Politics & Other Mistakes: The gentleman is a dope

6 mins read

Al Diamon
Al Diamon

Neo-Prohibitionists opposed to legalizing marijuana in Maine need not worry about coming up with a political strategy for defeating that initiative. The pro-pot crowd has done it for them.

There’s little doubt that if the state’s voters were asked to decide a simple referendum question about whether adults should be able to indulge in cannabis-related activities for whatever purposes they chose, a sizable majority would permit them to do so. That winning coalition would include not only those who use the kind bud for medical or recreational reasons, but also libertarians who regard the current law as government overreach, conservatives who think we’re wasting money enforcing the ban on weed and libertines who rejoice in any opportunity to engage in reckless abandon.

That’s pretty much everybody in Maine, except for the prudes at the Christian Civic League and the dried prunes in the social pseudo-science community. So legalization ought to be approved by a landslide margin.

There’s just one problem with this scenario: The pro-reefer forces are about as unified as Yemen.

There are currently four separate efforts underway to remove the legal restrictions on ganja. Legislators have introduced two differing bills to accomplish that. Meanwhile, activists are collecting signatures for referenda on a pair of competing measures.

There are significant differences among these proposals, involving who oversees herb farming and sales, who is allowed to engage in those activities, how much individuals can possess and where they can use it. You might suppose that advocates for legalization would recognize the advantage of resolving their disagreements through negotiation, thereby presenting a united front. But at this point in the political maneuvering, there’s no sign that’ll happen. If the stalemate isn’t broken, it’s likely all these efforts will go up in smoke.

If this were the sort of column that enjoys boring readers to tears with the minor details of public policy, I’d now launch into a lengthy examination of the relative merits of having distribution of Mary Jane overseen by the state Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations or the state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. I’d delve deeply into the consequences of allowing the free market to decide who sells sticky icky or the advantages of limiting sales to local producers. I’d consider how legalization would impact the medical marijuana industry for good or ill.

I’d have to do actual research. Maybe even interview some experts. There’d be studies to read. Statistics to analyze. Facts to sort out.

The reality is none of it would make one damn bit of difference, because I don’t care about any of that minutiae. I’m going to vote in favor of legal hydro no matter which measure survives this foolish infighting. And it’s all because of a friend of mine named Joe Dope.

Of course, that’s not his real name, which is Martin Stupid. But to spare him public embarrassment, I’m going with the pseudonym.

Joe is a nice guy. He’s no kind of rocket scientist, but he’s friendly, good-humored, kind and generous. He also smokes pot like most people inhale oxygen. I’ve known him for more than a decade, and I’ve never run into him when he wasn’t stoned. To maintain that state, Joe keeps a large supply of illegal agricultural products on hand. Everybody knows this because Joe isn’t very good at keeping his mouth shut, especially when he’s zonked. And since he’s always zonked, his blathering has resulted in him being busted more than once for possession with intent to distribute, which in turn has led to a couple of rounds of jail time.

There are lots of people in this state who belong behind bars. But Joe isn’t one of them. He has a job. He pays his bills. He bothers no one. He’s no kind of burden on society. And yet, that society insists on using my tax dollars to pay Joe’s room and board for months at a time because his drug of choice is against the law.

That ain’t right, and I’ll vote for any measure that corrects this foolish situation. There are lots of Joe Dopes across the state, who’d be doing no harm if only the government would leave them alone to anesthetize their brain cells in their preferred manner. Instead, we devote considerable amounts of the limited resources of law enforcement and the courts to protecting us from people who pose no threat to anyone.

It’s time for some … uh … straight thinking.

Just say no to jailing Joe Dope.

If you think I’m blowing smoke, email me at aldiamon@herniahill.net.

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22 Comments

  1. Just be sure to include in the new law that when someone breaks in and steals someone’s pot that law enforcement resources aren’t wasted looking into that…..after all it is just responsible adults looking to recreate with a safer alternative than alcohol.

  2. Uh … Elmer, breaking and entering are against the law now. Are you proposing to change that, too?
    Cheers,
    AD

  3. Weed is NOT safer than alcohol. Read the research, or had you rather rely on ‘gut’ feel. Like too many folks here in Maine; unfortunately that includes most of our politicians.

  4. Ok time to put everyone in town on a lie detector…
    We’ll ask you
    “what is your name?
    What is the first letter of the alphabet?
    What number comes after 2?
    Do 2 wrongs make a right?
    Is weed good for you?

    Just cause booze is legal…don’t make it right.
    Weed is wrong.

  5. Pot is legal for medical reasons, we voted on that didn’t we? I remember voting for that, it does help with chronic pain and many other problems we have as people, cancer treatments cause nausea and pot helps alleviate that, (and it helps a lot better than any of the so called pharmaceutical options) Those don’t work for most people on Chemo,

    So now because some think pot is the devils weed that it has no place as a medicine that no one should be able to use it. Remember pot is still illegal federally! And until we get the federal law changed about medical pot anyone who uses it for medicinal reasons is still braking the law, federally anyway and can be prosecuted the next time our president changes. Making all those people who pot helps for medical reasons hung out to dry.

    We need it legalized for medical use federally and there is no way to do that when the pharmaceutical companies are trying to keep it from being used because they know they can’t make something chemically that works as well for the problems pot does work on. Do you all forget that aspirin came from a tree? many drugs started out from our ancestors use of Willow bark for pain relief. as well as penicillin, remember that came from a plant in the beginning and big Pharma saw a way to make money from it.

    Then there is morphine, hell we have had that around as one of the most addictive drugs you can use yet we still use it when pot may work as well but the people who know what’s best for us say its OK it has a medical use, yet more people are hooked on in one form or another than all of the others combined.

    We need to get the so called representatives to make pot legal for medical use federally and the only way to do that is each state legalizes it for medical use to get the required amount of states to get a vote on legalizing it for medical use all over the country. Pot isn’t as addictive as opium, cocaine, and some of the other drugs our doctors prescribe us nor does pot have as many side affects as some most of the drugs we get for many things. Yet we still have this bunch of so called representatives in office that believe whatever the big pharmaceutical company’s tell them and not the studies that have been done on pots usefulness for many problems we have today. Have any of you ever read the possible side affects of the prescription drugs that doctors prescribe? If not you might want to, there are more possible bad side affects from some of these new drugs than what they are supposed to help.

    So next time some of you who think pot is not a legitimate drug for peoples medical problems maybe you should read about that little girl who was having seizures all day long who was helped by just a few drops of pot oil, try looking up Charlotte’s Web on the net if the link I am posting does not come out.

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html

    read that and tell me I am wrong.

  6. The Maine-based referendum petitioners (LegalizeME) met with and attempted numerous times to reach a consensus and agreement with the outa-stater petitioners (Marijuana Policy Institute). In the end, of course, it all comes down to money.

    If marijuana is legalized in the State of Maine, who will reap the profits of legalization? Small and medium-sized Maine businesses and small farmers? Or, out of state corporations poised to move in and corner the market? It is on this question that the two referendum questions most differ.

    The Maine economy is chronically depressed. Our small farmers struggle to make ends meet and keep the farm. Jobs and business opportunities are scarce, especially in rural areas like Franklin County. Some years, we are the poorest county in the state. Other years, Washington County beats us by a nose. If marijuana is legalized, Franklin County stands to benefit, economically, more than most.

    LegalizeME seeks to legalize marijuana not only for the benefit of those who smoke it but also for the benefit of our own Maine people and our own Maine economy. It seeks to structure the law that legalizes it in a way that economically benefits we, the People of the State of Maine, not a bunch of outa-staters looking to come in here and make a profit off of us, take the money and run.

    LegalizeME wants a law that creates jobs, small business and small farming opportunities for our own Maine people. One of the problems with our Maine economy is that too much of the profit generated here ends up leaving the state, stimulating the economies of the receiving states at the expense of ours. LegalizeME wants the law that legalizes marijuana to keep most of the profit here, circulating in and stimulating our own Maine economy for the benefit of our own Maine people. LegalizeME is about more than legalizing marijuana for the benefit of the people who smoke it. LegalizeME is about using legalization to create jobs and business opportunities for Maine people and to stimulate our own Maine economy.

    There are differences among the proposed statutes and referendums that do not matter. This is a difference that matters.

  7. Alcohol prohibition is one of the stupidest things this country ever did. Marijuana prohibition is different, but just as stupid. BTW, I’m a Republican Conservative.

  8. We could parlay a couple of more Federal programs here if we “game” it right. We could make pot the same economic engine here in Maine as food stamps, welfare and the Lottery.

    Think on it…

    Grow a couple of pot bushes and qualify for the Rural Home loans. Rates are near zero.
    We could fix the roads and reduce your property taxes all by cultivating and consuming (smoking) up a 100% natural product.

    We could truly make Maine schools the “Gold Standard” for the nation… makes me want to twist one up and get stoned to the bone…sit back and rake in the subsidies…

    We definitely have a bright future.

  9. alcohol is more dangerous then weed and alcohol causes death which weed doesn’t .lets take away alcohol and make it illegal and then we would see all you that consume alcohol go buy it black market . also its a proven fact that thc oil cures cancer , theres nothing wrong with legalizing weed and the money collected in taxes is something maine needs now . if we spend less time enforcing useless laws on pot then we can put more resources into catching the coke,herion and pill dealers that are wrecking our youths . pills are fast becoming the number one problem in maine ,so lets forget about the pot and start taking out the pillheads in our towns before our youths are destroyed causing even more money spent on jails,cops,and medical .LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE !

  10. When legalization comes, is important that the product be safe.

    When dinosaurs walked the earth and I was known to smoke the weed, I had a rule: If it was not grown in Maine by someone I knew, I did not smoke it. I trust the old hippie pot farmers who have been growing here since the 70’s not to use chemical fertilizers, spray their plants with toxic chemicals to discourage insects, or enhance the kick of an inferior product by spraying it with PCP or some other toxic chemical drug. I do not trust Mexican growers, street gang suppliers, large -scale commercial growers, or in the future, big agribusiness corporations looking to cash in on legalization to provide a safe product. One of the benefist to the consumer of having the Department of Agriculture instead of the cops administering the law is product safety. Just as the milk we drink and the food we eat needs to be safe, so does the pot we smoke.

    I have some medical conditions that sometimes respond to the weed. If I decide to smoke again for medical reasons, my rule will be the same: If it is not grown in Maine by someone I know, I am not going to smoke it.

    Flood the market with cheap product from out of state corporate farms, and before we know it, we’ll all be smoking GMO weed.

    Support our local farmers, support our local Maine economy — and please, no GMO weed!

  11. I sure hope my house sells this summer…too many folk here think growing and selling weed is going to be Maine’s economic resurrection. Nuther pipe dream…

  12. I also have a medical condition that responds to weed.
    It’s called sobriety.
    Cures it every time.
    That’s why I stay away from it.
    I like being me…sober.

  13. “JRHolt
    April 30, 2015 • 11:50 am
    I sure hope my house sells this summer…too many folk here think growing and selling weed is going to be Maine’s economic resurrection. Nuther pipe dream…”

    glad to hear you are leaving, people who have a closed mind to the medicinal use of Marijuana and still believe the Government studies slanted to the paper magnets back then, now its the pharmaceutical company’s that continue to get more people addicted to their own product and god forbid anyone get in the way of the companies. Now people that’s a different story, people are stupid, some like you still believe all the propaganda the US government has been spewing out for the good of the rich to keep them rich.

    Many other countries studies have proven it has medicinal use, Britain’s own studies have found that it is not the THC, (the part that makes you get a high) CBD, CBN are the ones that actually help with pain and other problems people have that are more dangerous, more addictive, more expensive to purchase especially if you have no medical insurance. Right now pot is illegal federally so it is still illegal no matter what our state laws say and the feds can come in any time they want, think the next new president.

    You would also be surprised by the amount of people who own their own very successful businesses who smoke pot recreationally. No hang over from over smoking pot, no long term liver problems like with alcohol, but don’t let the facts get in the way of what misinformation you have been spoon feed by the government for the representatives own advantage. Our so called representatives are not out to help us, they are there in congress and the senate who are just there to increase their own net worth,.

    When was the last time you have heard a rep say anything when they were running and doing what they said after they get elected. on the federal level, for the most part they are only out to get their retirement fund as large as possible for themselves at our expense.

    And just because I know no one read this link I posted in my first post here it is again, read it and learn the truth about MM that really worked for this little girl having seizures all most continuously all day long who hasn’t had a seizure since her parents found that it worked for her.

    Hey brake you arm take that morphine, opium, and all the other prescription drug our doctors are limited to prescribe. Even some of our own country doctors still feel they would rather prescribe a far more addictive pain medication made by big pharmacies than risk losing their own cash cow. Doctors are given vacations, cruses, and more.

  14. my medical condition

    If you knew as much as you think you do you would know that it is not the THC that helps people in pain or other medical problems, it is the CBD part of pot that helps people and the strains of the pot that help people in pain are the ones most people find that help with it.

    read this and find out the truth about pot.

    http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/07/health/charlotte-child-medical-marijuana/index.html

    now tell me pot has no medical use?

  15. To maniac from way back..

    I commented on my personal experience with weed and the fact that it does change my medical condition from sober to under an influence….and that I did not like it.
    To that….you said I didn’t know what I was talking about.
    All I can say to that is…ugh.

    But you are right…it does have a medical use even in my case.
    It changes your state from sober to not sober.

    If me saying that offended you..
    Then so be it.

  16. Medical use,
    No one is pushing you to use marijuana. Those supporting medical marijuana are simply asking that you not stand in the way of those who have found it beneficial. A person who uses medical marijuana is no more “under the influence” than someone who takes prescription medicine. Are there people out there who misuse marijuana? Absolutely! But there are more people who misuse pain pills, ADHD medicine and alcohol.

  17. The argument that smoking anything can be “good ” for you seems humerous to me. The argument that the “government” has lost the war against marijuana….so legalize it and tax it seems humerous to me. May as well legalize speeding, domestic violence, heck even murder since they all occur daily so those wars must be lost too. The pill problem is a big one. The doctors out there own this one. Most of the pills on the street were sent out there with their signatures attached and not from some junkie wearing a hoodie that held up the Rite Aid. But since this war is lost too why don’t we just put the Oxy’s between the M&M’s and Hindu Kush and tax them all.

  18. Elmer I take it you didn’t read my link I posted. Pot doesn’t have to be smoked it can be eaten as a leaf or oil in food stuffs or all by it self. Just depends on your preference of how you want to or prefer it to last. Eat the oils and you get longer pain relief.

    medical use again it doesn’t get you as high as you think, if you read the link I posted it is the CBD part of pot that is the one that helps with pain. the higher the CBD levels generally the lower the THC levels, that’s the part that gets you high.

    now do people abuse it, sure but they also abuse alcohol, prescription medication, Pam, aerosol spray paint, and lets not forget all the new designer drugs out there that never have had a medical use and where just created to get high.

    Hey if it works for your medical problems, that it does and has been proven to in many studies, just not as many in the US as the other countries of the world, they are not afraid of the truth like many people who just believe what the government tells them.

    Look beyond the US studies of which there have been very few and there need to be more but the way pot is labeled as having no legitimate medical use then to have a study it takes reams and reams of paperwork just to get some pot to study. Then if you find anything that is contrary to the governments idea of what pot is then you get run over by the bus so to speak by people who know nothing about how it is used medically but know it all because they have listened to the government and believed them because our government would never and has never lied to us. What the hell is wrong with you people you believe government that lies to you every day

  19. I’m not disputing your claims that there are symptom relief benefits from pot. But face it we don’t have all these people signing petitions and lining up at the Capitol buildings around the country to help their suffering neighbors. Most people wont cross the street to shovel a neighbor’s walkway. The majority want it legal so they can get high by smoking it. So don’t hide behind the lost wars arguments or how much tax money it will generate and make your case for the real reasons you seek it.

  20. Elmer

    Many people do, many don’t, it just depends n the person and we are all different. Just like many people abuse alcohol, prescription drugs, but many just want an alternative to what the quack doctors are prescribing. And just how do you know that most just want it for recreational use?

    Ever take any of the real heavy duty pain meds? like Opana, morphine, dilaudid, oxycodone, OxyContin ? If not then you don’t know about all the side affects those very drugs can give someone. Ever wake up in the middle of the night from a nightmare because of those drugs? Many of the drugs in use today are so far removed from their original drugs we have found in nature. The pharmaceutical companies are throwing money at the so called representatives in the legislature to make sure they have the monopoly on their own products.

    We aren’t told the truth by our government about many things, one of them is how pot actually works better than the drugs prescribed today for a lot of things, not just pain relief. How about seizures for that little girl in the link I posted earlier.

    You can think whatever you like as far as, how did you put it,

    “The majority want it legal so they can get high by smoking it.”

    I am sure you know this little tid bit of info because of what, a US government study? Give me a brake, our government lies to us every day. They lie to us to get us into a war so they can make even more money and take more rights away from us. They lie to us about the pot studies from as far back as the 70s that the US government did on pot that found it had medical uses, but the government didn’t want anyone to use it because they know what’s best for us, the very people who voted them in because they said this or they were going to do that and never do, or do the exact opposite because it puts more cash in their pockets from the pharmaceutical companies, military war machine because the reps make money off those so called laws they make to protect us.. For the most of them this is just a way to increase their own net worth, not help us in any way. If there was a way to find out just how much a doctor gets in kick backs in the form of vacations paid for by the pharmaceutical companies because they prescribe their drug and not that one.

    A lot of what we are told by our own government is no better than the propaganda the Nazis told the people in WWII. It is not correct, it is not safe, it is just for the representatives own wallets not us.

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