Re: Federal government to stop interfering with medical pot suppliers

Federal government to stop interfering with medical pot suppliers

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grufty jim Mar 3, 2009 13:11:30

Replying to handofdave

handofdave wrote:

This allowance that Obama is granting the states that have made medical pot available is therefore rather odd in the history of Washington DC laws vs. the individual state laws.

Actually, it's a rather clever tactic.

By and large, the support for liberalising drug policy comes -- unsurprisingly -- from the liberal left. While support for the War On some Drugs comes from the right. However, like almost all left/right analyses, that's extremely simplistic and only tells part of the story.

In the US, for instance, there's a sizeable chunk of the right wing who identify with the libertarian ideal of small-government / less central interference with local legislatures.

So, by granting individual states more power over cannabis policy, Obama is -- rather cleverly -- advancing a left-liberal agenda while simultaneously splitting the right, by appearing to appeal to libertarian principles while he's doing it.

It's a good move and worthy of support. But it does beg certain questions (like: If Obama thinks it's right for Oregon to set its own laws regarding pot, why doesn't he think it's right for Mississippi to set its own laws regarding abortion?)

handofdave Mar 3, 2009 13:50:12

Replying to grufty jim

grufty jim wrote:

by granting individual states more power over cannabis policy, Obama is -- rather cleverly -- advancing a left-liberal agenda while simultaneously splitting the right, by appearing to appeal to libertarian principles while he's doing it.

It's not really a hypocritical position to take, tho. Allowing doctors to prescribe pot and not interfering with the supply expands individual rights. And so does keeping abortion legal.

It's when the states want to shut down individual and civil liberties that the federal government should intercede.

That said, the feds should get out of the way and let the states vote on their own drug policy to it's logical ends.... decriminalization at least.

They'll HAVE to, anyway. The U.S. prison population has doubled since the 1980s. My state of Massachusetts alone* pays out 1.25 billion a year to incarcerate people, at least half of which are in jail on petty drug 'crimes'. Under our last governor Mitt Romney, 'corrections' expenditures topped higher education's share of the budget.

*and Mass. isn't the worst. That odious honor goes to Georgia, which has one out of every 13 of it's people either in jail or on probation. The war on drugs crowd is also the 'smaller government' crowd.... but they haven't figured out yet that those goals are at odds with each other.