My apologies in advance for the brain cells you’re going to lose processing this.
Pot Petition leader Melissa Mentele is claiming on social media on the KELOLand news facebook page today that after repeated and finally exhausted appeals, the execution of death row inmate Charles Rhines is being scheduled on Monday because the state is intentionally trying to overshadow her effort.
Mentele actually has the temerity to claim the execution was scheduled for Monday because “The execution was scheduled to ensure that this news over shadowed the news of the ballot question committee turn ins.”
Wow. So, putting someone to death who committed one of the more brutal crimes in recent state history after sitting on death row over 25 years is all about her ballot measure?
No words. Except, a good reminder that this is who is trying to legalize marijuana in the state.
If the media in her mind continues to ignore her I would not be surprised to see her accidentally (wink wink) trip and fall on the Capitol steps or hallway floor and claim the floor was wet calling in all the media and then switching it to her pot petitions.
There is nothing amusing about using capitol punishment to overshadow the work of hundreds of patients in SD. The death warrant expires on the 11/9, why do it on a day that is normally reserved for political events such as election day and initiative turn ins. Im sure its a coincidence, just like Noem reserving the rotunda on turn in day to ensure no one else had access due to the one event a day rule, the employee health screenings being held in the visitor center the same day also making that space unavailable and then Noem using the next closest meeting space for another event the same day….all coincidence right?
“hundreds of patients” What a con!
Let us know when the black helicopters come for you Melissa.
Who?
Does she know that the AG got an order for the week of November 3-9 sometime this summer? AND then the warden of the prison in Sioux Falls, not Pierre, then picks the date and time. So I doubt he even knew or cared of the pot heads efforts…
They say paranoia and psychosis are a side effect of marijuana usage.
If this is how it starts… it’s going to be a long year of conspiracy theories by the pot heads
Mentele always the victim complained about all the hard work they put in. She broke her past claim and called in the out of state big marijuana industry group MPP to pay petitioners and then the lying and snake oil claims began. The Farmers will make millions! The state will have so much money that all our problems will go away!
Yeah so much for a South Dakota effort….. more like an out of state effort to force it upon SD
The judge picks the week. The warden sets the time within that week. The last execution was also scheduled for the Monday of the scheduled week.
What was stopping them from turning the petitions in last week?
I think they’re trying to upstage Charles Rhines. Jerks.
I don’t mean to pile on, but that’s one ludicrous conspiracy theory. Speaking as one addicted to a drug — caffeine — I hope my abilities to reason & distinguish fact from fantasy remain intact longer than mel’s did.
I’m not experiencing any outrage at this supposition.
Why not overshadow the cannabis petition turn-in?
People are so brainwashed against cannabis it would create positive value for the prohibitionists who don’t want to face the fact that they have been immorally hurting the lives of cannabis users and businesspeople.
I think the medicinal proposal is going to provide cover for the black market, and that, if it is allowed to stand, the “[medicinal defense]” clause will be used as a sales tool for the black market.
That said, I really hope we can stop fighting about cannabis, get it legalized, and move on to more important issues.
For the record, I think the persecution against “pot heads” represented in this thread contributes negatively to the mental health of people who are doing nothing wrong by using cannabis.
Fifty years ago I was talking to some friends about the pot users we knew. And one of my friends said she had noticed that the frequent users were getting “screwed up” by it. It did seem that the frequent users weren’t going to classes and were flunking out. The question is, were they suffering from depression and anxiety and self-medicating with marijuana, or did the marijuana use lead to depression and anxiety? Whatever was going on, the consensus was that users were losers.
The “persecution” of potheads doesn’t contribute negatively to the mental health of people who are doing nothing wrong, but it is likely the cannabis itself is causing problems, if only because it is deterring them from seeking needed medical treatment. While apathy and euphoria are desirable for people who are terminally ill, those effects are not desirable in people who still need to get up and go to work everyday.
“those effects are not desirable in people who still need to get up and go to work everyday” – there is nothing inherent in cannabis that prevents a person working every day.
That said, if you get caught with it, you might lose your job, and you won’t be able to work every day, but not because of cannabis, because of a bad policy.
There may also be other things in the cannabis causing issues that we don’t know about because you can’t have it tested, and the black market is providing it. We need to bring this market above board, allow testing, and understand better the different effects of different strains. At the same time, we should also acknowledge that all of the negative effects you mention could more easily apply to alcohol than cannabis.
Our people and our policies cause more evil than cannabis ever has.
There is a big lie afoot .. it started in the 30’s.
Read more here:
https://PlainsTribune.com/cc4l
How many times do you self medicate per day with weed? Per week? In front of you’re kids?
Anon – why would you even ask this when you already know the answer? The answer is never. I never medicate with weed.
There is nothing inherent in cannabis which prevents people from going to work everyday. That is correct. But untreated depression and anxiety will do a good job of it. If they are self-medicating with pot and not getting the treatment they need, that’s the problem. It’s the same thing that’s bad about alcohol. Alcoholics get “persecuted” too. They lose their vehicle operator’s licenses, their jobs, their families. So they could claim that their problems are all somebody else’s fault, they are being persecuted and they haven’t done anything wrong and that’s why they have mental illness. But alcoholics have AA to kick them in the butt if they say that.
Hi Anne – mental illness is very nebulous. In the field of psychology, I think two things are very underrated. First, when excluded from jobs, friends, and family (presumably because they use cannabis), depression is far more likely (even without substances, but exclusion from peers drives habitual/addictive behavior, not THC/CBD/CBG).
The other underrated proximate cause is the Lucifer Effect (google this). All the arm-chair psychologists should google this. Actually, so should the professionals.
“More important issues” for John Dale means martial law, ending civil rights for women and turning Lawrence County into a sanctuary city for white people.
Hey anon – you could speak for yourself, about yourself, or maybe just read more and not speak/write. In any event, I’ve found your comments today .. entertaining.
What are your thoughts on Martial Law? I would have the conversation about ending civil rights for women, but I don’t think you could convince me that it’s a good idea. Lawrence County can’t be a sanctuary city, but I suppose it could be a sanctuary county. I’m listening .. why would you do that?
John,
If referring to users as potheads is “persecution” and “contributes negatively to (their) mental health,” they are snowflakes who need to deal with their issues stone sober.
Further, you really should be calling Mentele out for asserting the scheduling of the killing of Rhines is to distract from her delivery of petitions. Feeds the impression all the advocates are potheads.
Troy – I was more referring to the fact that if someone is a cannabis advocate they cannot get work and support their family, aren’t welcome in gatherings of family, and cannot find friends to do things with .. these would be the “sticks and stones”, not just words.
Looks like choices potheads made. Playing the victim is manipulation. Unless someone forced them to smoke that crap.
If I’m correct and cannabis should be legal, apply your principle to other things and see if it holds water.
Hey, how about water. Imagine water was prohibited.
“Sounds like those water heads are just breaking the law and playing the victim .. they should just follow the law and quit complaining. Water heads can’t work. Don’t hang out with them.”
Sometimes, Troy, there really is a victim. In the case of cannabis, the victims could just whine about it or they can get politically active to change the law.
Seems like the cannabis advocates in SD didn’t play the victim despite being victimized by bad laws and ignorant social practices. So, what do you do? Praise them for the effort? Nope .. you hurl slurs that marginalize their ability to get work. You also bandy about the “pothead” term which could have the same effect whether true or not. The truth may be that “potheads” are more creative, better employees. Or, it may be the case that cannabis has little/no effect on a person’s natural potential for working. It may also be the case that prohibition results in things being put into the cannabis supply that affect a person’s ability to work.
Honestly, is there anything more annoying that a manipulative person taking away all choices but one, then marginalizing those forced into the false “choice” for having made the wrong choice!?
The argument you are making regresses to a state where morality doesn’t and shouldn’t exist. “Don’t play the victim” translates to “do not recognize, classify, and address the problem in society”.
“Don’t play the victim. Just accept your slavery and make the false choices the system gives you.”
Seems very un-american.
Troy – furthermore, calling someone a “pothead” may create a false perception of ability, work ethic, and merit that causes harm. Not all words are harmless .. slander, defamation are two examples.
John,
In a free society, people have the freedom to make choices and if it adversely reflects on them as employees and the exercise of their freedom has consequences. That is how freedom works.
In a free society, families have the freedom to define acceptable choices at family gatherings and members can choice to conform or not conform to family expectations.
In a free society, people have the freedom to associate with who they want and to accept or reject the choices other’s make.
In a free society, I can use whatever slang I want in describing the choices other’s make and I’m not responsible for the inferences other’s make from that description.
It appears my description of snowflake is correct as your comment seems to infer you don’t think it “fair” people adversely react to the choices of dopers. Every choice as a consequence and I’m free to react to your choices however I see fit.
Hi Troy;
I find myself tormented by nuance and inflection in issues. They are never black and white.
If I told your boss you are a heroine addict, he might not fire you on the spot, but I’m sure it would affect your relationship .. you would be the “victim” of defamation/slander.
Calling me a pothead to my face defies this example. That said, I sign my name, and calling me “pothead” is defaming me in front of potential employers. But since I’m not interested in playing the victim, my choices have been narrowed somewhat .. I can be a bud tender, I guess, assuming we can get it legalized.
Consider bad laws that get made .. sure, we can follow them, but our choices have consequences. A person could choose to tell a lie and be a part of a church even though they are not a believer. Presumably, they would get a better job and have more friends.
Some choose to start businesses with inheritance money, and then become very successful.
I think the most flawed aspect of the victimhood criticism is that not everybody has the same set of choices, yet we are supposed to be able to discern character, abilities, merit, etc from the “choices we make”.
For instance, I did not choose to invest my uncles million bucks into a farm/ranch. I didn’t have that choice, but I’m sure as shootin’ going to be judged by people who did.
Fairness, morality, judgement – when they are all applied correctly, life gets a lot more fun for everyone (including the guy who inherits, but doesn’t earn, wealth).
Dale,
You need to talk to a lawyer as you don’t seem to understand defamation or slander.
1) If you tell my boss I’m a heroin addict and it is the truth, there is no slander and defamation. What other’s do with the truth is their choice.
2) If you tell my boss I’m a heroin addict and you know it is NOT the truth (or were wreckless with regard to the truth, there is potentially slander and defamation.
3) I can use any slang I choose (especially if it reflects my personal view of that truth such as smoking pot is not benign) to describe a person & one of their attributes or actions without regard to whether you appreciate the slang or its intended inference and it is not slander or defamation.
For the record:
1) I consider a person a pothead any person who ingests marijuana sufficiently that it almost always can be detected in their system. In other words, if I know you use marijuana more than every two weeks, I would refer to you as a pothead.
2) I also consider a person a pothead any person who give me reason to believe they have used pot in the recent past AND they are in this condition most of the times we interact.
The few people I know who fit this description I consider them potheads. If I have a relationship with them, they know how I feel about this “activitity” and it reflects negatively on them from my perspective.