Tag: Marijuana

Contributor Post Created with Sketch. 420

Jon Gabriel, Ed.
By Jon Gabriel, Ed.
Jon Gabriel, Ed. King
Jon Gabriel (a.k.a., @ExJon on Twitter) is the Editor-in-Chief of Ricochet. He is a political writer and marketing consultant, contributing articles to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and USA Today among others. Until 2012, he served as Director of Marketing for the free-market Goldwater Institute, where he converted policy initiatives into compelling stories. In the private sector, Jon led marketing efforts for Cold Stone Creamery, Honeywell, and several technology companies. In his… [more]
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95 COMMENTS
 

shutterstock_114904339If I know anything about Ricochet members, it’s that you love your weed. Half of you are probably baked right now. I can’t attend a member meetup without tripping over at least a dozen bongs and hookahs. (I don’t know how Peter Robinson gets the smell out of his fair-trade hemp poncho.)

So, happy 4/20, man. For that tiny minority of non-weedheads on Ricochet, today’s the unofficial holiday for marijuana and those who love it. The date is a reference to 4:20, which was the time of day a group of smokers called The Waldos would blaze up in 1971:

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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Legalizing Drugs — Follow-Up Question

Joe Escalante
By Joe Escalante
Joe Escalante Contributor
I am hard to explain. These days I spend most of my time writing for TV on shows like Ancient Aliens for the History Channel. In the past I've spent time as a network executive at CBS Television and in the music business as a label owner and member of the punk rock band the Vandals, and in FM radio as a drive-time morning show host in Los Angeles. I still host a weekly radio show about entertainment law in L.A. on "The Patriot" 1150 AM. I also teach catechism at St. Peter Chanel Catholic Church… [more]
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36 COMMENTS
 

ricochetPot3

Further to my previous post on this subject, would legalizing all drugs actually eliminate drug related crime or would it create a legal drug industry and an underground drug industry intent on avoiding taxes and regulations?

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Aaron Miller Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member
By Aaron Miller
Aaron Miller Member
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26 COMMENTS
 

David Deeble directed me to this story at the Washington Post, which in turn cites Ben Swann’s website. Basically, an 11-year-old student remarked on his mother’s use of cannabis oil during an anti-marijuana presentation at school, after which the boy was seized by CPS and the mother’s home was forcibly searched for illegal drugs. There […]
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Mike H
By Mike H
Mike H Coolidge
Father. Physicist. Libertarian. Truth seeker. Worldview: Huemer. Caplan. Friedman. Advice: Have more babies. Take Vitamin D.
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48 COMMENTS
 

Here is a story of a mother and cannabis activist whose eleven-year-old son spoke up during his DARE program at school about some of the facts the officer was incorrect about. As [Banda] Shona’s son listened to the misinformation given by authorities to his class during the drug education presentation, he courageously spoke up and informed […]
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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Why the Export-Import Bank Was My Deal-Breaker

Troy Senik
By Troy Senik
Troy Senik Contributor
Troy Senik was a White House speechwriter for George W. Bush. He is the host of the Hoover Institution podcasts Law Talk with Epstein & Yoo; The Classicist, with Victor Davis Hanson; and The Libertarian, with Richard Epstein. Senik is the author of the forthcoming book  A Man of Iron: The Turbulent Life and Improbable Presidency of Grover Cleveland.
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41 COMMENTS
 

Screen Shot 2015-03-05 at 2.54.09 PMOur last poll here at Ricochet asked our members what policy position would be most likely to be a deal-breaker for them if held by a Republican presidential candidate. Despite the fact that there were 10 options, supporting citizenship for illegal aliens nearly commanded a majority (49 percent), with a pro-choice stance on abortion coming in a distant second (24 percent). All of the other options were in the single digits, with support for NSA surveillance or raising the federal minimum wage tied for third at 6 percent.

I’m apparently way outside of the Ricochet mainstream on this one, as my choice — supporting the reauthorization of the Export-Import Bank — garnered only one percent of the vote, tying with marijuana legalization and sending U.S. troops to fight ISIS for dead last. Now, I can anticipate the response that some of you will have, because I heard it in a few private conversations about this survey: how on earth could you prioritize Ex-Im over the life of the unborn or combatting terrorism? Well, I don’t. But let me offer you a theory: which issue is most important to you shouldn’t necessarily be the same as which one is most disqualifying.

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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Costs of Prohibition

Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
By Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Contributor
Conservative libertarian, former Ricochet East Coast/Morning Editor. I post on Twitter @tomdmeyer
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30 COMMENTS
 

shutterstock_177594347Continuing on today’s theme of prohibition, a common and very reasonable argument made by prohibitionists is to point to all the dangers, criminality, and immorality associated with proscribed activities and ask whether society should invite more of them. The implication is that these problems are intrinsic to the activity itself and should further tip the scales toward prohibition.

Examples abound. Consider Bill Bennett & Robert White’s point in Going to Pot that modern marijuana is more potent than ever before; dangerously so, they say. Regarding a different kind of vice, prostitution opponents have, of late, focused their attention on the dangers and exploitation women and girls face, to the point that the trade is sometimes presented as being nearly synonymous with human trafficking.

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Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Let’s Just Criminalize Prohibition

Kristian Stout
By Kristian Stout
Kristian Stout Inactive
Kristian Stout is a member of Ricochet.
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32 COMMENTS
 

imageAs marijuana legalization and decriminalization gains traction nationwide — DC this morning, as well as Alaska, the first red state to decriminalize — I can’t help but feel that it is inevitable that my own home state of New Jersey will follow suit sooner rather than later. Although New Jersey can, at times, feel like living in a liberty hinterland, the state’s blueish nature should, at least theoretically, lead to gains on the civil liberties front. Nonetheless, we still find that our politicians rely upon old saws in constructing their political positions on the intoxicant.

For instance, take the claim that marijuana is a gateway drug that will lead to a general decline of society. Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini (R-Monmouth) is putting together an anti-legalization activist group. Its platform will include arguments relating to “health and incarceration statistics about marijuana users, and questions about additional costs that might be incurred as a result of legalization.”

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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. Will California (Once Again) Fear the Reefer?

Bill Whalen
By Bill Whalen
Bill Whalen Contributor
Bill Whalen is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he studies and writes on current events and political trends, with an emphasis on California's political landscape.
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8 COMMENTS
 

On Tuesday, and with little fanfare (maybe that’s because smoke has a hard time wafting down from the Last Frontier to the Lower 48), Alaska became just the third state in the U.S. to legalize marijuana use. Oregon and Washington D.C. also approved recreational marijuana last year, joining Colorado and Washington State, which broke ground in 2012. D.C.’s law will likely go into effect by week’s end. Oregon law won’t change until later this year.

Voters approved the notion by a 52%-48% margin, but left it to lawmakers to work out the kinks in allowing adults to legally partake in the herb in private places. And under the category of can’t smoke ‘em if you don’t got ‘em: it’ll be a while before Alaskans will be making a purchase.

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Member Post

David Deeble
By David Deeble
David Deeble Member
Comedian, indoor enthusiast.
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8 COMMENTS
 

MARIJUANA AND PLASTIC BAGS Most of us are old enough to remember when plastic grocery bags were legal but not marijuana. More
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Contributor Post Created with Sketch. The Sky Hasn’t Fallen On Colorado’s Roads

Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
By Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
Tom Meyer, Common Citizen Contributor
Conservative libertarian, former Ricochet East Coast/Morning Editor. I post on Twitter @tomdmeyer
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10 COMMENTS
 

25 SouthWhen Washington State and Colorado voters legalized marijuana in 2012, many worried that the decision would lead to mayhem on the Evergreen and Centennial states’ roadways.

The good thing about experimentation, however, is that you get results. As the adviser to Washington’s state-appointed board overseeing the implementation put it, the repeals offer a chance for the nation to learn about the effects of legalization:

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Promoted from the Ricochet Member Feed by Editors Created with Sketch. Dubio about Rubio

Franco Joined in the first year of Ricochet Ricochet Charter Member
By Franco
Franco Member
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12 COMMENTS
 

shutterstock_180970304I’m asking a lot of my politicians, I know, but I don’t really care about what they did in their youth or whether they were absolute straight arrows. In fact, I prefer that they had at least a little bit of a rebel streak in their teens. They didn’t have to get great grades in high school either.

But I do expect them to have a certain level of common sense and an ability to address silly notions, and here is where Marco Rubio has shown some incompetence.

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Albert Arthur
By Albert Arthur
Albert Arthur Coolidge
Albert Arthur is a member of Ricochet.
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6 COMMENTS
 

That’s just bad luck, that is: LIVERMORE FALLS, Maine (AP) — A Maine man pulled over by police insisted that the marijuana officers found in the car he was driving was not his. More
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