Friday Open Thread [12.27.13]
NCCo is going to broadcast the Planning Board and the Zoning Board of Adjustment’s meetings. Finally. Time for NCCo to broadcast the County Council meetings.
Talking Points Memo announced their Golden Dukes Awards (named after Duke Cunningham, the GOPer who set the modern standard for scandal), and it looks like the Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has cleaned up this year. Rick Santorum won for Year in Derp and Steve King won for Meretorious Achievement in the Crazy.
How to Legalize Cannibis — Please. Get this done soon — Mark Kleinman is looking for some good discussion in how to do it well:
The initiative process may be the only way of accomplishing legalization in some states, but the ordinary process of legislation, where feasible, is likely to yield better outcomes.
The bulk of the revenue of a legal cannabis industry, like the bulk of the revenue of the beer industry, will come from people with substance abuse disorder. Thus the commercial interest will be opposed to the public interest in minimizing the growth of the clinically impaired population.
In the face of the lobbying power of the cannabis industry, it will be difficult to maintain high taxes or tight regulation. A state-monopoly system at retail might be preferable. The doctrine of “commercial free speech” makes the regulatory problem harder; one advantage of a state monopoly would be better consumer information. But the state lotteries demonstrate that a revenue-driven state monopoly can be just as ruthless as any private enterprise.
And just for commenter puck — this is how white people play the race card.
cassandra_m-
Please don’t ever link an Ann Coulter column again w/o first warning us!
Marijuana legalization in three steps:
1. Decriminalize possession of small amounts for personal use; take monies saved and invest them in treatment rather than incarceration for people with serious drug problems.
2. Carefully document impact on Wilmington crime rate.
3. Move to legalize and tax after about 1-2 years of decriminalization, reserving tax revenues for investment in education and jobs in Wilmington.
Sell to political elites as crime reduction measure. Sell to suburbs as a far better policy than seeing their experimenting teens end up with a criminal record.
Actually have a Congressional leadership and an attorney general who will stand up to the DEA during the process. Oh. Shit. Never mind.
Delaware never met a racket it didn’t love, as such legalizing Cannibis is a natural now that the casino’s have become more of a liability than a profit center. Imagine the little greed meisters in Dover, revenue figures dancing in their mostly bald heads, dealing (literally ) behind the scenes to line their pockets with the impending flood of herbal revenue. In the short term decriminalize it, howling prison ‘industry” or not.
And can anyone explain why LSD possession is a felony? Serious question.
John,
cops on the way. LOL
I find it hard to believe that the bulk of revenue from the beer industry comes from people with substance abuse problems.
Steve Newton’s comments are spot on. Decriminalization would be a great first step for Delaware, who can’t seem to get its act together on the medical marijuana front. Where are the dispensaries??!! Is this on the legislative priority list for any liberal dem groups? Is any study on the horizon of how it could affect crime/prison #’s/schools? As an aside, growing your own could “cultivate” a renewed interest among our young (and old) people in urban agriculture. Less crime and more backyard tomatoes!
I’m waiting for candidate Markell’s excuses about his cesspool of a 2008 campaign.