The government has destroyed people's lives for over eighty years with cannabis criminalization. They've raked in untold trillions off fundraising, scare tactics, donations and lobbying.
Libs are already negotiating against themselves by saying that. They think the government is going to tax the weed and somehow not use the money for the defense budget?
I can't really pinpoint why this one really sticks in my craw.
Its like the old saying goes: "give a liberal a magic lamp, and they'll negotiate down to one wish and use it for something they think Republicans would like"
they're going to get your money one way or another, I'm for the way that cuts the pigs off at the knees for over-policing and allows people to live their lives without threat of violence or incarceration for using a plant
I feel like prices are going down in my area due to availability. I can get a decent $100 oz at the dispo near my house. It's in the middle of farm country, and a lot of people switched over to farming the kind.
I would be in prison if I were caught with an ounce in my state. Maybe it's easy to forget the impact of drug laws when you're not subject to them yourself? If taxes are the bar to stop putting humans in prison for using a plant probably the cool take is to support it.
That's what I'm talking about. The fight is far from over. It's not even about wanting to get high. It's about how these terrible laws are used as justification for privacy violations, violence, destroying families and lots of other terrible things.
These issues always get framed like "you just want to eat Doritos and watch Cheech and Chong". Medical benefits aside, it's part of an overreaching human rights violation where drug addiction is criminalized and weaponized instead of treated, and big pharma cut off from supplying doctors that overprescribe.
I just hate that libs will be in control of this huge transition in our country and will completely give it away to large corporations, and millions will still be retroactively in jail or in the system otherwise.
You're right, corporations will necessarily profit from the legalization of any drugs, and that profit system will need to exist before legalization can ever happen. It's the way the system works, unfortunately.
It's so unfortunate.
Here in Michigan, they had a pretty good thing going where regular people would get a license to grow, and "sell" it through a "club" that was basically a dispensary that ran like a co-op. It was a lot more farm to table, while still being convenient for people who don't want to meet some weird dude down a two-track.
Then they threw out all of those rules, and now there is this weird system where out of state growers have been opening chain dispos with crappy, old weed that they (illegally, mind you) moved across state lines.
The result is this in between situation where a bunch of libertarian small business PMC types have set up businesses that grow their own, and have their own stores.
It's actually not the worst system, but it's still highly branded and a lot of.places give out a bunch of plastic "swag" or have single use plastics for all of their packaging.
no doubt that sounds incredibly shitty, but it's still miles ahead of any state that hasn't decriminalized or legalized. From my perspective, regardless of the flaws, it's immensely better than sending children to prison for a decade because they had three sacks of weed on them.
Oh, absolutely. I just think if it's done right, everyone (except for corporate interests) can win. It's part of the overlying theme of "seize the means of production"
Fuck man the best price I've ever gotten is $200/oz (but the guy did apologize for the price being "so high")
I still see it go for $200 often, but the quality difference isn't enough to justify it imo
When recreational sales went through in my state there were lines out the door for a few weeks before, I assume, everyone saw the prices and went back to their dealers
That too. People will always just go to the person down the street to save money
That's the bare minimum for a starting position imo. It blows my mind that the victims of the drug war are nowhere in the equation for libs. They probably wouldn't even notice if none of them got out of jail. They'd just be buying Green Lantern strains of the Disney/Marvel companies new Magic Kingdom brand prepackaged eighths.
It's too lucrative for the prison industrial complex. Removing the profit incentive from the judicial system is a task worthy of sisyphus
A lot of non consumers have a NIMBY vibe whenever cannabis comes up. They see it as a non-issue because it's "just kids wanting to get high". They don't experience the other end of the drug war boot.
Some places, mostly big cities like Detroit and Chicago, have equity programs for the dispos and other cannabis related businesses to be run by people from communities that were typically harmed by the drug wars. When I was in Oakland I always bought my dispo weed from a black owned shop in Berkeley called the Farmacy. They were cool as hell.
That's cool! I'll be on the lookout when I travel. It's about as diverse as a wilco concert where I live
legalize all drugs now. fund free, federally administered addiction assistance programs instead of the constellation of private addiction clinics that mostly just abuse patients and drain them and their loved ones' bank accounts with the false promise of recovery
And provide government sources of all drugs, so the drugs that people are using are known to be unadulterated and high quality. This would have the added benefit of completely destroying cartels overnight.
Reminds me of libs decrying trumps immigration policy because they want a taco truck on every corner
They can only pretend to have compassion for other people when it results in theoretical treats.
Every time they bring up inviting more Ukrainian refugees to the US, it devolves into "Mmmm yes I love Ukrainian food!"
Liberals - even at their most multicultural and pluralistic - can only imagine immigrants and refugees existing to happily and obediently serve Americans snacks.
Literally saw a post on :reddit-logo: that said "It's Chicken KYIV"
when the Ukrainian war ends, and libs have to do the whole "stabbed in the back" narative, do you think they'll rename Chicken Kiev to Freedom Chicken? Because I don't really see a way for them to get out of the contradiction, but Libs have shocked me before, so what do i know.
I mean the sensible thing is to earmark that tax revenue for reparations for people affected by prohibition and for education and general social programs, especially in black and brown communities that were hit hardest by prohibition.
If it's a local tax it's not going to the defense budget. Maybe police though
In some places I think they had the money go to something specific like schools and not the general fund
If it ever gets federally legalized, you know there will be a national tax. Even by way of income tax from the business owners. A big problem right now is that since it's not federally legal, banks can't take the money, so there is just mountains of cash sitting around these businesses. Just another target for crime. Restrict access to these things and people will break in to steal
Just make it legal to grow your own.
A lot these "weed bro" hippies trying to start dispensaries everywhere are really annoying and think it's some kind of magical elixir, and that's not even getting into how unfair it is that people rot in jail for selling weed while they profit off of it.
Like dispensaries aren't even legal in my country (only growing your own weed is), yet one of these dudes shows up at every strip mall trying to start some shitty undercover one lol.
I'm glad it's readily accessable, but I can guarantee there are people in this state who are still suffering from being in the system over it.
My father in law doesn't have a driver's license because of some weed stuff from over 20 years ago. Can't afford to go to court or something. Frankly I think he's just being silly. Enough time has gone by that it should be easy for him to get his license back, but the fact remains that some people live in fear of persecution from the government while others out there are raking in the cash while some languish in jail/prison
When it comes to incrementalist shit I accept that I will have to use and hear the dumbest arguments you've ever seen. It's okay so long as they do what you want.
It's how you convince a landlord to sign your anti-landlord petition, lol. Play on their incoherence.
It's the only way out of this one, but it's so crazy how no politicians will just do this obvious lay up
Lib politicians can't criticize the defense budget right now, we just got done manufacturing consent for infinite inflation and weapons to spite Putin.
Dems in office have never been good on foreign policy, but I miss when Dems on the ground were at least protesting against the wars in the ME. Dem voters have even got hawkish. As soon as I noticed the shift, right about Obama's first term, that's when things started clicking for me. I was always loosely left aligned, but voting for, and getting shafted by the Obama era was super eye opening. It was my first time voting. It felt so electric back then when compared to the eight years of Bush we just lived through. Like we had finally turned a page and people were engaged in new ways because of the advent of social media. I'll bet that's how trump supporters felt that night in 2016.
Hey, I'm just trying to inject a little conversation between screenshots of Twitter and anime/video game posts
Welcome to the hell that is New Jersey, where you can buy an eighth for $60+ but it's still illegal to grow in your home
I have enough anger to go around. I'm angry at the oppressors, but I'm also angry at the bootlickers who allow oppression in the first place. They always get to sit in the driver's seat because they lick enough boot
