Republicans and marijuana

This has been bothering me for awhile now so I'm gonna rant, please forgive me.

Medical marijuana is a partisan issue. If Republican politicians are not outright against medical marijuana, they are at best in favor of overly strict regulations on dispensaries, especially if they operate at profit.

This is a very curious position for Republicans if you have at least a general knowledge of world history and politics. There has always been a "conservative" vs. "liberal" political debate, no matter what country or what century you are talking about. In America, we have Republicans vs. Democrats, so that's what I'm focusing on right now.

Republicans, or political "conservatives" are usually heard defending States' rights (as opposed to Federal gov't) and "laissez-faire" economics. Curiously, they abandon, no less betray, these two cornerstones of their political philosophy to attack medical marijuana.

In San Diego, the Republican District Attorney, Bonnie Dumanis, continues to raid medical marijuana dispensaries despite the Federal "truce" since President Obama's election. This is in spite of budget cuts when tax revenue from medical marijuana could help both the county and the state.

So why do Republicans hate marijuana so much? Think about Woodstock and the 1960s. How many pot-smoking Republicans have you ever met? Not many, if any. And THAT, my friends, is why Republicans really fear marijuana, whether it be legalized for medical reasons or not. Because they fear it 'liberalizes' the conscience. I'd be surprised if any Republicans even realize why they are against medical marijuana. Political conservatives are typically angry, bitter people. They don't like to admit it though. But if you have been perplexed as to why this seems to be a partisan issue, now you know. At least I think I have figured it out.

If you've never met a pot smoking republican it's either because you weren't looking in the right places or you look like a whacked out grateful dead following, avatar reading, living in the common unwashed marxist! hippie.

Strangely enough, I've seen several MMJ and legalization/decrim bills recently sponsored by Republican politicians recently. I admit to being somewhat surprised by that, but I guess it does make sense in some ways, especially when you consider the GOP position on state rights vs. fed rights as well as how much money they could make in the long term. Still, I do wish it were not just a few outstanding Republican politicians supporting such bills.

Of course all this is IMO

It's because the "neocons" aren't truely conservative anymore..... They preach small government and laissez faire econ, but it seems once the folks get to the highest levels of government it just doesn't happen....

There is a division in the Republican Party..the neocons and the Ron Pauls. Most of us here would prolly stray towards the Ron Paul side. Real limited government, real liberty, really following the constitution....

There are a lot of country listening, dip spitting, christ devout republicans out there who toke or have toked the green leaf.

I've talked to some far conservative people who really had no more experience in weed than a few joints in their younger years and those people say they want legalization.

People must have started to see how their kids or other family members could be at risk. Over 800,000 arrests in a year on marijuana alone with a high demographic of our younger population - you consider the last 10 years multiplied by a smidge less than 800,000 and you have a LOT of people feeling the effects. opponents to MJ say youth is throwing their lives out the window by using it, but it is the law that is the one doing the life ruining. Same deal for the 'gateway drug' theory, it can only be related as a gateway drug because its sold black market for high profits so it will be involved with other black market substances naturally causing standard mj buyers to get exposed to coke and heroin JUST BECAUSE MJ WAS ILLEGAL IN THE FIRST PLACE.


The only way this can happen the right way is if specialty stores start coming out (such as dispensaries) that sell marijuana exclusively. If you limit it so that weed can't be sold at any joe shmoe gas station and allow dispensaries with less strict parameters (either a card needed for purchase or an age limit set of 20-21). You will take the big businesses more out of the picture. Instead, corporations could maybe choose to help with franchising popular and effective dispensaries. I wouldn't mind seeing a coffeeshop/dispensary every 5-10 miles or so. Sell at a low enough price to drive black market sales down while allowing enough profits for multiple employee payrolls and to maintain a comfortable quality of life for yourself and bam.

And I feel like financially savvy republicans can appreciate the small business model of the cannabis dispensary. My Dutch friend said it well, "The republicans have their views wrong but their policies right, and the democrats have their views right but their policies wrong."
So I think if the republicans took all the gay bashing, cannabis hating, and religious views OUT of their politics, they'd be a pretty damn appealing machine. I feel like I'd sooner trust big government than to put my livelihood in the hands of a holier than thou christ devout hypocrite. Its like the bible is a fallback politicians use to prove their purity but so often have powerful religious men been guilty of monumental wrongs.

It’ll come as a surprise to most, but Republicans try marijuana at a higher rate than Democrats. A Gallup poll found that 33% of Republicans have tried America’s favorite (and safest) illicit drug while a slightly lower 31% of Democrats have inhaled the celebrated herb.

Republicans Try Marijuana at Higher Rate Than Democrats

http://stopthedrugwar.org/speakeasy_main/2007/nov/26/republicans_try_marijuana_at_hig

There are many constituents in the Republican party. Some of these are Bible thumpers and social conservatives who in their ignorance lump MJ into the same category as crack, heroin, etc.
In their self righteous zeal to fight the war on drugs they equate the societal harm of crack and heroin addiction to smoking marijuana.
The libertarian wing of the Republican party - by definition - is against the government's misguided attempts of prohibition.

I agree with Greenhead. Most old Republicans I know toke up. Most old democrats I know are way straight laced. (Most of which smoked at one point, but have given it up)

They should be composted.

Haps said:

They should be composted.

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Who? Republicans?

In that case, Democrats should be supercropped a few times over.

We should do away with all political parties

Hell, the Thoreau in me wants to go further than that!

dont be foolish enough to fit yo-self into a rep/dem mold.........leave that up to the sheeple

danimal7 said:

dont be foolish enough to fit yo-self into a rep/dem mold.........leave that up to the sheeple

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Well said!

danimal7 said:

dont be foolish enough to fit yo-self into a rep/dem mold.........leave that up to the sheeple

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However, it's hard to ignore the establishment of the two. It's pretty much a guarantee that either the dem or the rep will become pres.

I would also agree if someone said it's because most people like fewer options, and know "who" to vote for w/o doing much work.

They say pot smoking republicans are really libertarians. Which arent that bad of people imo. Infact, Id say the atheist conservatives arent as bad either. Just like we have liberal douches. They have bible thumping douches that make them look really bad.

Both sides try to apply there high moral standards over people. Both sides think they know best, when they really dont.

MMJ is a separate issue. Democraps and Republiklans can both fuk themselves.

I would define myself as a Ron Paul republcian or something close to that..Libertarian would be more accurate..

So there ya go..

danimal7 said:

dont be foolish enough to fit yo-self into a rep/dem mold.........leave that up to the sheeple

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You are either left, right or in the middle..

Everyone fits into a mold..

9Lives said:

I would define myself as a Ron Paul republcian or something close to that..Libertarian would be more accurate..

So there ya go..

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Ron Paul is a libertarian.

I'm a libertarian, too. I'm a Thomas Jefferson // HD Thoreau // Lao Tze kinda gov't guy, and I think libertarian is good enough to that end.

Enforce contracts, arrest people who commit crimes that have victims, and chill the fuck out outside of that.

Edit: And danimal meant not to toe the party line, that's all.

sandawg said:

Political conservatives are typically angry, bitter people.

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I am a lifelong constitutional originalist and conservative and have therefore been politically affiliated with the Republican party for my entire life. I am not a member of the party but it is the only realistic choice for someone with my political values. I have been smoking pot for over thirty years.

Your above quoted claim has been proven false by the Pew Research Center, which is hardly a conservative organization. In point of fact, the precise opposite is the case. They have been conducting and publishing exhaustive research on this very subject for years. I won't even begin to attempt a comprehensive summary of their most recent (2008) published research here, but one highlight is worth noting: 37% of self-described Republicans are "very happy" with their lives versus 25% of Democrats. To quote the study, "This big GOP edge in life’s happiness sweepstakes is not a new phenomenon. Ever since the General Social Survey first asked the question in 1972, Republicans have always been happier than Democrats. But the current gap is among the largest on record." They also conducted regression analysis to pose the same research questions on a conservative versus liberal spectrum and found similar results. In fact, the more liberal you are, the more statistically likely you are to be unhappy, angry and bitter.

An everyday example of liberal anger and mean-spiritedness can be viewed every weekday evening on the bottom rated cable network MSNBC. Keith Olbermann, the uber-liberal evening pundit, exemplifies precisely the type of unhappy liberal that the Pew studies reveal.

While anecdotal, virtually all of my pot-smoking friends are very politically conservative. We don't want to be told what to do by some over-reaching, bloated federal government of the type liberals love, whether it is smoking/growing weed, owning guns, or having our income confiscated for redistribution to strangers. More government generally equals less freedom and that has been the case throughout all of history, so much so that it is virtually axiomatic.

The full Pew study can be found at http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/718/republicans-happier

Neither medical marijuana nor outright legalization have been championed by either political party. Nearly all state medical marijuana legislation has occurred via ballot initiatives because the people have more common sense than our elected officials. Just more grist for the mill when it comes to the the less versus more government argument.

Pythagllio said:

If you've never met a pot smoking republican it's either because you weren't looking in the right places or you look like a whacked out grateful dead following, avatar reading, living in the common unwashed marxist! hippie.

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ahahahaha

so true, great post