Tweet Chat: What is the Government’s Role in Marijuana Legalization?
By Jane Susskind on 03/04/2013 in IVN, marijuana legalization, Social Media, tweet chat with 5 CommentsRead Time: 2 - 3 minutes
Last November, citizens in Colorado and Washington voted to legalize marijuana, drawing attention to the question of government jurisdiction in marijuana legalization. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to respond to the decisions in Washington and Colorado soon, saying last Tuesday, “We’re still in the process of reviewing both of the initiatives that were passed.”
As support for conditional legalization grows in states across the country, this will become an increasingly pertinent question in the drug policy debate.
To address this issue, IVN is hosting a Tweet Chat this Thursday, March 7, focusing on the government’s role in marijuana policy. We will ask a series of questions to organizations both in support of and opposed to reforming marijuana policy, covering different types of reform, the effects of such reforms, and the limitations on legalization.
What: Marijuana Policy Tweet Chat
When: Thursday, 5-6pm PT, 8-9pm ET
Where: Tweetchat.com
Hashtag: #IVNchat
Participating is easy: All you have to do is sign in to TweetChat.com with your Twitter account at 5pm PST on Thursday, enter in the hashtag #IVNchat, and join the conversation!
Enter the hashtag #IVNchat to join the conversation.
We will also post the chat live on IVN.us. Because of the controversial nature of this topic, please remember to be courteous during the tweet chat and refer back to our etiquette guidelines.
Any questions? Either tweet at us using the hashtag #IVNchat or ask below in the comments section.
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5 Comments
Malcolm Kyle
03.05.2013
@Malcolm Kyle
We do not threaten tobacco users with arrest and imprisonment. Now consider dangerous sports, such as mountain climbing. – The death rate on Mount Everest is about one in ten of those who make it successfully, which is a vastly higher mortality rate than just about any drug used at present in a recreational manner.
Maybe you believe that it’s immoral to use a certain drug, but if you also wish such acts to become/remain criminalized then surely you also have to accept responsibility for the dire unintended consequences of such folly, when these certain plants/concoctions/drugs are then sold only by criminals and terrorists; when the huge black-market profits are used to bribe and threaten law enforcement officials when the availability and usage rates tend to go up, not down; when our prisons become filled to capacity with easily replaced vendors and smugglers – this list is actually endless!
Add to all that the fact that law enforcement and rehabilitation are mutually exclusive. Would alcoholics seek help for their illness if doing so were tantamount to confessing to criminal activity? Likewise, would putting every incorrigible alcoholic behind bars and saddling them with criminal records prove cost-effective? I think most of us already know the answer.
Michael Higham
03.05.2013
@michaelhigham
Are you an active Twitter user? You can definitely share your thoughts during the Tweetchat.
I think many politicians who are reluctant to embrace legalization are caught in that moral dilemma mentioned in your second paragraph. An overarching legalization might have its largest impact on the war on drugs and the overcrowding of prisons.
Jim Jeffries
03.05.2013
These are the same politicians who believe the as a federal agency, or Congress have the right to circumvent the Constitution under which the states ONLY have the rights and the ability to regulate drugs independently of a federal system. These are the same politicians who continue to support those who, 80-90 years ago, passed these unConstitutional war on drugs laws after being bribed and putting out false “scientific studies”, violating the rights of the states. These are the same politicians who are bought and sold every 2? years due to the obscene amount of lobbying power against “drugs”, and marijuana especially. How many industries do you think are willing to take a hit when hemp and cannabis are finally legal? Same ones that started all this in my parents lifetime, no doubt! Big textile, big pharma, big paper, big forestry.. there is more, but the amount of money these corrupt shills funnel into our politicians pockets (or trust funds, organizations and “charities” I should say) should shock everyone, for the wool was pulled over our eyes decades ago.
Beth Joseph
03.07.2013
Government leave it alone!!! It’s a natural herb growing in the wild. Some people like to grow and make some extra money from it. the use of it doesn’t leave people dead and mangle for life. Leave us alone and put your energy into banning alcohol (again) which kills people every second of every day………..!!!
Bria
03.09.2013
The government isn’t in control. If the individual state allows it the government should not stick it’s nose in it.. The US government is the world bully..