{"id":1728,"date":"2010-11-01T11:31:09","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T18:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=1728"},"modified":"2025-11-02T21:43:58","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T04:43:58","slug":"dancing-with-maryjane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/?p=1728","title":{"rendered":"Dancing with MaryJane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow is election day for us in the Los Angeles area.\u00a0 And there is a measure on the ballot to de-criminalize the use of Marijuana.\u00a0 And yes, I’m voting for it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Not because I use MJ.\u00a0 I don’t use any drug other than alcohol and even that I use only occasionally. \u00a0 And it’s not due to the fact I knew and know people who sometimes use something extra to enhance their evening.\u00a0 It’s because I don’t think Marijuana is as dangerous as the prudes have been touting it.\u00a0 And I certainly don’t think its dangerous enough that you should go to jail just for possessing it.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

ONE.. every individual is susceptible in their own way to any and all recreational drugs.\u00a0 It depends on the individual and their choices.\u00a0 Is the MJ lover going to rob, steal or murder to get his fix?\u00a0 Probably no more than the alcoholic will.\u00a0 But I’m sure there are cases where they might.\u00a0 But the AVERAGE pothead just doesn’t get off his ass enough to go wild!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I tried cocaine in the 80’s when it was popular.\u00a0 And I loved it.\u00a0 But it was expensive and it made me want to share all I had with everyone.. soooo not economically sound!\u00a0 I realized it could\/would become a problem and weakness for me that I couldn’t afford.\u00a0 I CHOSE to stay away.\u00a0 I know not everyone can or will do that, and perhaps that is their lesson to learn. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

TWO…\u00a0 the war on drugs isn’t very old.\u00a0 It’s only been going on for about 1 generation and it hasn’t really reduced the drug use much.\u00a0 It HAS filled our jails.\u00a0 It HAS created an amazing criminal element spanning countries worldwide.\u00a0 It HAS gone from a choice to a moral wrong.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Did we learn NOTHING from prohibition?\u00a0 Making alcohol illegal didn’t stop people from drinking.\u00a0 It created the mob.. it killed people because sometimes what was served as alcohol\u00a0 wasn’t regulated and was borderline poison!\u00a0 It made people have to hide their pleasures from the public as if who they were was wrong, developing an entire culture trained to be sneaky.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

THREE…\u00a0 Aren’t we the country of the free?\u00a0 Don’t we have inalienable rights bestowed on us by our creator?\u00a0 We scream when you terminate us without reasonable cause then toss you in jail for using a substance someone else decided you couldn’t use in your own home.\u00a0 Republicans whine and cry when they get their business’s (i.e. their money) regulated for fair practices then turn around and tell you (regulating you) that your lifestyle clashes with their version of “family values”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

FOUR…\u00a0 Follow the Money.\u00a0 The war on drugs is big business for the government & companies.\u00a0 Plus, the gangs don’t want you to cut into their business.\u00a0 The drug cartels sure as hell don’t want you to! So are they really saying no because of “moral” reasons or because they don’t want THEIR pocketbook amount to change.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

AND LASTLY…\u00a0 How will passing this measure benefit us?\u00a0 TAXES, people, taxes!\u00a0 Regulate the shit that’s grown and tax it like any business.\u00a0 Make every seller put sales tax on it AND tax the income they earn.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The consequences for driving or showing up on the job high shouldn’t be any worse than being drunk when you do those same things.\u00a0 Free up space in the jails for serious criminals, let our cops bust someone with a gun not a joint.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Sadly.. the measure may not pass.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because everybody got high in celebration and no one got off their couch to pay for ads to push for it!
\n<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tomorrow is election day for us in the Los Angeles area.\u00a0 And there is a measure on the ballot to de-criminalize the use of Marijuana.\u00a0 And yes, I’m voting for it. Not because I use MJ.\u00a0 I don’t use any … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-twirling-my-skirt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1728"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2911,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1728\/revisions\/2911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}