Michigan cities challenging marijuana reform, despite voters' wishes.

**brizee** · January-08-13, 12:11 PM

Will of the people be damned at all times.

**Gannon** · January-08-13, 01:32 PM

Politicians, of all people, know the difference between just sneaking by and a landslide or overwhelming majority...and would salivate to get 65 to 75% of the populace agreeing on ANYONE in the polls, let alone anything.

Yet they can conveniently ignore this. For how long?!

**Hypestyles** · January-08-13, 03:02 PM

Benny Napoleon was on Flashpoint interviewed by Devon Scillian.. part of the segment was defending the “palmer woods is not Detroit” debacle; another part segued into talk about the crime and the drug war—Napoleon balked at the recent vote in Detroit to decriminalize possession of a smallamount of marijuana [[however exactly it was worded).

[He offered a hypothetical scenario where a teen/young adult seeking work who is a regular smoker might think he/she is getting over because “it’s legal now” but if they can’t pass a drug test they won’t get hired]

Very disappointing. So many in public punditry will rhetorically say that the War on Drugs is failing or has failed, or has to be revisited or re-thought, but then anynotion of decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana or “heavier” stuff is automatically considered off the table. Amazing.

**Jimaz** · January-08-13, 03:12 PM

This one's rich:

"When cities try to legalize small amounts, they send a very bad message to young people. Many times, young people will mix marijuana with alcohol" and then take risks to their health and safety, including driving while intoxicated, said [state Sen. Rick Jones, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee], who is a retired sheriff of Eaton County.

See what he did there? He conflated legal alcohol's known problems with illegal marijuana to support his position that marijuana, not alcohol, should stay illegal. WTF?! Hell, you could make the same argument against coffee.

What's Rick Jones been smoking to be able to perform mental gymnastics like that?! LOL!

**Gistok** · January-08-13, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by Jimaz

This one's rich:See what he did there? He conflated legal alcohol's known problems with illegal marijuana to support his position that marijuana, not alcohol, should stay illegal. WTF?! Hell, you could make the same argument against coffee.

What's Rick Jones been smoking to be able to perform mental gymnastics like that?! LOL!

Jimaz.... it never amazes me at how many people in power have never taken a logic class, and then show it by committing a "red herring" fallacy.

**MSUguy** · January-09-13, 01:41 AM

This story is timely given the recent news about Detroit's crime rate. When are politicians going to acknowledge that the War of Drugs has failed? How many people have died in this city over a plant?

**Bad Brains** · January-09-13, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by MSUguy

This story is timely given the recent news about Detroit's crime rate. When are politicians going to acknowledge that the War of Drugs has failed? How many people have died in this city over a plant?

Politicians on both sides already know it's a failure, they don't change anything because there is too much money to be made on both sides with the current system in place. A lot of powerful people would be out of an income stream if drugs were completely eradicated or completely legalized. An entire prison industry is built upon the whole principle.

And the counter argument to that idiot who thinks legalizing small amounts of marijuana sends a bad message to children is that criminalizing things that aren't real crimes [[i.e using cannabis) while more dangerous hard drugs like alcohol remain not only legal, but encouraged, sends a message to our children that our country and society are run by hypocritical lying hacks who lack logical critical thinking skills.

**Gannon** · January-09-13, 09:17 AM

Well said, BB.

**bailey** · January-09-13, 09:31 AM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Jimaz.... it never amazes me at how many people in power have never taken a logic class, and then show it by committing a "red herring" fallacy.

Well, when the low information voters that make up their base share the same opinion, why bother with logic, truth, or worry about ever being held accountable?