Cool OT thread. I could be wrong, but I don’t think the economic benefit of legalizing marijuana would outweigh the damage of having legal marijuana bars (not just for folks w/prescriptions) here in town. I’ve been around pot before and don’t have any particular personal hang-ups with it. There are obvious differences between pot and alcohol, so don’t try to compare them in a manner that suggests they should be treated the same. Also, there would be a far greater percentage of recreational smokers than there are people who smoke for legitimate health purposes. In other words, legalizing it would result in more people using it simply to get high. Unlike alcohol, with pot you generally get high every time you smoke. With alcohol, you can drink one beer, get in your car and drive – legally, as long as you are not “impaired” or above the legal limit. One beer doesn’t get you stoned the way one hit off a bong probably would. Would the law then be that it is illegal to drive after any amount of pot smoking? Just seems to open a big can of worms, and a legal nightmare.
I’ve never been to any of the countries that have legal marijuana bars. It would be interesting to see what effect this has had on their society.
In any event, I gotta go with SD Realtor on this. I got no problem with keeping it illegal. Also, it would be unpatriotic to legalize it. Think how many folks in the DEA would be out of work? Probably some lay-offs in other governmental entities as well. Keeping pot illegal provides decent American families with well paying jobs in our government.
