Poll Pot

by digby

There is a lot of irrationality in our society, and it’s actually getting worse it seems to me. but one of the most irrational is the war on drugs, specifically the war on marijuana. I don’t think I need to go into the reasons why it’s stupid. Anyone who isn’t completely brainwashed can see that it is a huge waste of money and resources — and everyone knows it. here in California it’s now quasi-legal and there are many medical clinics where people can buy high quality pot if they have a prescription. In LA they are everywhere. In fact, they just opened up a clinic on Venice Beach called “Dr Kush.” Seriously.

But it’s all arbitrary and random, with certain neighborhoods and cities being tough while others are lax and the whole thing just creates a lack of respect for the law and reason. It’s stupid beyond belief.

So, three cheers to Barney Frank for offering up a little common sense on this issue:

A controversial law in Massachusetts could go national if Congressman Barney Frank gets his way.

Frank has filed a bill that would eliminate federal penalties for personal possession of less than 100 grams of marijuana.

It would also make the penalty for using marijuana in public just $100.

“I think John Stuart Mill had it right in the 1850s,” said Congressman Frank, “when he argued that individuals should have the right to do what they want in private, so long as they don’t hurt anyone else. It’s a matter of personal liberty. Moreover, our courts are already stressed and our prisons are over-crowded. We don’t need to spend our scarce resources prosecuting people who are doing no harm to others.”

It won’t pass, of course, because it’s one of those issues that gives every politician a chance to preen and prance about as a social conservative and pretend that they are a member of the Moral Majority standing up for family values. They love to bond with their wingnut brethren and nothing brings them all together like a good hippie punching. But,as with so much of the right wing agenda, it makes no rational sense. I suppose that’s at least partially the point.

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