Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by on Thursday March 02 2017, @05:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the ideology-vs-scientific-analysis dept.

The Center for American Progress reports

On [February 27], days after White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer told reporters to expect stricter enforcement of federal pot law, Attorney General Jeff Sessions recycled discredited drug war talking points in remarks of his own.

"I believe it's an unhealthy practice, and current levels of THC in marijuana are very high compared to what they were a few years ago, and we're seeing real violence around that", Sessions said. "Experts are telling me there's more violence around marijuana than one would think and there's big money involved."

In reality, violent crime rates tend to decrease where marijuana is legalized.

Denver saw a 2.2 percent drop in violent crime rates in the year after the first legal recreational cannabis sales in Colorado. Overall property crime dropped by 8.9 percent [PDF] in the same period there, according to figures from the Drug Policy Alliance. In Washington, violent crime rates dropped by 10 percent [PDF] from 2011 to 2014. Voters legalized recreational marijuana there in 2012.

Medical marijuana laws, which have a longer track record for academics than recreational pot legalization, are also associated with stable or falling violent crime rates. In one 2014 study of the 11 states that legalized medical pot from 1990 to 2006, there was no increase in the seven major categories of violent crime and "some evidence of decreasing rates of some types of violent crime, namely homicide and assault."

[...] Elsewhere in his remarks, Sessions unwittingly made the case against treating pot activity like serious crime. "You can't sue somebody for drug debt". he said. "The only way to get your money is through strong-arm tactics, and violence tends to follow that."

Legalizing, regulating, and taxing the sale of marijuana is the surest way to remedying that exact tendency for pot commerce to trigger violent score-settling. Legalization invites pot business into the light, granting cannabusinesses at least partial access to official modes of recourse when they are defrauded.

8 states and the District of Columbia have legalised marijuana for recreational use.
Ever see anyone use cannabis and become more aggressive rather than more mellow?

Note: ThinkProgress redirects all accesses of their pages and will attach tracking numbers. I have made sure that those are not in the URLs.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by kurenai.tsubasa on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:02PM (19 children)

    by kurenai.tsubasa (5227) on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:02PM (#474007) Journal

    No, Americans voted. Most Americans—what is it, three quarters or so?—voted “Eh, whatever.” This is what they wanted. This is what they are getting. This is “whatever.”

    Words won't stop it.

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:05PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:05PM (#474010)

    Your circular nihlism is part of the problem.

    • (Score: 4, Funny) by aristarchus on Thursday March 02 2017, @09:18PM (2 children)

      by aristarchus (2645) on Thursday March 02 2017, @09:18PM (#474105) Journal

      As is your orthogonal authoritarianism. Many are the plane figures of our dysfunction.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @12:43AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @12:43AM (#474190)

        Yes, I am orthogonal to authoritarianism.
        You seem to think that's a problem.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:07PM (14 children)

    by DeathMonkey (1380) on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:07PM (#474011) Journal

    Most Americans voted for Clinton, by a wide margin.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by DECbot on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:30PM (7 children)

      by DECbot (832) on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:30PM (#474035) Journal

      I think he's saying that most Americans didn't vote, and thus are perfectly fine with either candidate. A smaller minority of Americans voted Clinton, and an even smaller minority voted Trump, but the majority of the smallest minority that matters, the Electoral College, voted Trump, and that's how we got to where we are today.

      --
      cats~$ sudo chown -R us /home/base
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:43PM (6 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @07:43PM (#474048)

        > thus are perfectly fine with either candidate.

        Which would be a false framing.
        They could have hated both candidates.
        Or they could have been so busy living their own lives they just didn't know what the choices actually entailed.
        Many couldn't even vote anyway for logistical reasons, most people have to work and there is no law guaranteeing them enough time off from work to be able to cast a vote. When your choice is between being keeping your job or voting, well you keep your job even if you really believe in one of the candidates.

        She's just reading her own issues into their non-action.

        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday March 02 2017, @08:05PM (4 children)

          by edIII (791) on Thursday March 02 2017, @08:05PM (#474059)

          Exactly. I got roped into the 2016 election *PURELY* because of Bernie Sanders. I loathed, and still loath, both Hillary and the Orange Anus.

          When the Orange Anus got the nomination, that made it extremely clear to me that I really did have two choices: A) Let Trump win and enjoy the burning down of America, to build it back up again after the civil war, or B) Vote for Hillary and hope like hell that the new wave of Progressives and radicals would keep her in check and prevent her from enjoying her own corruption running rampant in government.

          It was a completely fucked deal from the start, and I almost didn't vote at all. The choices were that shitty. But, I wanted to vote on a few things other than the president, and couldn't leave the damn thing blank.

          There is an extremely good chance that the bulk of America that didn't vote was not able to do so because they lacked the means to do so, or were so apathetic and lacking of hope that voting holds no meaning to their lives.

          Again, how is voting helping anything? Trump is burning down America as we speak, and all of those who found hope in Trump are about to have those hopes slowly leave them to be replaced with the disillusionment that most share.

          --
          Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
          • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday March 02 2017, @11:46PM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Thursday March 02 2017, @11:46PM (#474181) Journal

            This was almost exactly my reasoning too :( What a shitshow...

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
          • (Score: 2) by Anal Pumpernickel on Friday March 03 2017, @09:40AM (2 children)

            by Anal Pumpernickel (776) on Friday March 03 2017, @09:40AM (#474311)

            When the Orange Anus got the nomination, that made it extremely clear to me that I really did have two choices

            So, like a panic-stricken fool, you bought into the false dichotomy that the media, ignorant general public, and two parties try to sell you every single election. If they can just scare you into voting for bad candidates, there's no reason to be better. Even not voting at all is better than voting for evil. Our current political system is, at least to me, fairly good evidence that the average person is little more than an overgrown child when it comes to the ability to do long-term planning.

            A) Let Trump win and enjoy the burning down of America, to build it back up again after the civil war

            Do you really believe that will happen? What president hasn't tried to 'burn down' America? Maybe Trump will be a bit worse, but violating everyone's liberties and the Constitution is nothing new.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @04:21PM

              by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @04:21PM (#474410)

              "So, like a panic-stricken fool, you bought into the false dichotomy that the media, ignorant general public, and two parties try to sell you every single election. If they can just scare you into voting for bad candidates, there's no reason to be better. Even not voting at all is better than voting for evil. Our current political system is, at least to me, fairly good evidence that the average person is little more than an overgrown child when it comes to the ability to do long-term planning."

              exactly, people make a bunch of excuses why they keep voting for bad candidates as if they aren't the freaking problem. Vote third party, you dumb monkey! It doesn't matter if the party has been hijacked by a moron like Gary Johnson! he's not gonna freaking win anyways! It doesn't matter if you're even a libertarian, they're not gonna win anytime soon! Once they get close to winning vote 4th party if you're not a libertarian. Get more parties funded and in the damn debates and maybe you'll get a more perfect socialist or whatever it is you want!

            • (Score: 2) by edIII on Friday March 03 2017, @08:06PM

              by edIII (791) on Friday March 03 2017, @08:06PM (#474541)

              No, you dick. I was perfectly cognizant of the concepts you espouse here. The truth is that no 3rd party was going to win. Let's just admit that; IT WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

              So your PROTEST vote actually takes away from Hillary's ability to win, or in other words, gives power to Trump and his ability to WIN. Which he did. The PROTEST vote this time, including the abstaining voters, only fucked us and dressed us up like the gimp waiting to be abused in the cellar.

              It wasn't about politics this time, and it was far simpler than that. I DIDN'T WANT TRUMP BURNING DOWN AMERICA. Sure, I entertained it. I thought about it. I wrote about how we should just rush to fires and get it over with. In the end, I voted for a more peaceful path to the reforms we need. Didn't matter. Fire is coming anyways.

              A) Let Trump win and enjoy the burning down of America, to build it back up again after the civil war

              Do you really believe that will happen? What president hasn't tried to 'burn down' America? Maybe Trump will be a bit worse, but violating everyone's liberties and the Constitution is nothing new.

              Yes, I do believe it is inevitable now. No president has ever tried to burn down America like this. Not even close. Are you an American in this country? I only ask because if you are you are blind. This country is more passionately divided and filled with hate and fear than it ever has been. That's including civil rights and the 1st civil war. There have been untold numbers of divorces and shattered families because of this. Quite a number of families I know are divided, including my own. So we are not even united anymore, not even at the family and small community level.

              Moreover, the policies and direction that the Republicans are taking the country to is Armageddon as far the worker and citizen is concerned. All of the "entitlements" are going way, which are really the subsidies that the U.S government pays so that Corporate America can pay their workers less and profit more. What plans do they have? Kill entitlements, kill taxes, reduce government to nothing with zero power to regulate or control Corporate America. In other words, let Corporate America go even more evil than ever before and without our ability to even see them doing it. Yeah, things are going to turn out just peachy for the worker. Sure.

              We are far more delicate and frail than we want to believe. The current Great Depression II has been going on for about 10 years now. America has not healed. Americans did not get their 401ks back. Americans had their properties stolen right out from under them. The wealth transfer to the richest Americans has weakened us *badly*. Living wage jobs have disappeared only to be replaced with wage slave jobs, or subsidy jobs which they should really be called. More frighteningly, many service jobs are set to be automated away with robots. Which means it took 100 years or so, but it happened. The American worker is going to start competing with robots. It would be pretty reasonable for anyone in the slave wage industries like fast food to be panic-stricken right now. With no subsidies on the horizon, and rents in some places being over 100% of the prevailing wage, get ready to see the homeless population explode by at least 1 million people, if not more.

              Americans did not vote for this president. I don't give a fuck what anyone says about the electoral college. We're fucking pissed that ~3 million people's votes didn't matter. That's a truth that cannot be denied. Trump has no mandate, and he did not win the people. The media has created a magnifying glass over the hate and fear and made us believe that it is all of us infected with Trump's hate. It isn't. Those of us, in the majority, are more panic-stricken, and more determined than ever to resist.

              Yeah, civil war is coming. It will come because it will become clear that it is the only path of resistance left, and our only hope of reclaiming America back and our lives. The path to liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness will be civil war.

              Get ready.

              --
              Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
        • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday March 02 2017, @10:57PM

          by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 02 2017, @10:57PM (#474167) Journal

          Or they could have been so busy living their own lives they just didn't know what the choices actually entailed.

          Or they could have been so busy working those two low paid jobs they just couldn't spare the time to vote.
          Make the election day a public holiday [wikipedia.org] and participation may improve. No guaranteed results, though

          --
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @10:15PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 02 2017, @10:15PM (#474147)

      I wouldn't call it a wide margin. It was a relatively slim margin. When they did the recount that the green party demanded it even shrank a bit until they stopped the recount. Let's not let facts get in the way of a good narrative though.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @12:45AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @12:45AM (#474193)

        3 million people is not a slim margin

    • (Score: 2) by nyder on Friday March 03 2017, @03:03AM

      by nyder (4525) on Friday March 03 2017, @03:03AM (#474239)

      Wrong.

      57% of Americans voted. Clinton got the popular vote, but not by that wide of a margin, and when you consider that 43% of the people didn't give a fuck enough to vote, you find that a majority of Americans didn't in fact vote for Clinton.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @03:11AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @03:11AM (#474242)

      Clinton got more votes, but that doesn't mean more Americans voted for her. Mexico checks ID, because they don't want some illegal invader from the USA voting for the Mexican president. I guess Mexico really is an advanced country!

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @05:09PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 03 2017, @05:09PM (#474447)

        psst, I've got some great property in Florida for sale. It's tremendous!, really, really, great. And I offer better deals than anybody. Only a loser wouldn't buy it! Send me your money or be sad,

        So sad.

    • (Score: 1) by DeVilla on Tuesday March 07 2017, @03:48AM

      by DeVilla (5354) on Tuesday March 07 2017, @03:48AM (#475892)

      ... and yet still not a majority.