Well, Kentucky has a higher OD rate than California or Colorado, where weed is legal. So, your way isn't working.
An unapologetically apolitical political post
- Thread starter bkingUK
- Start date
Don't forget big pharma and how they helped create the most widespread opioid epidemic known to mankind that just so happens to be extry crippling to many people in Kentucky.
Just imagine if people experiencing pain had an organic, non-addictive option instead of a trusted doctor getting a kickback loading them up with Oxy.
Theoretically, a person in the minority could vote against the filibuster. I do not follow closely enough to know if that happens. But, if the country is split 50/50 on legislation, the idea is that it might not be good or the right time.
I assume you are a KY resident. How is sending money out of state and not capitalizing on billions in legal weed tax revenue not against your self interests?
I'd be for gambling if I, a private citizen, could open up a sports betting or blackjack parlor in a bar that I own. But no, the state is only going to give the rights to large corporations. So eff that.
There are a lot more pressing issues that go beyond just dollars and cents for the state, that the Liberal Democrats are aligned with at the national level, that impact us all far more that weed and gambling revenue ever will.
And according to this link the State would only rake in around $83 million from Weed revenue, a far cry from billions.
https://taxfoundation.org/recreational-marijuana-tax-revenue-by-state/
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Not weighing in on the politics, but as for the economics, I think this is accurate as is the impact of legalized gambling. Yes, they would bring in some money, but generally speaking from all that I have read would not be anywhere near the revenue what some of the posters on this thread think they would.
-booze is *the* gateway drug. Unquestionably.
-I see both sides...prohibition doesn't work on anything, can't legislate abstinence effectively/tax revenue could be beneficial (makes me throw up a bit to say that).
^that said...gambling particularly has a negative effect on poor people...roll over to the Red Mile...and then try to convince yourself those folks have money to lose.
-the cynic in me says **** it...they're gonna do it anyway may as well benefit locally, the realist in me tells me that we as taxpayers/society will end up footing the bill/subsidizing for people's bad decisions...we already do it this'll just make it worse.
-I see both sides...prohibition doesn't work on anything, can't legislate abstinence effectively/tax revenue could be beneficial (makes me throw up a bit to say that).
^that said...gambling particularly has a negative effect on poor people...roll over to the Red Mile...and then try to convince yourself those folks have money to lose.
-the cynic in me says **** it...they're gonna do it anyway may as well benefit locally, the realist in me tells me that we as taxpayers/society will end up footing the bill/subsidizing for people's bad decisions...we already do it this'll just make it worse.
This is interesting. Shows what the take is on tax and what states without medicinal or recreationally leave on the table.
Says potential for Kentucky is 83 million.
https://www.fool.com/research/marijuana-tax-revenue-by-state/
CO and IL brought in $400M in marijuana tax revenue last year. MI brought in about $250M. I wouldn't expect KY to bring in that much, but even at $200M/yr, that's still money left on the table for no other reason than to control what people put in their bodies.
Yes, I should have said millions not billions in my OP.
It's not the government's job to keep people from their vices provided they are not harming others. This is supposed to be a free country.
If you expand this logic, then the governement should ban fast food, soda, alcohol, and cigarettes as well.
-did you not read the second paragraph?
^I generally agree philosophically...but practically speaking **** dont work that way.
-I disagree that folks are not "harming others" by eating like ****/smoking/drinking to excess/gambling more than they can afford to lose...welfare costs/Healthcare costs that result of poor choices impact the taxpayer/society in a very significant and *real* way.
^in short we all(those of us that pay taxes/buy insurance)pay for others "freedom" to be fat/stupid.
-not sure what can be done...but the point remains.
^I generally agree philosophically...but practically speaking **** dont work that way.
-I disagree that folks are not "harming others" by eating like ****/smoking/drinking to excess/gambling more than they can afford to lose...welfare costs/Healthcare costs that result of poor choices impact the taxpayer/society in a very significant and *real* way.
^in short we all(those of us that pay taxes/buy insurance)pay for others "freedom" to be fat/stupid.
-not sure what can be done...but the point remains.
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Yeah, because until it is legal, it cannot be a gateway drug.
You cannot have it both ways.
Holy f’n boomer 80s propaganda ********.
Here’s an idea. Don’t like gambling? Don’t place bets. Don’t like weed? Don’t smoke it. But don’t stand on some faux moral high horse and tell me what to do.
Legal or not, I’m still gonna smoke. Still gonna gamble. I could give the state some much needed tax revenue for those things, but because of people with your mindset hellbent on telling me how to live when my choices affect you none, I’ll continue to gamble in Indiana, Ohio or offshore, and pay my weed man in cash under the table.
More than 75 percent of Kentuckians support legal cannabis. The war on drugs failed miserably and nobody buys into the reefer madness propaganda. My own parents who were on that “devil’s lettuce” nonsense in the 80s now enjoy consuming edibles I bring them from legal states. Times have changed. Catch up.
Look, everyone seems to have a position, but your opinion reeks of a moral high horse as much as any. Not me! Tax revenue! You better agree or you be Boomer. LOL
I don’t know how to respond to this. What exactly is “both ways?” Kentucky has some of the worst drug rates in the country and some of the strongest prohibition laws. It’s not working.
Anything that feels good can be a gateway drug. I feel like we are in a DARE class. One of the most ineffective programs in US history.
Do you agree that gambling addiction is a problem for some portion of the population? Are we going to take enough funds to help the kids whose dad bet the mortgage and college tuition on UK to make to the Sweet 16?
I hope you get caught and go to jail for that. It might be the rock bottom you need to turn your life around.
I'd prefer you keep the money you earn and invest it rather than giving it to the government, Caesar's palace, or some weed grower somewhere. Investment is what drives the Kentucky economy, not giving the money to Andy Beshear.
I'm telling you how to live your life because you sound like someone who needs help. So you can listen to me and hopefully become successful, or become a useless, broke junky. I hope you choose wisely.
What percent of Kentucky is obese? I'm not going to advocate that everybody eats 4 donuts and drink 3 Mountain Dews each day because 75% of Kentucky is for that too.
Oh yeah? Tell me how many people are dying of fentanyl every day? That's because the drug war is basically over and we've tolerated this sort of crap. The drug war didn't go far enough.
I hope your parents get the help they need and can get back to living a virtuous life like they did when our country was much stronger back in the 80's before half the population turned to drugs and tattoos.
Things have gotten worse. Wake up.
To bring this full circle, if you’re voting, know where your candidate stands
How does it really benefit Kentucky not to legalize those things? Like-this isn’t a “your rights end where mine begin” issue, like so many current cultural issues. With this issue, you’re talking about doing something that inevitably will be legalized nationwide and getting some tax revenue from it. You’re also talking about sports gambling, which people freakin’ do online, and nobody says squat about it. Why not allow people to do it in a way that benefits Kentucky? Never understood marijuana’s illegalization to be a cultural issue, other than DuPont chemical wanting to illegalize it because people could make cheaper clothes with hemp. Nobody gave two ishes until the government produced anti-marijuana propaganda to aid corporations (hey, doesn’t that sound familiar?).
One, you say that people will use the drug regardless of whether it is legal, which means people who want marijuana, can get marijuana, and are smoking marijuana, regardless of legality.
Two, you claim marijuana cannot be blamed as a gateway drug, because Kentuckians are ODing despite the fact that marijuana is not legal.
I have worked with a lot of addicts in the past. When addicts tell you marijuana was a gateway drug for them, I tend to believe them. I know addicts trying to stay sober who stay in Kentucky because other states make marijuana legal and they know they won’t survive that temptation. They stay from their home state where they know how to get whatever they want and the avoid the states where pot is legal. They are my research. Not sure why someone celebrating 60 days of sobriety would lie about their fears.
I understand the libertarian claim that your drug behavior does not impact me; however, we know that is a fiction. I would LOVE to be in a tax and insurance situation where I am grouped with other people who exercise regularly, keep their weight in the healthy range, and don’t smoke or abuse drugs. My rates and taxes would be diminished. Yet, I pay for the smokers, tokers, drunks, obese, slovenly, and addicted. So, the myth of your behavior not Impacting me is only good in theory.
Lots of jumps in logic here. Let’s address them.
Firstly, you’re keen on the idea that using law enforcement to stop marijuana use works. It does not, especially when people can drive between 45 minutes and 5 hours in Kentucky to buy legal marijuana and bring it home. That’s not even addressing the black market and the fact that marijuana is basically decriminalized in Louisville already. You’re associating a fight with addiction with a general feeling that criminalizing use stops use..
You’re an addict. Are you saying you couldn’t get these things if you wanted to? Is it accessibility preventing you from using? Also, I feel your problem with addiction. That’s tough. But people also have good experiences with marijuana and are totally healthy people.
Secondly, you’re failing to acknowledge that alcohol (which is worse than marijuana) and nicotine, which causes cancer are also “gateway drugs”. Marijuana, if anything, is a safer alternative to alcohol. Prohibition and forcing marijuana in the same group as opioids and fentanyl only exacerbates that association.
Lastly, I don’t necessarily buy the narrative of gateway drugs. I think people with addictive personalities will find addictions. I also think there are many personality traits which lead to many commonalities in addicts. Could people start with pot? Sure. Or alcohol or cigarettes or caffeine or kratom or Tylenol PM or pain killers or adderall or Advil Extra Strength.
If Marijuana is going to be lumped in with some of these other "hard" drugs, we should probably stop using it for medicinal purposes.
That being said, I'd much rather be dealing with a stoner than a drunk. Those same drunks have to drive by a store every 100 feet in big cities that willingly sell their vice. Why is that? Why do we allow them to be at risk but not those who partake in marijuana?
Tobacco and, to a lesser degree, cotton took on Hemp in the 20's and have been winning ever since.
That being said, I'd much rather be dealing with a stoner than a drunk. Those same drunks have to drive by a store every 100 feet in big cities that willingly sell their vice. Why is that? Why do we allow them to be at risk but not those who partake in marijuana?
Tobacco and, to a lesser degree, cotton took on Hemp in the 20's and have been winning ever since.
Wow, you want jumps in conjecture and logic, read your diatribe.
1) you want a drug legalized. I am fine with the status quo, even though I know people smoke pot illegally. Go figure. I know people break the law and I am not for abolishing the law. Shocker. I deal with the law every day and I see it broken repeatedly. Yet, I don’t seek a repeal. So do you.
2) I don’t think you think I am an addict, but rather believe you think suggesting I am is belittling. Nope. Think what you want.
3) If the people I know have expressed they were staying away from Colorado to avoid easy access, I believe that is significant for them. Sorry if you want to party. Their predicament is more prevalent in my life and to my vote.
4) I did not put pot in the same category as opioids. That jump is not relevant to any comment I made. If you want to battle a fictional poster on this, be my guest. But, keep me out of your fantasy.
5) I don’t have to pretend alcohol is harmless to vote against legalization. Alcohol is dangerous and a social tradition that has been legal for decades and centuries before that in many cultures. You want to make this about alcohol. Feel free. The argument is irrelevant to my feelings on the subject. And, the idea that pot is safer is an opinion, not a fact. People use marijuana to get high. Many people don’t drink to get high. Some people abuse alcohol and it is admittedly more acutely devastating. Pot has long term detrimental impacts on people that are likewise devastating, even if not as acutely devastating as abusing alcohol.
6) Addictive personalities impact marijuana and cocaine abuse, but a gateway can lead people to physical, rather than psychological, addiction. While people may not be chemically addicted to marijuana, when they look for that next high, they could find themselves with a chemical addiction. It happens now. I just don’t care enough about your desire for legalization to make it more prevalent in their lives.
Think I may have misunderstood what you were writing. Thought you said you’ve been sober for 60 years. Regardless, I think we are going in circles here. Don’t think we are going to agree.
Yep.
This isn’t about citizens. It’s political bribery as usual. This is nearly every issue. What a politician’s lobbyists want is what matters most. Every politician plays the ideological or morality game but these jerk offs will flip their position for the right people and price. They are whores.
They pass and kill legislation based on that. Nothing more. Yes, both parties before some delusional twit claims otherwise.
I certainly don’t give a **** about weed but like comedian Tod Barry said, legalize weed, criminalize “potheads.” The most annoying cliche of a person.
If they’re a white guy with dreads, give them the death penalty.
Yes. But freedom is freedom. You can't legislate people making what you believe to be good life decisions. People are still going to gamble. Not being able to legally gamble has prevented zero Kentuckians from gambling.
I got caught 20-22 years ago. Twice. Paid a total of $228 in fines + $100 in court costs, spent a combined 11 hours in jail and did 40 hours of community service. Not really a rock bottom. Just a minor inconvenience that didn't do much but make a municipality and couple hundred bucks minus the cost to feed me some surprisingly decent cheese eggs and pay some cops to fill out paper work + adding more strain on the judicial system for a grand total of 2.5 grams of pot.
I'm not a selfish MFer. I don't mind if my weed money goes back into funding public services in one of the poorest sates in the nation. I would gladly pay a tax to be able to go to the weed store instead of having to arrange a meeting with the weed guy. Convenience and variety is worth paying for.
I don't need advice from you. I've made it just fine the last four decades. I'm college educated, debt free outside of my mortgage, good credit, earn a few grand shy of six figures and have been constantly employed since I was 16. And, I've smoked weed anywhere from daily to weekly pretty much the whole time.
Again, if that's something you don't like, don't do it. But, don't tell me I can't have 4 donuts and 3 Mountain Dews after a few bong rips. I hope there's cinnamon twists or chocolate glazed donuts. I'll trade the Dew for milk - chocolate if I'm feeling dangerous.
The drug war was such a colossal failure because they went after individual users and small fry runners harder than the big dogs. Likely because the big dogs had more law enforcement on the payroll than many medium-sized cities. The drug war accomplished nothing but helping fill private prisons with mostly non-violent drug offenders. It was never about ridding the US of drugs.
My parents worked hard their whole lives and have been retired for a long time. They have earned the right to do whatever the f they want to in the privacy of their own home. My mom having a gummy and reading a book is no worse than you drinking a beer or glass of wine. Life would be so much more enjoyable without that stick in your ***.
Somebody's obviously never been to a dispensary in a legal state. Sorry the world changed. Enjoy life in the past.
Well KY is already full of people drinking a sedative that turns people into emotionally numb intolerable arseholes.
Yes and booze is significantly more harmful to our society than marijuana. Booze makes people emotionally numb. Emotionally numb people make bad decisions and are often mean. I would much rather have a bunch of people setting around smoking weed and turning their brains on fast forward than drinking booze and turning their feelings off.
Uh, what booze are you drinking? Dude, I respect your position on pot and think alcohol abuse is awful, but your point makes no sense, unless it is an attempt at humor and I am just missing the joke because I had a beer last night.
I agree.
I was a heavy drinker in my youth, but slowed down considerably by 24. Nothing good ever came from drinking. It’s when I made my worst decisions. Now, I might have 4 drinks a year. (I’ve never forgotten an entire evening or had to call someone and apologize for my actions the next morning after smoking weed)
Alcoholism runs in my family. My grandfather was an alcoholic - he used to drink from daylight to pass out.
One of my uncles was self treating his depression with alcohol, unbeknownst to his family. It cost him a great job in finance. He committed suicide 9 years ago. He left his note next to an empty 1/2 gallon of bourbon, which leads us to believe he was drinking at the time he took his life. His wife and three kids still haven’t gotten over it. I have numerous cousins who are alcoholics, one of which has 7 DUIS and has been in and out of jail for the last 15 years.
I can’t think of an equivalent for cannabis users. Sadly, alcohol is socially acceptable and glorified through advertising. Cannabis is demonized and stigmatized via propaganda. I find that to be *** backwards.
How is you having a beer last night any different than me smoking a bowl before bed? (Other than you buying your beer in a store and me buying my weed in a parking lot)
I've never had a pot smoker:
* Want to fight me.
* Go on a crying binge about their life.
* Vomit in my car or house.
* **** or piss on themselves in front of me.
Lots of downers on here knocking alcohol. Serious question as I do not know, does pot help get you laid like alcohol does? E.g., loosen inhibition, make women look better than they are, etc?
No. But it does make sex better. Not dramatically but it does feel a little bit better.
If you find a lady who also likes weed, yes. Agree with Ron that it makes sex feel a little better/more intense. Kinda makes your nuts tingle.
As a former party animal, alcohol is probably the worst buzz out there simply because of its awful after effects and its ability to make its users lose full control of their motor skills. It’s the only non-prescription drug that makes its users involuntarily piss themselves and/or black out.