Just vote, its an open topic for discussion of course. I believe the first thing we need to concentrate on is nation wide decriminalization before complete legalization-taxation-regulation.
I say 5-10, Obama lied about his views on marijuana pre-election and is now turned slightly against full legalization.
I'm saying 5-10, I damn-well know Obama won't legalize. And this is FULL legalization? At least 5 years out!
i voted 10-15, I really hope earlier but im trying to be realistic. In they 70's they said it was 10 years around the corner. This time is the best though, we've seen more legislation come our way then ever before. Its up to the states, if california passes the bill then well see it legal in 5 years or less, if no we will still be waiting. All in all the writing is on the wall for prohibition!
I'm a pessimist on this topic too. We won't see it happen until the companies the run our corrupt Government want it to happen. The corrections worker unions will lobby against it. The alcohol companies will lobby against it. Big Pharma will lobby against it. Law Enforcement unions will lobby against it. There is big business in prohibition and the people who are against prohibition have a social stygma of being lazy and dumb. It's too easy for our elected officials to blow the issue off as a bunch of lazy and dumb potheads and take the money from those other lobbying groups. Unfortunately, we don't have a Federal equivalent of the California system to have people vote directly on laws (ballot initiatives and such) so even if 90% of the people wanted it done, we still have to get past the lobbyists stranglehold. The only possible hope is to create a stoner funded and run lobbying group, and stoners tend to be poor and poorly organized. I voted 20-25 years, but I don't even think that's realistic. I think half the states and every country in the rest of the world could legalize it and we'd still have federal laws against it and federal enforcement of those laws. I'd love for it to happen and it might restore some of my faith in this country if we did, but I'd bet a dollar to a donut it doesn't happen in our lifetime. Things are much different now than they were at the end of alcohol prohibition.
doubt its gonna happen. things move in cycles. in the 70s, people said legalization was around the corner...then BAM, Reagan took office and shot down any chance of it. now with obama in office, people are starting to talk about legalization happening soon, because we have a liberal president...but its still not going to happen. see, the thing is, no republican politician can ever be pro-marijuana in even the slightest way and be succesful. anti-cannabis propaganda and lies is practically what the party has been built on, going from Nixon to Reagan to Bush 1 and 2. and as we saw with Clinton, there are enough anti marijuana independents and not far left democrats where while the democrats do not need to spread the lies in the ways republicans do, a democratic politician fully supporting cannabis legalization would be a grenade to any chances they have at being elected at any office. i hope im wrong, but i really doubt i am. the republican party, Reagan in particular, did a good enough job lieing to the country that anti cannabis propaganda sticks with too many people, a good portion of democrats included.
i say 1-5, simply because some states are going to be pushing for full legalization(ex- California on tuesday!), and many others are going to push for medical/decrim. Sooner or later the Gov will have to make a federal policy, so that way the laws aren't insanely different from state to state. Also I believe that Obama may use it as a trump card at the end of his term, which would skyrocket his popularity among younger people(again) and would help him during the next election. We just need every smoker & people who support us to march on Washington DC, we have the numbers now, just need the one big event to turn the tide. People shouldn't fear the Government, the Government should fear the people.
see, this has been the common beliefe for decades, but its not true. young voters are split on the marijuana issue. look at the 1972 election, for example. Mcgovern wanted to lower punishments for marijuana offenses, and look how the election of '72 went (didnt help that nixon and his campaign spread countless lies throughout the campaign). although there are more young voters than older voters that smoke weed, to get legalization, we would need more than just the vote of users. and i would be willing to bet that more non marijuana users over the age of, say, 35 or 40 would vote yes on legalization than younger non marijuana users, because they have a greater understanding of the effects of legalization beyond the fact that it will now be legal to use marijuana.
Seems to be largely a generational issue. 10-15 years, most of the people who got a heavy dose of "refer madness" growing up will no longer be around.
During the election obama was for mary jane(lower punishments) and also said he inhaled. and look how the election went, he won. now he is against it... Its also commonly accepted that the young people controlled that election, im to lazy to cite it but could if i wanted to lol The young people could be a defining force in legalization if they simply got off thier asses and voted(just like the 08 election)
i said 20-25 but i think it will be more. not even half of the states have adopted medical marijuana laws or decriminalized non-medical use. marijuana is illegal under federal law and I honestly doubt that this will be changed within 25 years. what we need to focus on is state-by-state decriminalization first and then work our way to state-by-state legalization. i am not an expert but i think this would be more plausible than full-blown federal legalization, especially in the next few years.
but whos to say how many young people would vote for legalization? like i said before, at least with the young people ive met, marijuana legalization is simply a "is smoking weed ok or not ok" question. like i said, i could be wrong, and actually hope i am wrong but i feel like although there are more young stoners, a greater percentage of older non users would lean towards legalization than young non marijuana users.
well i chose 1-5 but thats for california. nationwide is gonna take some time.the gov't is to proud to say they were wrong about MJ. theyve known this for dumbass long but never had the balls to tell the citizens that theyve been lied to.
1-5. California is going to vote in November 2010 to legalize, if it passes then other states will see how much revenue it is bringing in and follow.
I'm glad this topic is garnering interest, I wanted to discuss the possible horizon of legalization, however I am not sober so the chances of actually talking tonight are low. I will see you all in the morning.