According to the Argus Leader this morning, pot advocates are planning 2 measures for the 2016 ballot. One, for ‘medical marijuana.’ The other? To reduce the penalty for when they’re caught with ‘medical marijuana,’ a.k.a., decriminalization.
Organizations have submitted two proposals to the Legislative Research Council that could potentially wind up on the 2016 presidential election ballot.
One would establish protections for medical marijuana. The other would ease some of the punishments for recreational users.
“Decriminalization would ease that burden for the legal system to prosecute real problems, like methamphetamine and rape,” said Ryan Gaddy, administrator for South Dakotans Against Prohibition. “Non-violent offenders aren’t hurting anybody.”
So, “Decriminalization would ease that burden for the legal system to prosecute real problems, like methamphetamine and rape?”
But as a gateway drug, isn’t pot use the constant when they arrest users/dealers of meth?
And it seems that there are plenty of real problems just with pot itself. Just ask the uptstanding Sioux Falls citizen-pot users involved in this case going to jail for a couple of years.
I suspect South Dakotans will once again reject these measures, despite it being trendy among liberals.
Cannibus is a benign herb from the earth so it’s good for us. It is mother nature’s miracle herb that can help with melanoma, ptsd, cancer, measles, ebola, anthrax, epilepsy, depression, stress, chemo and everything.
Canibus also helps with Shingles, Hemroids and constipation too! It relaxes your muscles.
I heard that heavy use affects your ability to spell…
I heard that no use negates your ability to be cool.
So it’s cool to want to be high? Sorry, that decade has sailed, AO.
Apparently not. In five years the citizens of over ten states will have legalized marijuana. They are moving forward and you are stuck in the past. Lost in the wilderness of no ideas.
I hear it also eases your desire to have a job, too!
It also reduces your inhibitions so you experiment with meth, and to kill people for money.
So does alcohol, porn, and gambling.. To name a few.
hey maybe the guy at the civic center should have spilled pot over the crowd below instead of beer.
Colorado is not far away.
There are definitely some regrets in Colorado with some of the issues they are facing with this grand experiment. They found that 75% of medical marijuana prescriptions are abused. Social and governmental costs have gone far beyond what they expected.
Proof from peer review studies?
Yes, it’s horrible. The abuse. Also, it generated $60 million in taxes and Harvard says it also saved $145 million wasted in marijuana enforcement.
This is the kind of tax Republicans love because it is voluntary.
Republicans probably aren’t that happy about the big savings in enforcement. That is a side effect of the voters exercising their power – a concept that’s not too popular among South Dakota Republican legislators.
Several years ago, before complete legalization, the CO Dept. of Health reported 80% of Medical pot prescriptions in the entire state were written in Summit County to men aged 21 to 24. CO law allowed “chronic pain” as a reason for a prescription.
Apparently snowboarding hurts.
evidently hangnails also.
That’s total BS. 80% of statewide mmj cards are NOT in Summit County. Google it, fool.
(apparently pot use doesn’t do much to stimulate or enlarge the sense of humor)
It is a wonderful drug: it induces the euphoria of Morphine & the apathy of Demerol, without the constipation and respiratory depression of either. It controls nausea as well as Zofran. It is an appetite stimulant. It is the perfect drug for hospice and cancer patients. It’s cheap and Patients’ families can grown their own.
It is NUTS that it is not a legal drug. All this fuss about the dangers of somebody having fun with it can be said of Morphine. As for the health risks, if you already have a terminal illness, what you ingest to make the end of your life more comfortable is nobody’s business but your own.
The horror! Ten bucks says that if pot were legalized, still more people would be killed by drunks. Bring back prohibition!
i saw a great internet meme on facebook last week. it was a picture of a cute college-age girl, and the caption said “typical college girl. 1. thinks gun laws will eliminate guns; 2. smokes pot.”
Gun Laws help eliminate mass murder. We in CO have banned magazines over 15 rounds and since then not one person has shown the need for more than 15 bullets at a time before the can drop a clip and load another. A crazy kid armed with several hundred round mags opened fire and wounded 80 people who are undergoing livelong pain and rehab. Since, the only attempts by crazed kids has been with shotguns and many many people have been spared.
(kids, this is what it looks like when someone misses the whole point of something and misses it by a country mile)
It’s just a matter of time when all this glorification of pot wears off and reality sinks in as to what the true costs of legalization are. The miracle health claims of medical marijuana are so over exaggerated it’s incredible and part of it due to it being used to open the door for full recreational use being legalized.
Besides users promoting this there is a HUGE amount of money to be made from this exploding industry. Those financial promoters were doing everything they could at full speed ahead and the societal consequences were the least of their concerns. It’s similar to the Tobacco industry in expanding mark share practices years ago. According to those that have a financial gain and the users marijuana is the miracle drug and harmless plant you can grow at home.
Morality of society> free market, then? Better to spend billions of your tax dollars to prevent kids and lazy asses from being kids and lazy asses?
If it was true free market there would be full legalization of all drugs but that has not worked out so well.
Projections:
The voters legalize marijuana.
The kooks in the Legislature overturn the will of the voters.
Naaaa…. that could never happen in South Dakota.
Mr. Powers …. Marijuana isn’t right for SoDak at this time. In reflection, why would a group of white people addicted to pain pills and gambling in such numbers need another salve to their situation? PS… keep your criminals from coming to Colorado with intent to smuggle our product back to your state illegally, please. They’re becoming a nuisance to our progress and freedoms.
My dapper friend Bob would love to have his wacky weed legalized here in South Dakota or at least he tells me so at breakfast.
http://www.autismsupportnetwork.com/news/autism-treatment-marijuana-madness-8763721
The nonsensical “reefer madness” hysteria is simply not going to work on all of us who smoked pot and ate brownies in our youth. And while we noticed that the heavy users had trouble going to classes, most suffered no ill effects, certainly nothing as bad as alcohol use.
The worst thing about pot is that it is illegal. The 2nd worst thing about it was the munchies.
That’s it.
“But as a gateway drug, isn’t pot use the constant when they arrest users/dealers of meth”
Don’t look now, folks, but Pat Powers might be intentionally conflating correlation with causation. Small government, small government, unless we think you are being immoral. Welcome to South Dakota.
Pot is a gateway drug to meth only if the munchies get out of control, you blimp out, and end up taking diet pills
This pothead lost any ambition to feed and clean up after these poor kids. It’s just disgusting and sad as mentioned in today’s Strib. http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/296465981.html