WHY THE U.S. HAS MADE A COMPLETE MESS OF THE PARTIAL LEGALIZATION OF MARIJUANA (SO FAR)

One of the most frustrating problems in the efforts to end marijuana prohibition has long been the distrust of freedom and the pretense that we are somehow “boldly going where no politicians have ever gone before.”

Specifically, marijuana has been sold over-the-counter to anyone over 18 for decades in the Netherlands (not just in Amsterdam). It also allows for on-premise consumption. And with almost no regulations, except NO HARD DRUGS. And essentially no problems. (Except on the still banned supply.)

However, when Nevada legalized recreational sales, even Las Vegas did not initially license on-premise consumption because they were unsure how it might work and what the consequences might be.

See: Las Vegas and Recreational Marijuana 

In states where the politicians and the police distrust the people even more, the regulations have been even more absurd. For example, Ohio’s new medical marijuana laws (and some other states) do not allow the sale of marijuana to be smoked by patients, because the prohibitionist party line is that “NO MEDICINE IS SMOKED.”

See: PROFILES IN PROHIBITION: GENERAL BARRY MCCAFFREY’S WAR ON MARIJUANA USERS

That is the result of the Institute of Medicine’s study paid for by the Drug Czar’s office in 1999 that concluded that marijuana was as safe or safer than most medicines, except for the risks inherent in smoking anything. That point was seized as propaganda by the Drug Czar who ignored everything else. So 20 years later when Ohio voted to stop arresting the sick and dying, they included the Czar’s propaganda without having ever read — or even heard about — his propaganda.

See: Cannabis in Ohio

In Pennsylvania, regulations and taxes make medical marijuana much more expensive than in most other states.

See: Cannabis in Pennsylvania 

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