if you are going to link a story pu in a paragraph to get someone excited. For the past several years, I've been harboring a fantasy, a last political crusade for the baby-boom generation. We, who started on the path of righteousness, marching for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam, need to find an appropriately high-minded approach to life's exit ramp. In this case, I mean the high-minded part literally. And so, a deal: give us drugs, after a certain age - say, 80 - all drugs, any drugs we want. In return, we will give you our driver's licenses. (I mean, can you imagine how terrifying a nation of decrepit, solipsistic 90-year-old boomers behind the wheel would be?) We'll let you proceed with your lives - much of which will be spent paying for our retirement, in any case - without having to hear us complain about our every ache and reflux. We'll be too busy exploring altered states of consciousness. I even have a slogan for the campaign: "Tune in, turn on, drop dead."
Got it for ya! \t \t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhy Legalizing Marijuana Makes Sense \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Joe Klein Thursday, Apr. 02, 2009 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIllustration by Stephen Kroninger for TIME \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tENLARGE + \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Print \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\tEmail Share\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t Digg html .fb_share_link { padding:2px 0 0 20px; height:16px; background:url(http://static.ak.fbcdn.net/images/share/facebook_share_icon.gif?0:26981) no-repeat top left; }Facebook Yahoo! Buzz Twitter Linkedin Permalink \t\t\t\t\t\t Reprints Related \t\t\t \t\t\t \t \t \t \t \t\t\t \t For the past several years, I've been harboring a fantasy, a last political crusade for the baby-boom generation. We, who started on the path of righteousness, marching for civil rights and against the war in Vietnam, need to find an appropriately high-minded approach to life's exit ramp. In this case, I mean the high-minded part literally. And so, a deal: give us drugs, after a certain age - say, 80 - all drugs, any drugs we want. In return, we will give you our driver's licenses. (I mean, can you imagine how terrifying a nation of decrepit, solipsistic 90-year-old boomers behind the wheel would be?) We'll let you proceed with your lives - much of which will be spent paying for our retirement, in any case - without having to hear us complain about our every ache and reflux. We'll be too busy exploring altered states of consciousness. I even have a slogan for the campaign: "Tune in, turn on, drop dead." \t\t \t\t \t \t\t \t \t \t\t Related \t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Photos Stoner Cinema Special Report Top 10 Ballot Measures Stories In California Marijuana Truce, a Legal Gray Area Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy? \t\t\t \t \t\t \t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tMore Related Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy? AG Signals Shift in Marijuana Policy The Brawl in California \t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t \t \t \t A fantasy, I suppose. But, beneath the furious roil of the economic crisis, a national conversation has quietly begun about the irrationality of our drug laws. It is going on in state legislatures, like New York's, where the draconian Rockefeller drug laws are up for review; in other states, from California to Massachusetts, various forms of marijuana decriminalization are being enacted. And it has reached the floor of Congress, where Senators Jim Webb and Arlen Specter have proposed a major prison-reform package, which would directly address drug-sentencing policy. (See pictures of stoner cinema.) There are also more puckish signs of a zeitgeist shift. A few weeks ago, the White House decided to stage a forum in which the President would answer questions submitted by the public; 92,000 people responded - and most of them seemed obsessed with the legalization of marijuana. The two most popular questions about "green jobs and energy," for example, were about pot. The President dismissed the outpouring - appropriately, I guess - as online ballot-stuffing and dismissed the legalization question with a simple: "No." (Read: "Can Marijuana Help Rescue California's Economy?") This was a rare instance of Barack Obama reacting reflexively, without attempting to think creatively, about a serious policy question. He was, in fact, taking the traditional path of least resistance: an unexpected answer on marijuana would have launched a tabloid firestorm, diverting attention from the budget fight and all those bailouts. In fact, the default fate of any politician who publicly considers the legalization of marijuana is to be cast into the outer darkness. Such a person is assumed to be stoned all the time, unworthy of being taken seriously. Such a person would be lacerated by the assorted boozehounds and pill poppers of talk radio. The hypocrisy inherent in the American conversation about stimulants is staggering. But there are big issues here, issues of economy and simple justice, especially on the sentencing side. As Webb pointed out in a cover story in Parade magazine, the U.S. is, by far, the most "criminal" country in the world, with 5% of the world's population and 25% of its prisoners. We spend $68 billion per year on corrections, and one-third of those being corrected are serving time for nonviolent drug crimes. We spend about $150 billion on policing and courts, and 47.5% of all arrests are marijuana-related. That is an awful lot of money, most of it nonfederal, that could be spent on better schools or infrastructure - or simply returned to the public. (See the top 10 ballot measures.) At the same time, there is an enormous potential windfall in the taxation of marijuana. It is estimated that pot is the largest cash crop in California, with annual revenues approaching $14 billion. A 10% pot tax would yield $1.4 billion in California alone. And that's probably a fraction of the revenues that would be available - and of the economic impact, with thousands of new jobs in agriculture, packaging, marketing and advertising. A veritable marijuana economic-stimulus package! (Read: "Is Pot Good For You?") So why not do it? There are serious moral arguments, both secular and religious. There are those who believe - with some good reason - that the accretion of legalized vices is debilitating, that we are a less virtuous society since gambling spilled out from Las Vegas to "riverboats" and state lotteries across the country. There is a medical argument, though not a very convincing one: alcohol is more dangerous in a variety of ways, including the tendency of some drunks to get violent. One could argue that the abuse of McDonald's has a greater potential health-care cost than the abuse of marijuana. (Although it's true that with legalization, those two might not be unrelated.) Obviously, marijuana can be abused. But the costs of criminalization have proved to be enormous, perhaps unsustainable. Would legalization be any worse? In any case, the drug-reform discussion comes just at the right moment. We boomers are getting older every day. You're not going to want us on the highways. Make us your best offer. Read more TIME stories on marijuana. See TIME's Pictures of the Week.
Awesome..Time is definately read by a wide range of folks, a large percentage are reefer madness victims. I felt that this article wasn't written very well. It sounds like a 8th or 9th grade school newspaper article to me.
Meh, I have to disagree with you on the quality of the article. I think it flowed pretty nicely and really addressed a lot of what needs to be addressed on the topic of legalization. I feel like people are beginning to wake up. This is a good thing
I kinda agree with madrid. At least about the first part of the article anyways. The whole trade your drivers license for a weed license is going to throw people off.
I'm impressed with how much national media attention legalization has been getting recently. I won't get my hopes up though :/
I hate to say it,But you must have really bad Comprehension... You just completely summarized the first part you didn't understand,wrong. It said nothing about a "Weed License",He simplely said,If you are older and want to use any drug you want not just weed, you can, just take our right to drive. As for the Article,Great read. I felt it flowed well,with many points being targeted that are actually reasonable to bring into a debate on this subject.All the points were Money driven in some way,What is the last thing people want to read?That we are wasting unneeded money,let alone on a so called "Drug".
this is great, i believe legalization will be accomplished inside of a decade perhaps even as soon as five years. As for the above post, i dont care how you interpret it the fact marijuana is getting the publicity it is reciving is a very good thing.
I love how he mentioned how Obama shrugged off the popular legalization questions. People may actually look up the address and see how Obama is just like every other politician.
yeah but what a stupid thing to mention when it's got nothing to do with marijuana legalisation. the article was alright but it definitely couldve been better. hopefully this will change some peoples minds anyway, or get them interested in the cause and research some more at least.
"There is a medical argument, though not a very convincing one" -not a convincing one? Obviously he isn't, or doesn't know any mmj patients.
You misunderstand him. He was talking about the medical argument against legalization. Notice how right after he mentioned how alcohol is just as bad/worse? Also I think most readers of Time magazine will get that the first part was sort of just playing around... Again, this is good stuff guys
Wouldnt it be badass if they showed The Union? [ame="http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007&hl=en"]The Union[/ame]