Drug Prohibition: Still Stupid

[veni vidi vici]

That's what happens in states with weak enforcement of its laws like Florida. Is it legal to grow weed there?

We don’t need no stinking government with it’s hands in the till , thank you

 

[nota]

no die satan cut a deal where ONLY his buddys get the right to grow

a person with the med card gets to BUY from approved stores that get to deal with the 4 CORPrats who won the rights to grow and sell to the legal stores

de satan give rights to people ?
o hell no not when there is a buck to be made

 

[veni vidi vici]

no die satan cut a deal where ONLY his buddys get the right to grow

a person with the med card gets to BUY from approved stores that get to deal with the 4 CORPrats who won the rights to grow and sell to the legal stores

de satan give rights to people ?
o hell no not when there is a buck to be made

Lol.. libs need the government to get pot 😂😂😂😂😂 too 😂😂😂😂

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Alcohol prohibition was stupid even before the Prohibition era.

How Pre-Prohibition Drinking Laws Led New Yorkers to Create the World’s Worst Sandwich

Near the end of the 19th century, New Yorkers out for a drink partook in one of the more unusual rituals in the annals of hospitality. When they ordered an ale or whisky, the waiter or bartender would bring it out with a sandwich. Generally speaking, the sandwich was not edible. It was “an old desiccated ruin of dust-laden bread and mummified ham or cheese,” wrote the playwright Eugene O’Neill. Other times it was made of rubber. Bar staff would commonly take the sandwich back seconds after it had arrived, pair it with the next beverage order, and whisk it over to another patron’s table. Some sandwiches were kept in circulation for a week or more.

Bar owners insisted on this bizarre charade to avoiding breaking the law—specifically, the excise law of 1896, which restricted how and when drinks could be served in New York State. The so-called Raines Law was a combination of good intentions, unstated prejudices, and unforeseen consequences, among them the comically unsavory Raines sandwich.

...

Intentionally or not, the Raines Law left wiggle room for the rich. But a loophole was a loophole, and Sunday was many a proprietor’s most profitable day of business. By the following weekend, a vanguard of downtown saloon-owners were gleefully testing the law’s limits. A suspicious number of private “clubs” were founded that April, and saloons started handing out membership cards to their regulars. Meanwhile, proprietors converted basements and attic spaces into “rooms,” cut hasty deals with neighboring lodging-houses, and threw tablecloths over pool tables. They also started dishing up the easiest, cheapest, most reusable meal they could get away with: the Raines sandwich.

...

For the libertines of New York City, Zacks writes, the second half of 1896 was “too good to be true, a drunken daydream.” The hotel carve-out allowed drinks to flow at all hours. There was no obligatory last call, and the city’s liveliest drinking spots now offered cheap beds mere steps away. For Raines and the law’s other architects, this was the most alarming unintended consequence: their efforts to make New Yorkers virtuous had caused a spike in casual sex and prostitution.

...

As long as Sunday drinking remained “an expensive luxury,” the Times suggested, its excesses would be tolerated by the average upstanding citizen. And for many a Sunday drinker, even some of the poorer ones, the inflated tab was preferable to risking arrest in an illicit backroom. Raines himself saw this as “the only compromise that is possible in New York.”

The Raines Law tussle continued well into the 20th century. The New York Supreme Court ruled in 1907 that a Sunday meal must be ordered and delivered in “good faith” for the accompanying drinks to be legal. Under pressure, brewers started refusing to supply Raines hotels.
...

Preserving a silly but expensive workaround for rich people is often a feature of prohibition programs.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Colorado might make it OK to play with plants and fungi, as long as it's without remuneration.

Three years ago, Denver voters passed a groundbreaking ballot initiative that made adult possession of psilocybin the city's lowest law enforcement priority and prohibited the use of public money to pursue such cases. Next month, voters statewide will consider a psychedelic measure that goes much further—further even than the initiative that Oregonians approved in 2020, which will allow adults 21 or older to use psilocybin in state-licensed "service centers" under the supervision of "facilitators." If successful, the Colorado initiative would represent the broadest liberalization of psychedelic policy ever approved in the United States.

Colorado's Proposition 122 would decriminalize noncommercial activities related to the use of "natural medicine" by adults 21 or older. It defines "natural medicine" to include psilocybin, psilocyn (another psychoactive component of "magic mushrooms"), dimethyltryptamine (DMT, the active ingredient in ayahuasca), ibogaine (a psychedelic derived from the root bark of the iboga tree), and mescaline (the active ingredient in peyote).

The covered activities, which would not be subject to criminal or civil penalties, include "growing, cultivating, or processing plants or fungi capable of producing natural medicine for personal use." Also protected: possessing, storing, using, transporting, or obtaining the listed psychedelics or distributing them to adults 21 or older "without remuneration."


All of the psychedelics covered by Proposition 122 are currently classified as Schedule I controlled substances under state law. Possession of 4 grams or less for personal use is a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, while possession of larger amounts is a felony, as is manufacture or distribution. Manufacturing or distributing 14 grams or less, for example, is a Level 3 drug felony, punishable by a fine of $2,000 to $500,000 and two to four years in prison.


Under Proposition 122, "natural medicine" would remain illegal for anyone younger than 21. But the penalty for possessing or sharing the psychedelics would be limited to "no more than four (4) hours of drug education or counseling provided at no cost to the person."

...

An hour might be OK but having to listen to a government counselor for four seems cruel and unusual to me.

If I can play with a plant or fungus, why can't I pay someone to provide it? What if I have money and someone else has a fun fungus? Who is harmed if we make a deal?

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Arkansas voters rejected a recreational cannabis amendment

It was opposed by every prominent Republican, of course, but also by the state's NORML, who feared they'd end up like...

Missouri, where they stupidly passed an amendment instead of a law

I probably would have voted for it if I lived there but now they have stuff in their constitution that really doesn't belong there and will be hard to get rid of.

South Dakotans Say No to Marijuana Legalization After Saying Yes Two Years Ago

Noem is still stupid, at least on this issue.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Update:

The Authors of the CDC's Opioid Prescribing Advice Say It Has Been 'Misimplemented' in a Way That Hurts Patients

Gee, how did that happen?



It was completely predictable so of course it happened.

It was that or "carefully justify" something they should avoid.

Updated update:

The CDC's New Opioid Prescribing Advice Still Invites the 'Misapplication' It Blames for Harming Patients

...
When patients respond to CDC-inspired medical practices by killing themselves, it might be time to concede that the agency issued its advice without sufficiently considering the potential for unintended but foreseeable consequences. The CDC never quite admits that, and its new guidance has similarly malignant potential.
...
These problems were severe and widespread enough to prompt warnings from the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration. How did the CDC respond? The new guidelines, which are aimed at clinicians who prescribe opioids for acute pain (lasting less than a month) and subacute pain (lasting one to three months) as well as chronic pain (lasting more than three months), do not emphasize the 90 MME/day cutoff. But they still tell doctors to beware of doses exceeding 50 MME per day.

"Before increasing total opioid dosage to ≥50 MME/day, clinicians should pause, considering that dosage increases to >50 MME/day are unlikely to provide substantially improved pain control for most patients while overdose risk increases with dosage, and carefully reassess evidence of benefits and risks," the CDC says. "Additional dosage increases beyond 50 MME/day are progressively more likely to yield diminishing returns in benefits for pain and function relative to risks to patients. Clinicians should carefully evaluate a decision to increase dosage after an individualized assessment of benefits and risks and weighing factors such as diagnosis, incremental benefits for pain and function relative to risks with previous dosage increases, other treatments and effectiveness, and patient values and preferences."

The CDC's continued emphasis on a specific dose threshold belies its avowed commitment to "individualized assessment." It ignores wide variation in how patients metabolize and respond to pain medication as well as the fundamental dubiousness of converting different drugs into "morphine milligram equivalents."
...

Before advising doctors, the CDC should pause, considering that bureaucracy increases are unlikely to provide substantially improved pain control for most patients while idiotic overregulatory risk increases with CDC involvement, and carefully reassess evidence of benefits and risks.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Colorado Voters Approve Decriminalization of 5 Natural Psychedelics

Colorado voters this week passed the broadest reform of psychedelic drug policy ever approved in the United States. With 88 percent of ballots counted as of Wednesday night, 51 percent of voters had said yes to Proposition 122, which decriminalizes noncommercial activities related to the use of "natural medicine" by adults 21 or older. That term covers five psychedelics found in plants or fungi, some or all of which will eventually be available at state-licensed "healing centers."

So that's nice, as long as it's without remuneration. I still think remunerating is an OK thing to do too.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

$peaking of remunerating, the article above mentions...

...
Protect Colorado's Kids, the main group opposing Proposition 122, argued that it was a step too far. "Colorado is high enough," it said.

...

According to a Ballotpedia tally, the campaign for Proposition 122 had received $4.6 million in contributions as of late October. Protect Colorado's Kids had raised about $51,000.

...

"Colorado is high enough" is a great one liner.

But if you look at Ballotpedia, they didn't even really "rai$e" $51k. They received no cash, but about 51k in "in kind contributions."

There were basically two other $peaker$ on this issue.

"New Approach" contributed $3.8 million and "Center for Voter Information" contributed almost a million.

So that was nice of them. I have no clue who those me$$enger$ actually are, but I approve their me$$age.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Congress had a hearing and it looks like drug prohibition will remain stupid for the foreseeable future, but a bit of progress on expungements and banking could occur

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

KY Governor's Weird Pardons

I'm glad he's making the state's drug war a bit less stupid, but agree with him that the legislature really needs to do it.

...
Contrary to what you may have read, Beshear's executive order does not "legalize" medical marijuana. It does not even necessarily mean that patients who use cannabis for symptom relief won't be arrested for marijuana possession, a misdemeanor punishable by up to 45 days in jail and a $250 fine. But it does mean that such individuals won't be prosecuted for that offense, provided they meet four conditions:

1. They have to buy marijuana outside of Kentucky in a jurisdiction where such sales are legal.

2. They have to retain a receipt documenting that purchase.

3. They have to buy no more than eight ounces.

4. They need a "written certification" from a doctor saying they have been diagnosed with one of 21 listed conditions, which include cancer, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, AIDS, glaucoma, muscular dystrophy, and "intractable pain."

Effective January 1, patients who meet those criteria will receive a pardon for simple possession of marijuana. But that pardon is not a license to grow medical marijuana or to obtain it in Kentucky or any other state where it remains illegal. Possible sources of cannabis for Kentucky patients include Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, and West Virginia, neighboring states where medical marijuana is legal.
...

I agree with the criticism that it's a haphazard and partial repeal. Better than none.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Biden will sign cannabis research bill

President Joe Biden intends to sign a bipartisan marijuana research bill that was passed by Congress on Wednesday, a White House spokesperson confirmed to Marijuana Moment on Friday.


The Senate approved the legislation under unanimous consent this week, two months after it cleared the House. It represents the first piece of cannabis reform legislation in U.S. history to be transmitted to the president.

...

Reps. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Andy Harris (R-MD) sponsored the House version of the research legislation, which is substantively identical to a Senate bill from Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) that previously cleared that chamber.


Blumenauer and Harris previously championed a separate cannabis research bill that advanced through their chamber in April. Unlike that legislation, however, the newly approved bill notably does not include a provision that scientists had welcomed that would have allowed researchers to access cannabis from state-legal dispensaries to study.


The research legislation that is heading to Biden would encourage the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop cannabis-derived medicines. One way it proposes doing so is by allowing accredited medical and osteopathic schools, practitioners, research institutions, and manufacturers with a Schedule I registration to cultivate their own cannabis for research purposes.

...

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 president election on Tuesday.

In a speech announcing his candidacy, Trump signaled that drug policy will be a focal point of his campaign—but not by advocating for reform. He talked about waging “war on the cartels” and working with Congress to pass legislation to impose the death penalty on “drug dealers” who are “responsible for death, carnage and crime.”

I'm glad Biden is taking at least an incremental step. Trump is more stupid than usual this time around, which is an achievement.

A "Schedule 1 registration" for research seems oxymoronic to me since the whole purpose of Schedule 1 is to prohibit, period. It's way past time to remove cannabis from that list, or just remove the list.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

There is good news about other Schedule 1 drugs.

Cory Booker And Rand Paul File Bill To Reschedule Psychedelic Breakthrough Therapies And Remove Research Barriers

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) filed a bill on Thursday that would require the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to transfer breakthrough therapies like psilocybin and MDMA from Schedule I to II, while also removing research barriers for strictly controlled substances.


The “Breakthrough Therapies Act” was filed on the same day that bipartisan House lawmakers announced the formation of a congressional psychedelics caucus that’s meant to promote the development of novel treatments derived from currently controlled entheogenic substances.

...

“Recent studies suggest that some Schedule I substances such as MDMA and psilocybin could represent an enormous advancement for the treatment of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction,” Booker said in a press release. “Unfortunately, regulatory red tape and a series of bureaucratic hurdles involved in studying Schedule I substances impedes critical research on these and other promising Schedule I compounds.”

“This bill reduces these unreasonably burdensome rules and regulations that delay or prevent researchers from studying—and patients from accessing—this entire class of potential medicines,” the senator, who posted a video late last month similarly touting the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics, said.

Paul said that he’s “proud to co-lead this legislation with Sen. Booker that would streamline the registration process for breakthrough therapies currently restricted by outdated drug classifications.”

“This bill will make it easier for researchers to conduct studies that can lead to breakthrough therapies to treat patients battling serious and life-threatening conditions,” the senator said.

Booker and Paul previously introduced separate legislation in July to clarify that federal “Right to Try” (RTT) laws give seriously ill patients access to Schedule I drugs, including marijuana and certain psychedelics.

Booker said last month that that the intent of that bill was to “open up more avenues to take drugs that are now banned and make them accessible, especially for people that are suffering.”

The earlier bill would make a technical amendment to the text of the existing statute, but the primary purpose is to clarify that RTT policy as signed into law by former President Donald Trump already means that patients with terminal health conditions can obtain and use investigational drugs that have undergone clinical trials, even if they’re Schedule I controlled substances.

This latest bipartisan legislation goes further that providing clarification, however.

“We urge Congress to swiftly pass the Breakthrough Therapies Act, which responsibly reduces the barriers to research and limited access of potentially life-saving treatments like MDMA- and psilocybin-assisted therapy,” Martin Steele, a retired Marine and CEO of Reason for Hope, said of this latest legislation. “Veterans should not be forced (nor should anyone else) to leave the country—at great expense—to access breakthrough therapies that can be safely provided and further studied in real-world settings here at home.”

Meanwhile, Reps. Lou Correa (D-CA) and Jack Bergman (R-MI) announced on Thursday that they’d formed what’s being called the Congressional Psychedelics Advancing Clinical Treatments (PACT) Caucus, which will “focus on exploring psychedelic research to alleviate the U.S. mental health crisis.”

...

It's trippy to see Booker and Paul working together on this, but I wish them luck.

 

[Olsonist]

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown pardons 45,000 people with marijuana possession convictions

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown today announced a pardon for Oregonians convicted on marijuana possession charges, a move that will impact approximately 45,000 people.

www.oregonlive.com

Tom will be along shortly to say that his Republicans are just as good.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown pardons 45,000 people with marijuana possession convictions

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown today announced a pardon for Oregonians convicted on marijuana possession charges, a move that will impact approximately 45,000 people.

www.oregonlive.com

Tom will be along shortly to say that his Republicans are just as good.

Your focus on people instead of ideas is simple minded and your focus on me is just creepy.

This thread has years of my examples of why TeamR is the slightly worse half of the Duopoly on the stupid drug war. I support the pardons, but as with Biden's, I think they should be extended to those who sold the cannabis, not just those who possessed it.

Her pardons only apply to possession and only small amounts, so it's pretty remarkable that they affect 45,000 people. What a massive waste!

I'm glad to see some people coming around to the longstanding libertarian point of view that the stupid drug war must end. We can't stop electing drug warriors as our leaders soon enough!

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

The black market strangled California's legal weed industry. Now it's coming for New York.

The black market has been in NY and everywhere else for a long time.

The legal weed industry is beset by high taxes, zoning and other regulatory obstacles, and lack of access to financial services, among other government-created problems.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

I have a licensed acquaintance in NY with 650 pounds of durban poison and various bubba kush hybrids and nowhere to sell it. It will go into cold storage until the market is ready. When Michigan was in this position, the price of wholesale weed went from $2500/pound or so to over $4000. It's now down to $1500 there.

Vermont is having similar issues, though slowly moving through them. One dispensary is open within 40 miles, 4 are waiting on their licenses, though each had errors in their application. The open one had a good lawyer.

 

[MR.CLEAN]

The black market strangled California's legal weed industry. Now it's coming for New York.

The black market has been in NY and everywhere else for a long time.

The legal weed industry is beset by high taxes, zoning and other regulatory obstacles, and lack of access to financial services, among other government-created problems.

The entire 'black market breaking legal cannabis' narrative is bullshit funded by the industry. Hint at agenda: They never include black market estimates before legalization.

 

[Pertinacious Tom]

I have a licensed acquaintance in NY with 650 pounds of durban poison and various bubba kush hybrids and nowhere to sell it.

The article I posted says there's no such thing as a NY license yet.

The state legalized adult-use marijuana more than a year ago but is yet to issue a single dispensary license.

Or did you mean some other kind of license?

 

[Olsonist]

Your focus on people instead of ideas is simple minded and your focus on me is just creepy.

This thread has years of my examples of why TeamR is the slightly worse half of the Duopoly on the stupid drug war. I support the pardons, but as with Biden's, I think they should be extended to those who sold the cannabis, not just those who possessed it.

Her pardons only apply to possession and only small amounts, so it's pretty remarkable that they affect 45,000 people. What a massive waste!

I'm glad to see some people coming around to the longstanding libertarian point of view that the stupid drug war must end. We can't stop electing drug warriors as our leaders soon enough!

Slightly worse.