Interesting Referendums

So Gay Marriage won in every state where it was a ballot question (I mentioned that yesterday, I’ll just say its making the slow crawl to a national convention…what more states need to do is not only push Gay Marriage laws, but also push Marriage certificate reciprocity. Here in New England that’s been VERY successful, its less threatening to the old guard that still pulls some votes, and gives all the benefits. ie You can’t get married if you’re a gay couple in Connecticut or Rhode Island, BUT if you say pop over to Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and soon Maine, you can get married, and your certificate will be recognized back home. My wife and I got married in Maine, when we both were living in Massachusetts, I don’t see why others can’t enjoy the same thing)

Still some more interesting referendums. Here in Mass we’re going to get “Medical Marijuana”. I supported this referendum, but I really hate these laws for reasons we’ve discussed here, while legalizing drugs is a freedom I support, and the issues with the black market drug trade, and law enforcement abuses are far worse than any problems with addiction (which happen right now despite the prohibition…my wife’s cousin is in jail right now for drug issues, sorry the laws didn’t “save” him, and they won’t “save” anybody else).

Still claiming a wild-growing weed that is most often ingested by smoking is “Medicine” is nothing short of stone-age, and given that since its not really Medicine, the treatment plans are frequently just recreational drug use anyway. Why not just be honest? Sorry I’m better than the gun banners, do we REALLY need to lie about an issue to make it legal?

Colorado and Washington legalized it for recreational use!

The Colorado measure has sparked a national debate about marijuana policy, with supporters pushing for the federal government to end marijuana prohibition nationwide. The Colorado measure states adults over 21 can possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana, or six marijuana plants, for personal use. Opponents have said it will make the state a haven for drug tourists.

The measure in Washington State, Initiative 502, will legalize and regulate the production, possession and distribution of marijuana for residents age 21 and older.

Yeah its still FEDERALLY illegal, but fuck it, if the President (who himself was an unabashed illegal pot user) wants to continue his stupid raids, let them. The local police will save a ton of time, money, and resources, and the public will see how much money the feds waste on rousting stoners.

Over in California, they had two interesting laws passed. First is this crap (via Bubblehead Less)

Los Angeles County voters chose safety Tuesday night when they approved a requirement that all porn actors wear condoms — a move that adult film workers complain will put a massive dent into a booming industry.

With 100 percent of the county’s precincts reporting, “Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act” — or Measure B — passed 56 percent to 44 percent.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which sponsored the initiative, said the measure will help safeguard public health as well as porn workers’ health.

Now first this law is stupid, as A) Porn workers are RIGOROUSLY tested, and there really hasn’t been any STI issues in Porn since the days of John Holmes that there were STI related deaths in Porn. (Also I’ll point out that Johnny Wadd did both gay and straight porn, and was an IV Drug user, and was a black market prostitute) but B) Not only will this law be in effect, but it will need to be enforced, adding more cost and strain to the Porn industry.

Porn is HUGE business in California, you think these people will comply, or move? Another reason why California is broke.

Also on California they attempted to ban (AGAIN) the Death Penalty, and it lost!

The death penalty is a farce in this country. Many condemned prisoners die in prison of OLD AGE! Those who ARE executed die DECADES after their crime, meaning that the public has essentially forgotten about the crime. If we pulled it more like Tim McVey’s execution we’d probably see some positive effects. He committed a horrible crime, we convicted him, we executed him in a humane fashion, and gave him a decent burial. Crime, punishment, cause and effect!

Interesting times!

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10 Responses to Interesting Referendums

  1. JD says:

    Gotta disagree on the weed thing . . . My dad was a doctor who specialized in addiction. He agreed Pot would have some positive effects. It will help with nausea which is why it is dangerous to smoke and drink too much, you get alcohol poisoning because you don’t throw up. Some folks sick from cancer or whatever can’t take pills so smoking it works for them. Remember penicillin is from fungus . . . most/lots of drugs are from plants, as I am sure you know in your work so there may be some backing to this. Problem is we can ‘t seriously look at it because the .gov can’t get past the OOOOO WEEED part to truly look at the facts. . . I am glad it passed . . . I think we agree the drug war is a failure anyway so any chip away at it is a good one. . .

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Oh yeah, and aspirin is a derivative from willow bark. Still you aren’t eating mushrooms or chewing on wood to treat illness, you’re consuming purified drug set in a known dosing level.

      Tablets capsules and suspensions are all formulated with their concentration, and have their active ingredients mixed with FDA regulated fillers or vehicles.

      Now I’m in no way saying Marijuana has no therapeutic value, so does alcohol, green tea and collard greens. But you don’t write scripts for them because they aren’t formulated drugs.

      We also have formulations of THC that can be taken in ways that people won’t puke it up (like liquid drops, or sub-lingual tablets). I suspect these don’t get as wide spread use because they probably don’t work as well as other medicines. Same with the people in Cali with their weed cards for anxiety….we have drugs for that that are non intoxicating, which is the ethically preferred treatment)

      If we just make the stuff as legal as alcohol or cigarettes then people can use it to get high, or to treat illness at will, as can doctors mention the harms and benefits of it without legal risks.

  2. Geodkyt says:

    Yup – totally opposed to “medical marijuana”, because it’s a flimsy excuse.

    The ratios and concentrations of the active ingredients in marijuana smoke vary by how the plants are grown, stored, and injested — even the humidity around them and the temperature of the flame lighting it changes stuff. Nor is it readily predictable — different buds from the SAME plant can vary wildly.

    That ain’t medicine.

    On the other hand, I figure that weed, while an abysmally stupid habit (beyond even the stupidity of nicotine addiction), is morally and philosophically no different than distilled liquor, and so should be legally no different.

  3. Archer says:

    While I’m glad that – at the state level, at least – we’re chipping away at the whole “War on (some) Drugs” campaign, I’ll note that Washington did it wrong. Making it legal was partly to reduce the “black market” for marijuana, but their method was “legalize and tax the sh!t out of it”. With a sledgehammer.

    WA will be licensing growers, distributors, and retailers. This is good. They will also be taxing it at 25% per stage. 25% to the growers on its value, another 25% to the distributors on its (presumably post-taxed and marked up) value, and yet another 25% on its (presumably post-taxed-post-taxed and marked up) value. Do the math, and that nearly doubles the initial cost in taxes alone, plus mark-ups. It might (probably will) still be much cheaper to buy it illegally.

    KUDOS on passing the law and providing a legal way to get it, but the people who can’t afford to pay double for the same product will still be supporting the illicit drug trade.

    Nothing ever changes, does it?

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Yeah I was talking with my Mother-in-law about legalization, and she gave the “tax the hell out of it”, but when I mentioned how much smuggling of cigarettes is going on, she realized that heavy taxation won’t stop the cartels.

      Sure tax it, why not? But “Progressives” get greedy when it comes to other people’s money, and they kill the golden goose.

  4. Silver the Evil Chao says:

    Oh wow, they finally voted on the porn bill? I’ve been hearing about that for a while…because people in Las Vegas have already speculated that California’s porn industry will move THERE because of the law. Much like how we found ourselves awash in badly-driving Californians back when I still lived there…

  5. Braden Lynch says:

    Regarding the death penalty…I would like to see the BC, MAIG, and others get fully behind reforms so the death penalty is fast and efficient. That would reduce their “gun violence” statistic faster than a speeding bullet. That’s not what they are after though. They want me, Joe-Average-Citizen to be disarmed, so they can rule me.

    If you disagree with it’s deterrent effect, here is a thought experiment (might be from Dennis Prager). Guaranteed death penalty carried out immediately for capital crimes committed on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Life in prison for the other days of the week. Guess what will happen to those gang drive-bys, home invasions and so on. Some crimes of passion might occur on M,W,F, but it would be less than now.

    Of course, it is not just to deter, it is to PUNISH!
    If it teaches some criminals the value of human life, that is great.

    • Weerd Beard says:

      Point A) BC and MAIG could care less about reducing “Gun Death”, and generally prefer more of it as their funding wanes. Their target has ALWAYS been the lawful gun owners, and those people rarely get executed.

      B) Yes the Death Penalty is punishment, but punishment is also a deterrent. Mom or Dad ever spank you for doing something bad? Didn’t do it again did you?

      See somebody else get nailed for something that you also do (like speed traps). You change your actions don’t you?

      There just needs to be cause and effect. Also Prison needs to be WORSE than your average public housing apartment, not better as they are now.

      Criminals aren’t dumb, in areas where the general population carries guns, most criminals avoid crimes where they meet their victims face-to-face. They saw the news and heard the stories of their comrades getting shot, and they wised up!

      Same could go for execution if it was done in a timely manner.

    • Derek D. says:

      So you would be okay with the State murdering Ray Krone?

      Just wondering.

      And spanking only deterred the kids that were weak with low pain tolerances, or the very, very small ones. Once I turned around 7, spanking had zero effect on me. Once the child figures out that spanking doesn’t hurt that much, where do you go? Belts? Fists?

      A sociopath will not care about the death penalty, just like criminals now could care less about the existence of “gun free zones.”

      Two sides of the same coin.

      If we let out all the drug offenders and reserved our jails exclusively for Malum In Se predators I bet we would have plenty of space to ensure those who do not deserve to walk in society get to die in prison.

      If the State NEVER made a mistake I would be totally in favor of the death penalty. Hell, I’d want it expanded.

      • Weerd Beard says:

        You are right, Spanking has little effect once a kid learns he can survive it. Hence why we don’t all cry like babies when we skin our knees. We know it sucks, we also are old enough to know its not the end of the world.

        I don’t know if I ever got spanked, I did get some stern words re-enforced with pain (Mom liked to lead me away from trouble I caused with a DEATH grip on my hand).

        But once a kid gains limited reason parents have to adapt or start failing at their job. By the time I was 7 I would have BEGGED for a spanking if it meant I could keep my Atari and TV privileges. Hell I’d take my chances against a balled fist if it meant I could keep my Nintendo for a week.

        They found what hurt and hurt me when I stepped out of line.

        Now as for sociopaths not caring about death, I’m sure there are a few, but there are lots more that cry like babies on the execution table, and so many of them fight damn hard to get their execution commuted to life in prison. Why do you think that is?

        I’m certainly with you on stopping all the nonsense with people getting high. The people who are responsible are the least of our problems, the people who ruin their lives do far more harm to themselves than the state ever would dare, and the people who start ruining the lives of others from their addictions, well then we have grounds to lock them up.

        I do have some moral issues with letting a human being rot in a cage until they die.

        If life in prison means life in prison, then why don’t we show them some dignity?

        As for various people exonerated I am not saying anything about appeals, we need them, and they’re good. I just think the process is bloated and more often abused than correctly used.

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