Democratic Primaries
In reply to the discussion: Biden Says Marijuana Might Be A Gateway Drug [View all]The Valley Below
(1,701 posts)Neither he (or I) think anyone should be in prison or jail over simple pot smoking.
But I see how badly legalization has gone here in CA. It was better by-far under the previous legalized medical marijuana laws that we had here. Under that plan any adult that wanted marijuana could get a "pot doctor" to write a prescription. 100%.
Fine by me.
Dispensaries were very tight about who they let in and who they sold herb. The business was pretty discrete. No one who wanted a legal source of cannabis products denied. No one was criminalized. Being "approved" for a script was simply a matter of paying a doctor's fee. The legal fiction worked pretty well.
Legalization for recreational use, in contrast, has been a nightmare. Illegal shops are everywhere. As are illegal delivery services. These criminal enterprises don't all sell to minors, but teens know who will.
We don't want lives destroyed in the criminal process, and I'm with you there.
But lives are also being destroyed due to heavy marijuana use by teens, who can get the stuff are more easily now compared with pre-2018.
That there are other drug crises--such as the opioid crisis--doesn't change the truth that we have a serious public health problem with marijuana abuse by teens. It is real. It is not "reefer madness."
We need to deal with the full spectrum of reality when it comes to marijuana.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden