And I do think a lot of people see the difference; most of the medical pot laws have passed by popular referendum, but referendums to completely decriminalize have so far always failed, usually failing even to make it onto the ballot.

I find that those who try their best to block medical pot almost invariably scream that if we allow it for medical use, soon it will be on to complete decriminalization. Which is just silly; that’s like saying that if we allow morphine and Vicodin for medical use then, soon, we’ll allow it to be sold freely out of candy machines and dispense it to poor children in their free school lunches.

They throw that at the medical pot people all the time, and it’s really vicious demagoguery on their part. Now, could it be that if more people are exposed to medical pot in their lives, and they stop fearing it as the evil weed that’s going to destroy society? Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, we’ve got real people undergoing real suffering who really are helped here; not the old “oh take this for your little aches and pains” bullshit, but people who are dying and in agony and need help RIGHT NOW. I’d really, really hate to have that held up by people obsessed with talking like medical use is on the same plane as general recreational use.

I agree with just about everything you said

But……

When half of your inner libertarian’s statement is “…and tax it.”, I have to question whether your inner libertarian is really a libertarian…

But we’re probably just disagreeing over what color libertarian we each see…. ;)

Yes, I agree absolutely. But I’m pretty sure most people don’t see the difference.

And I think that’s a failure on the part of the legalization/decriminalization movement.

As far as medicinal legalization, I don’t even understand the problem. If it is a controlled substance, then control it. We control opium derivatives, why not marijuana? If that means you can extract the active parts and get rid of the tar and nicotine, that’s fine too.

In the end my conservative side wins out. I would have no problem with it being legal. I might even smoke some, who knows. I drink some alcohol from time to time. It wouldn’t be a major factor in my life one way or the other.

My problem is that I’ve been in plenty of “is the color red I see the same as the color red you see?” conversations with no drugs or alcohol involved…

While in general I would support general decriminalization–putting people in jail for using it makes no sense at all, and is simply cruel and wasteful–I don’t see the two issues as linked all that much. Never have. The social arguments about pot for the general population are just different from the arguments that people undergoing chemotherapy and with certain documented medical conditions that benefit from it.

That said, the chronic potheads I’ve known are all over the map; a general trend is that they’re just fine, but it does seem to make some of them generally lazy and airheaded because they just never quit. Yet I doubt if there’s ever been anyone who got high on pot and robbed a liquor store. Not very effectively anyway…

I don’t think it ever really hurt me much, at least not much more than tobacco would. (although some folks who read my posts might argue otherwise…)

I have friends who have smoked it daily for 30+ years. I don’t see much damage to them, other than a tendency to be shaped like a barrel, and cough a lot. Not all of them, but enough to observe a trend. And I don’t see any psychoses. Maybe a preference for enjoying the moment, forgetting the past, and a complete lack of motivation for changing things in the future. I’m cool with that. It wouldn’t be good if our entire population went that way, but based on my experience, it won’t.

Now, a couple of them have been seriously injured (and injured others) in car crashes. I guess that’s my biggest concern with respect to legalization. But I’m not completely opposed to it. I‘d like to see a couple year trial period, maybe with a sunlight vote at the end. I wouldn’t be surprised if more people die in the drug wars associated with illegal weed than are killed by its effects as an intoxicant.

But when it comes to medicinal use, well, I too am appalled that we won’t allow it. I’ve considered every argument against it, and I think I can logically shoot them all down. Yes, it’s a different drug than our current system can deal with. But, IMO, it all comes down to a lack of back bone and creativity in figuring out how to allow suffering folks legal access to the stuff. I’d like to see it happen.

The ironic thing is that once it’s legal I still won’t smoke it. I didn’t like it when I was young, and I won’t do anything that threatens my sobriety when I’m old.

So it turns our youth into a bunch of passive zombies decimating Taco Bells across the land as they debate such important topics as “Is the color red that I see the same color that you see?” Can’t be any worse than the Democratic majority in congress.

Me? I really don’t like the stuff. Nor do I need it. I don’t care. For those who need it–especially the chemotherapy patients–it’s a Godsend and it’s been a sin to deny it to them.

The jokes are cool, but the need is not. Let’s hope the rest of the states soon follow suit, as the opponents try, in vain, to prove that it causes social chaos and some sort of explosion in crime. Or that it leads us into a long slide into chaos and ruin, or whatever.