Some interesting reactions to this story: Va. lawmaker wants to legalize marijuana to sell in ABC stores
For those who aren’t aware, ABC (Alcoholic Beverage Control) stores are state-run stores to sell alcohol, a system that exists in certain states as opposed to licensing private alcohol stores.
Radley Balko tweets: “I genuinely don’t know how I feel about this.”
I understand. As a libertarian, he can’t be thrilled with turning it all over to the government, while at the same time he’d be happy to get it out of criminal prohibition.
I would prefer that marijuana not be restricted to government distribution only, but have no problem with almost any half-way measure (including this one) if it actually moves us away from prohibition.
The most ridiculously self-serving comment goes to:
Wayne Frith, of Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE), is opposed to the idea. He said marijuana comes with dangerous health ramifications.
“The simple truth is the health implications and public safety implications are horrible with this drug. Somehow we’ve created this myth that marijuana is a harmless play drug and it’s not. It needs to be controlled. To equate it with alcohol and put it o the general public, I mean what’s next? Selling it at Wal-Mart and having young people steal it? That’s the wrong track to go down,†said Frith.
Beyond his Reefer Madness hysteria, I found it ironic that Frith wants marijuana “to be controlled” and thus opposes putting it the ABC system (yes, the C stands for “Control”). Instead, he prefers that it be sold completely without control by criminals.
Most ignorant response comes from pttownnative in the comments to the article:
Anyone who smokes marijuana is a criminal and your comments does not matter anyways. This politican who states that members of society use marijuana should be placed under oath and made to release those names. If your life sucks so bad that you have to get high just to make through your miserable existance, no one cares about thier comments either. We need to stop or regulate the government handouts to bring our economy up not wasting time with this stupid topic.
More anecdotal evidence of the link between prohibition and brain dysfunction.
Oh, priceless.
Priceless is that a state with no legalization or even mmj is researching a safe method to distribute.
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You’ll have to peel me off of the floor if this happens. I mean the proposed study, not actually seeing it sold in ABC stores.
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clay, Virginia was one of the first States to pass a medicinal cannabis law way back in 1979. The law is still on the books. Does it not count because the Legislature decided that genuflecting at the altar of Federal law was required?
Ah, the kicker is the prescription language. Since cannabis was removed from the pharmacopea, and (later) not approved by the FDA, no physician canwrite an actual prescription, and no pharmacist can fill one. So as long as schedule one remains the law of the land, it’s defacto illegal.
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Indeed. But the moment the Feds change their policy it’s legal in Virginia for doctors to prescribe and pharmacies to fill that prescription. That isn’t true in any other State except for Oregon and the other remaining States with Bob Randall inspired laws.
It was true at the time this law was passed that it was perceived that Federal approval was imminent. From time to time I wonder how things would be different had they known that it wouldn’t happen for over three decades at least.
It would be really interesting if marijuana was somehow suddenly removed from the Controlled Substances Act entirely. I’d love to see all the states scrambling to figure out just how that affects their laws, since a lot of them refer to the CSA.
States’ law not only refer to the CSA, most if not all are using the Uniform Controlled Substances Act.
Illinois is in a similar boat. They passed a law in 1978 (I think) that legalized mmj, which technically is still on the books and could be implemented any time they want. The problem is that the illinois health department has to fill in the details of the system and the illinois state police have to approve it (which is never going to happen).
A law that isn’t functional is not exactly “having”mmj.
New Jersey has a mmj law and a governor that will not let it go into effect,,so all they are is a number.
Selling cannabis next to booze? That sounds like a good way to expose cannabis consumers to a far, far more dangerous drug. I generally think the “gateway theory” is nonsense, but this seems like it’s just asking for trouble.
Seriously, this is great news and yet another little chink in the wall. I don’t suppose it has any realistic chance of going anywhere since we’re talking about Virginia? I’m pretty sure they take their tobacky straight, hold the wacky.
“Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE)”? Never heard of them. They sound like tools. And you know what’s even better than being SAFE? Being SAFER! And I’d much prefer a devoid-of-prohibitionists environment. I might even start my own organization to promote the concept. Now if I could just think of a name that would result in a semi-clever acronym….
Well, Francis, it will just have to be an acronym that works with “SAFEST”
DDAMM,,Drugged drivers against mad mothers,,tee hee,,,
Straight ass facts every single time
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Statistics
And
Facts
Every
Single
Time
Francis, I think we have a winner, pending your approval, of course.
pttownnative? cmon man.. a fellow native? i mean, thats what im getting from your user name and um… i mean, i am a native as well so you can throw the ‘who’re you to talk about this’ card out the window but my friend what in the world is wrong with you? take a look around… ‘brother’ cuz if anybody should understand how important it is not to think and talk the way you did about other human beings it’s you and me. That was outrageous. I don’t know, i think your comments were really outrageous, but i feel sad for you as a person.. i really think you need to pick up the ol bury my heart at wounded knee and realize that persecution, witch hunting, suppression of human right of choice, freedom etc. is a serious deal and should be especially serious to folks like us but umm.. then again, idk maybe that pttownnative just means your some kind of native of a pt town not a native american in which case alot of what ive said doesnt apply to you and some of it does…. either way i can say this much regardless of race ethnicity this is an issue that crosses all the lines and sadly many years ago i thought sorta like you did i promise i did.. ! i was worse…! its a sad way to live like that…. someone needs a lil..uh.. bayer brand…diacetylmorphine in their life…to put it nicely and PC.. 😉
I have just one word: huh??
I think … someone got their browser tabs confused?
“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved for the States respectively, or to the people.” Personally, I’m against any person or group of people telling me what I may or may not ingest. And I don’t usually support halfway measures when it comes to legalization. But putting marijuana in ABC stores at least puts control of it where it belongs — with the states.
Okay, I just got a message from Microsoft that the drugwarrant website has been reported as “unsafe.” What’s up with that?
That’s certainly news to me, rita. As far as I know, nothing has come from Google or the other main sources for verifying pages.
Was this specifically in Internet Explorer? Their safe-browsing function can have some glitches. I don’t have Internet Explorer, so I can’t test it on this site.
Has anyone else gotten this message?
Obviously, there’s nothing I’ve done with this site that could be considered unsafe. The Google ads sometimes trigger alerts because they leave cookies etc, but that’s true for any site that has google ads. Sometimes a hacker can get into a site and place some malware, but I’ve checked the code and it all looks proper.
Never got anything like that. But I’ve completely disabled Microsoft’s IE “filtering and protection” crap on my laptop. That said, I took a sec and tested in a sandbox with all the MS secure crap enabled and didn’t get any messages. You’re not on Microsoft’s spam list either.
Might have been one of the ads?
They may possibly be referring to the somewhat unsavoury contents of duncan’s bong water.
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Man, that bong water must be awful ripe by now considering that I haven’t used the darn thing since 2004. I put that aside after reading the research that demonstrated that smoke filtered through water removes more THC than nasties making it the least healthful smoking method.
I did say it was just a hunch.
I’m glad you don’t use a bong as, just like yourself, I’m pretty sure they suck.
No, Malcolm, you suck. When using a bong, that is.
Rita, critical thinking is potentially dangerous, and microsoft strongly encourages you to do something safe, like go to Facebook and play farmville. Really, they sleep better at night knowing you are quietly tending your virtual beans, and not surfing around exposing yourself to dangerous ideas.
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It doesn’t matter how many times I search Google news for “marijuana” it simply will not autofill the word. Even more annoying is that recently it started suggesting marijuana.com. Hmm, maybe I should see what it does with “marijuana is bad, mmm-kay?”
After I type the fourth letter it auto-fills with “marines pissing on afghans” I wonder what it all means?
Oh geeze, I never noticed that. It doesn’t autofill the word, does it? And while the first suggestion is ‘marijuana.com’ the second is ‘marijuana’s effects on the brain’
“Marijuana is” is … amusing.
Though I guess I should be grateful that typing in ‘war on drugs’ brings up ‘war on drugs failure’ as a result, albeit at the bottom of the list. The top result being ‘war on drugs band.’
Like those little bands they used to put on potties in motels; Sanitzed for Your Protection.
It does autofil “Cannabis”.
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Yes, but cannabis gives me articles from the British, Australian, and to some extent Canadian press. Since I’m UScentric and further find myself overly nauseated reading Brit and Aussie propaganda it really does me no good. It’s just a petty annoyance that Google won’t autofill certain words. Google isn’t my mommy.
Believe me, I have a deep seated dislike for the M word and hate having to type it in full. The sacrifices I make in the name of cannabis law reform are extensive. I guess this is just another cross eyed bear.
Drugwarrant.com: Unsafe at any speed. Pete, didn’t I warn you not to piss off that Ralph Nader guy?
Virginia native and resident here:
This state is so republican, redneck and racist (sorry, Dad) that I cannnot see them EVER adopting this, even at the point of a gun. To me, this is a suspicious move – like the prohibs are checking to see who pops their head up on this so they can pick them off.
Damn, I am one cynical old bastard. Still alive, though.
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When the heck did Virginia start electing Republicans? When I lived there that party was totally marginalized. I suppose a lot could have changed in the last 9 years and admit I don’t follow Virginia politics as a rule since moving away. Of course the Democrats were DINOs just like Mitt is a RINO.
Duncan:
I’m no expert, so take it with a grain of salt.
Obama was the first democratic candidate to carry the state since Johnson (I believe).
My Congressman (Wolf) has been rubber-stamped for 30 years and for the life of me I can’t find anyone (other than my parents) who will admit to voting for him for the last 10-15 years.
And if you ever wander into the southwest corner of this state, it is like wandering back into the pre-civil war Virginia.
As a lad, I spotted segregated bathrooms and drinking fountains in Richmond in the mid to late 1960’s.
Other than the northern part, my home state is a bastion of right-wing, racist republicans. Ugly. And sad.
Virginia hated the Republicans for a long, long time because they freed the slaves. I guess nowadays it’s different but when I was a wee lad Republicans stood almost no chance of being elected to State office. National office is a different story. In most places the Democrats that Virginia elected would have been Republicans.
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I found out that the secondary rodents in my attic aren’t chipmunks, but are actually flying squirrels. I didn’t even realize that such critters lived in the vicinity. The only reason I figured it out is because they were only getting trapped at night and chipmunks are diurnal. The next one I catch I’m going to release over the side of a bridge so I can see it fly. Hopefully it won’t end up like WKRP’s turkey drop.
I do so love the turkey drop…
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I recall watching that episode the day it first aired. I was stoned to the bejeezus and honest to god thought I was going to die because I couldn’t stop laughing. I think I finally managed to stop when I fell asleep from exhaustion about 3 the next afternoon. Only god knows what would have happened if I was smoking today’s this is not your granny’s merrywanna instead of that Panama Red placebo weed.
wayne frith, worried about my health, what a guy. wayne I have to say, I’ll take my chances with the side affects of marijuana anyday over the fine print that I read on the boxes of the medications that it replaces. sorry wayne but I’m okay