Monday, July 11, 2016

High Times

In the midst of a bleak moment in our history, there's some interesting momentum related to a very different political issue.

The Democratic Party platform committee recently endorsed the following language as a component of the party's official platform:
"Because of conflicting laws concerning marijuana, both on the federal and state levels, we encourage the federal government to remove marijuana from its list as a Class 1 Federal Controlled Substance, providing a reasoned pathway for future legalization."
The vote was extremely close, and immediately contested by opponents in the party on technical grounds. But it ultimately stood, and in what is seen as a victory for supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, is now the Democrats' official position.

There's obviously a long walk from 'a reasoned pathway for future legalization' to being able to buy a joint at Starbucks, but the fact that one of the two major political parties in our country has taken this step is, in the words of a great American, a big fucking deal. It'll happen - just a matter of when.

Meanwhile, just to our North, things are moving in the right direction even more quickly. Canada's ruling Liberal Party intends to introduce legislation in early 2017 legalizing marijuana use in the Great White North. Legalization was a major element of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's campaign last year, and is supported by a majority of Canadians (the same is true of a majority of Americans, for what it's worth. Observers in both countries speculate that, should the measure pass in Canada, American border states will be motivated to pass their own legalization laws in an effort to limit cross-border pot tourism.

So there is some progress towards rationality in the world, after all. Who knows, maybe when the day comes that we can all enjoy a legal toke together, we'll start solving some of our other issues.

21 comments:

Clarence said...

So this made me cry in a good way:

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/16901562/how-chicken-runs-midnight-came-life-world-series-song

rob said...

as we speak, my boss is making a presentation to our company's ceo and his leadership team, the outcome of which could significantly change my professional fortunes. i'm not nervous, you are.

zman said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzDf91oW-Q

rob said...

in a good way, indeed, clarence

rob said...

tim duncan shuffles offstage. greatest forward ever?

zman said...

I won't argue with that, although Larry Bird and Karl Malone might.

Clarence said...

Zman's comment is the best piece of Internet press Karl Malone has gotten in quite a long time.

TR said...

Duncan is best PF of all-time.

Professor G. Truck said...

karl malone has the most innocuous nickname for a PF in NBA history.

also, if you haven't seen the news, everyone is shooting each other in the vicinity of dallas-- we're going to do the kansas route home instead of through texas . . .

rob said...

so i just heard that elena delle donne is featured in the espn magazine body issue. no big deal. unrelated, i'll be out for a while.

TR said...

Call me when they put Jeanette Lee in the Body Issue.

Clarence said...

Or Nancy Lieberman.

Danimal said...

Lee Corso

zman said...

Joe Lieberman.

Clarence said...

Lee Horsley

rob said...

gump worsley

zman said...

BoJack Horseman

TR said...

Greenwood and Ryan are right again - Episode 1 of The Night Of is pretty strong.

Shlara said...

Is anyone else confused by this Pokemon thing on social media?
I'm too old + I don't have kids, which means I don't get Pokemon to begin with.
And now it seems like millions of adults are chasing around imaginary monsters in real places, and they are NOT taking controlled substances to see them?

I don't understand...

TR said...

I'm confused too! There is a Pokemon show, which is difficult to watch. Thankfully, my kids never dialed in on it.

zman said...

If it doesn't involve Minions or Julius Junior my kids don't care about it.