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Legalize Weed. Or Don’t … Whatever, Just Pass the Funyuns.
Last year, Colorado legalized the recreational use of marijuana, thanks to a popular initiative. I was happy with the voters’ decision, even though I’m not a fan of weed and would recommend people avoid it. Our society doesn’t need another way to avoid reality, but the drug war has staggering costs, both in personal freedom and government spending. That’s why I’m happy to see a few states roll back the restrictions on something as commonplace as pot.
Earlier this week, Ohio voters rejected a referendum to legalize grass, though this proposal also created an unwieldy cartel to distribute the product. I was fine with Ohio voters’ decision, as well. My own state of Arizona is expected to have a ganga legalization vote next year and, though I’m currently undecided, I wouldn’t be surprised if I voted against it. So why am I fine with Coloradans and Washingtonians passing around blunts, and also fine with Ohio and Arizona just saying no? It’s not as inconsistent as it seems.
The first reason is federalism. What works in Delaware might not work in Idaho, so we don’t want our betters in the Beltway issuing one-size-fits-all mandates for both states. Obviously, the federal government is essential in deciding national issues like defense and foreign policy, but whenever possible local and regional governments should decide local and regional matters. Reefer madness isn’t exactly the biggest issue on DC’s plate right now. If California wants a top state income tax rate of 70 percent and Texas wants no state income tax at all, fantastic. May the best economic theory win.
Likewise, if Ohioans frown on patchouli-soaked hippies smoking the Devil’s Cabbage while Coloradans embrace them (while holding their breath, I hope), vive le différence. May a thousand buds bloom.
The second reason I’m not adamant about the push for immediate legalization everywhere is because I’m a conservatarian, and not a full-blown libertarian. We should increase liberty and use history as our guide to do so in the best way. As Russell Kirk wrote, “the conservative person is simply one who finds the permanent things more pleasing than Chaos and Old Night.” Yes, change and reform can at times be good things, but “a people’s historic continuity of experience” is very good indeed. Our society was not created ex nihilo a week ago Tuesday, but evolved slowly while maintaining a healthy dose of custom, convention, and continuity.
The last reason is perhaps my most cynical: I would prefer that other states make the mistakes, adjust accordingly, and develop best practices over several years. After that, I’m happy for my own state to adopt their tried-and-true regime, saving countless wasted years, dollars, and perhaps lives. For its part, Arizona is pioneering education reforms that are being tweaked and slowly exported to other states. Why doesn’t Phoenix focus on school choice while Denver tackles the far less urgent policies regarding righteous Kush?
Maybe I’m not being cynical. According to Kirk, Aquinas — hey, go all the way back to Plato — Prudence is chief among virtues. In drug policy as in most others, there’s no need to rush into a half-baked proposal. Though it’s tough for politicians not to jump on the fashionable ideas of the moment, few voters will be harmed by taking a few extra years to roll back cheeba codes which have existed for nearly a century.
Is my viewpoint hypocritical or is it consistent in a roundabout way? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be over here with a bag of Funyuns, standing athwart history muttering, “just chill, man.”
Published in Law
World is going to end, whether or not Arizona legalizes pot. Only the timing, cause and method are up for discussion.
Your are correct. Everything you typed is crazy talk, and it makes no sense to me.
I didn’t say it wasn’t going to end. I said it wasn’t going to end as the result of pot legalization. Everyone knows the world ends because of blue meth.
As a law and order conservative, it should be the laws on the books that bug you, not the selective enforcement. We selectively enforce laws primarily because there are too many of them.
If they don’t, they oughtta!
You’re in Colorado, correct? What made you change your mind?
Jon, I think your take is consistent given your federalist point of view. As a cautious person myself, I appreciate your desire for a gradual cultural change.
Although, I have two basic objections to slow walking legalization:
1)Practically speaking, prohibition has never worked and drug prohibition has not stopped anyone people from getting the drugs they want. It’s a failure of a policy and there’s no reason to cling to it when we all know we can walk into any high school in America (and probably most middle schools too) and find many kids distributing and using all manner of drugs.
2)On principle, the government has no right to tell people what they can and cannot put in their body.
That being said, I don’t use drugs (and I don’t have kids to worry about that might get exposed to drugs), so it’s not an issue I’m overly passionate about.
That’s impossible. The only people interested in legalization are stoners.
I am in Washington. I changed my mind because the older I get and the more out of control the government gets, the less I want those knuckleheads telling us what we can and can’t do.
Often it seems that Liberals want to prevent us from doing the things they think we ought not do, and require us to do the things they think we ought to do. All to often Conservatives do the same, thought the things they want to ban or require are different.
It’s high time we stopped being liberals.
Fair enough, but was there anything more specific to the issue that changed your mind? What was your main reason for voting no? And did things turn out differently than you expected, so much so that it affected your opinion?
Sorry, I work in polling so I’m curious to understand the movement in opinion, ;-)
Well if I really go back to it, I was still somewhat in the “keep it illegal” camp, but I also felt that the movement here in Washington was not libertine enough. It made some aspects of pot legal. You could go out and start a store, or a grow operation, with the government’s permission. You can’t grow it and smoke it yourself, unless you have a need medically. So I was, and still am, against that aspect of it. So it’s likely that when I say I would vote for it now, I might still vote against it. But my view of the legalization of marijuana has continued to evolve since then, and I would say that I am now in favor of the complete legalization of marijuana, for the reasons stated above.