On today's episode of ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos," a roundtable of some of the U.S.'s most prominent pundits took the opportunity to discuss the Obama administration's new medical marijuana policy, as well as the larger debate about legalizing and taxing marijuana outright.
Most notably, ultra-conservative columnist George Will says "we are probably in the process now of legalizing marijuana" and "80 percent of the revenue of the mexican cartels is marijuana. If you really want to go after the Mexican cartels...you'd legalize marijuana."
The discussion takes place in the last four minutes and 15 seconds of this clip.
Also participating in the legalization discussion are Laura Ingraham, Al Hunt, Cynthia Tucker and the Center for American Progress's John Podesta.
thanks for the video and your work.
ReplyDeleteI'll watch the video in a few minutes, but I have to agree with Will's quote.
ReplyDeleteHere's the other side, what did arresting a few hundred dealers this past week get us? A big bill! A long term very costly bill to move them at a snail's pace through our judicial system and most likely another humongous bill for incarcerating them!
DUMB!
Cool video, thanks for the link. I think Will's right; we're in the midst of gradual marijuana legalization. It's happening all around us.
ReplyDeleteI was a little disappointed to hear him bring up the old "increasing potency" talking point though. He should know better; since THC is non-toxic, there's really no health danger from higher potency. Also, since smoking allows the chemical effects to take hold almost immediately, users very effectlively titrate their doses based on potency.
More importantly, it's prohibition that created the quest for ever-higher potency in the first place -- in exactly the same way as alcohol prohibition encouraged high-proof moonshine and dangerous additives. Finally, in a regulated market, marijuana potency could be a labelling requirement, and regulators could even put a hard cap on THC percentage if it was deemed appropriate.
Refreshingly sober discussion.
ReplyDeleteGood to hear the lady at the end point out the need to scrutinize and abolish/revamp our failed holier-than-thou drug policies.
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