Why Not Legalize Pot?
On November 6th, the quasi-libertarian state of Colorado may legalize recreational use of pot–i.e., smoking, eating, or otherwise ingesting pot for other than medical reasons.
Whether the ballot initiative helps our formerly-pothead president win the Rocky Mountain State by drawing fellow potheads to the polls is conjectural but the consequences of its passage are not.
A Reuters story, “Marijuana Initiative Could Make Or Break Obama In Colorado,” suggests the turnout of those who don’t usually vote, groups identified by a pro-pot advocate as “young people, people of color, [and] disenfranchised communities,” could put Colorado’s nine electoral votes in President Barack Hussein Obama’s pocket in a close election and put him back in the White House for four more years.
While making a case for the Obama upside, Reuters fails to fully clarify the political downside for the president: Mitt Romney benefitting from a voter backlash against the prospect of the state officially granting permission to its residents to get high on cannabis.
Reuters also pays little heed to the societal downside.
Although Colorado rejected a proposal to legalize recreational weed six years ago, along with seventeen other states and the District of Columbia, Coloradans already have laws allowing the medical use of marijuana.
Reuters pointed out that the “Mile High City” of Denver sports no less than 400 medical marijuana dispensaries to serve the drug to 600,000 residents–25 more outlets than there are Starbucks in the entire state–and that “one in every 41 residents is a registered medical marijuana patient.”
If Reuters’ estimate is correct, 8,400 people or 2.4% of everyone in Denver County needs regular tokes to relieve symptoms of their ailments. Extrapolated to the nation, those numbers translate into about 4,400,000 Americans sharing that dire need.
That’s a whole lot of pot smoke.
Indeed, considering our permissive society . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=24986.)
