Pubdate: Sat, 11 Jan 2014
Source: Standard-Times (New Bedford, MA)
Copyright: 2014 South Coast Media Group
Contact:  http://www.southcoasttoday.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/422
Author: Dave Walker

STATEHOUSE NEEDS A JOINT SESSION

Having grown up in the 1960s and '70s, and having been an aficionado 
of different types of marijuana and their potencies, I sit here 
nearly 50 years later none the worse for wear, as are the friends, of 
which there were many. We did not "graduate" to the so-called hard 
drugs that government officials warned about.

In fact, the only negative thing in my smokin' days was that we may 
have irked neighbors around 4 p.m. when the Three Stooges came on, as 
we had a tendency to laugh loud and often. That being said, I tip my 
hat to the legislatures of Colorado and Washington State that 
realized the numerous advantages of legalizing another weed instead 
of following the centuries-long waste of untold dollars better known 
as the abject failure "War on Drugs," which has accomplished nothing. 
Colorado's estimate of $60 million in tax revenue from the sale of 
marijuana must have Beacon Hill in a tizzy as lawmakers salivate over 
any tax they can invent.

We here in Massachusetts usually take the lead in controversial 
issues like gay marriage, but we owe Colorado and Washington State a 
congratulatory handshake in their initiative, basically thumbing 
their noses at the federal government. There may not be national 
unity on this subject, as the red, conservative states still think we 
are in the 1950s but with states crying for any revenue they can 
siphon from taxpayers, this would seem to be the goose that would lay 
the golden egg, though many will shrug it off as they do anything 
that would even sniff of the word progressive. So while we here in 
the Bay State drag our feet with millions already wasted in the 
cement-footed casino issue (which should have been resolved already), 
maybe a joint session of the Legislature will give the go ahead to a 
no-brainer when it comes to the legalization of marijuana. Once they 
see the money it will generate, we shouldn't need any further 
discussion on the subject.

Dave Walker

Dartmouth
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom