When President Obama promised not to enforce federal marijuana law in states where medical marijuana laws exist, he violated his oath of office and opened the door to widespread criminality. Now, there may be factory pot farms established in Oakland. From the story:
Oakland could approve a plan Tuesday to set up four marijuana factory farms, a step that could usher in the era of Big Pot. The proposal is a testament to just how fast the marijuana counterculture is transforming into a corporate culture. And it has ignited a contentious debate in Oakland that could spread as cities face pressure to regulate marijuana cultivation and find ways to tax it. “Everybody knows it’s going bigger and big money is moving in,” said Dale Gieringer, an Oakland resident and prominent marijuana activist. As the state edges toward legalization, he said, more businessmen will seek to capitalize on a fast-growing market in a recession-hindered economy, forcing cities to make difficult choices on how to exert control.
Just what we need, a society funded by vice and the consequent dissipation of lives and community. Notice that they no longer even bother with the pretense that this is medical.
Cannabis clearly and unequivocally has medical qualities. When the Feds deny it by statute, that too opens the door to disrespect for law. Indeed, as I have repeatedly written, I support medical marijuana’s legalization via change of the Controlled Substances Act and then proper prescribing and dispensing.
But “Big Pot” isn’t about “our medicine,” but stoner desires. The last thing crime ridden and dysfunctional Oakland needs is pot factory farms. But what else does one expect when the authorities abdicate their responsibilities and thereby undermine–both coming and going–the rule of law?
July 20th, 2010 | 10:53 am
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July 20th, 2010 | 1:27 pm
You support change of the CSA? That’s a safe bet for prohibitionists. What about the arrests and jailings and prison for pot? You glossed over that teensy detail. It is time we stopped arresting our grandparents and kids for pot. If it takes local initiative to goad a federal government which long ago lost the consent of the governed, then so be it. That’s the way it was done for Prohibition I, also.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
July 20th, 2010 at 1:32 pm
O. B. Sick people were used as a front from those who wish to legalize recreational pot use, which will harm children and hurt society. The abdication of the Feds to correcting the CSA is inexcusable. So is the use of a medical loophole in state law to push through open drug use. Pot smokers should not be jailed, but the recreational use of cannabis should not be legalized either.
July 20th, 2010 | 6:02 pm
What is this “recreational use” thing I keep reading about?
Recreational is about having fun. Doing something exciting! Maybe living dangerously. Sharing adventures with friends. Oh. That does sound like smoking pot.
There seems to be a willingness to take offense at the ease with which one relaxes, or stops processing work ideas.
Why should the way anyone recreates themselves be of great interest to anyone else?
Guess our own lives are too boring so we need to get a little action from someone elses.
yah suppose?
July 21st, 2010 | 8:50 am
“Cannabis clearly and unequivocally has medical qualities. . . . I support medical marijuana’s legalization via change of the Controlled Substances Act and then proper prescribing and dispensing. . . . But “Big Pot” isn’t about “our medicine,” but stoner desires.”
I’m curious. Do you believe that alcohol “clearly and unequivocally has medical qualities”? If not, would you then “support alcohol’s [de]legalization”? Isn’t “Big Alcohol” solely about “[drunkard's] desires”?
There is no rational/logical/empirical basis for the different attitudes and legal standards in our society toward alcohol and marijuana.
This discrepancy/inconsistency opens the door to disrespect the law wider than anything else.
July 21st, 2010 | 10:33 am
While this is over the top, it is up to Californians to sort this out. Prohibition and excessive prison sentences for nonviolent offenders have wasted a lot of lives too.
If you want localism for home schooling, you have to tolerate others wanting to do what is best for their health.
Wesley J. Smith Reply:
July 21st, 2010 at 10:50 am
Learning: Marijuana remains against federal law and that has been affirmed by the US Supreme Court. The current law is untenable but nothing is done to change the law–the correct remedy. We have become a nation of expediency rather than principle, and it is killing us.
July 21st, 2010 | 5:28 pm
Wesley says: “Marijuana remains against federal law and that has been affirmed by the US Supreme Court.” Does he believe that Big Brother in Washington should regulate what he terms “vice?”
None of that Ninth and Tenth Amendment stuff for Wesley, oh no. But wait a second, didn’t he rant and rave about big government when it concerned health care? I have a name for that process. It’s called FLEXTHICS.
July 21st, 2010 | 7:45 pm
It’s sad what’s happened to Oakland, CA over the years. What a beautiful city it was with some of the best weather in the world. It has to have one of the most pathetic city governments in the United States. It’s hard to think of many places more dysfunctional. Ron Dellums is mayor. What more needs to be said. Someday it will be a case study in what happens when leftism is given free reign. It would be hillarious if it didn’t hurt so many people. Too bad for the people (especially the young) held hostage by the madness that comes out of city hall in Oakland. But it was entierly predictable.
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