legal/decrimilsed people are more likely to come forward asking for help!
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Excellent point, Equality. Drug addicts are always far more likely to seek help if they know they won’t be thrown in jail!
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