About that alcohol lobby funding

I’d like to further discuss the earlier post about Alcohol lobby funding the Prop 19 opposition.

First. I like alcohol. I think that alcohol, used responsibly, just like any other drug, has a wonderful place in our society. Personally, I’m a big fan of Tanqueray and Tonic, as well as a variety of top-notch single-malt scotches. I like a Guinness with fish and chips, and once in a while I enjoy experimenting with craft beers. I have no interest in boycotting alcohol because of who or what they fund.

Second. I really have no fundamental objection to the alcohol industry funding opposition to marijuana legalization. From their perspective, that’s just a good business decision. I don’t like it, and it’s not good for consumers, but I support their right to do it.

Here’s the important part. Rather than trying to get the alcohol industry to stop funding legalization opposition, we need to spread the word that alcohol funds legalization opposition.

Here’s why… When people see that alcohol is afraid of marijuana, they’ll make the connection that marijuana legalization will result in a reduction in alcohol use (and possibly in some of the problems associated with alcohol). This is a positive perception change for us.

Additionally, they’ll start to question what the motivations are for others who fund marijuana opposition, such as the Sheriffs and Narcotics officers.

Alcohol is a business. They’re supposed to make decisions based on the bottom line. Law enforcement, on the other hand, is a service to the people that is required to respond to the public benefit, not bottom line.

Law enforcement associations have enjoyed an unfair advantage, because most people assume that they are following their legally mandated mission of public service when they talk about an issue. They don’t understand that the officers are protecting their own bottom line.

The alcohol lobby funding is a blessing for us. It allows us to paint the truth in a way that the people may understand:

Alcohol and Law Enforcement industries naturally oppose legalization because it hurts their revenues.

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32 Responses to About that alcohol lobby funding

  1. adam west says:

    WOW man ,I love that peice,you just wrote.Pete I have to hand it to you man. you really moved me there. I’ma give you a ten. change my thoughts of boycotting them.I should now reflect on that for i’ma little high now.So i’m not so tense.thank you sencerily,becouse the alcohol industry is doing what they should do,there should be no outcry from us over them trying to stop prop 19,they are afraid of legal marijuana.hey at least their not taking us into a flash back to the 1920’s where they were killing everyone,to protect their revenue.Also it sheds light on what legalize marijuana would be handle in a legal market. With no cartel’s or druggangs going around killing people to protect profits.And i’m starting to remember i once read somewhere that legally speaking the law enforcement was never really legally to be unionese, becouse they’re jobs were only to be public servents and only to inforce laws not try and get involved for passing and vetoing bills. i’m not to sure if it’s legal or not,though pete I could be wrong. i’d urge you to look into the matter to see if i’m correct on your own time. cause you shouldnt just take my word for it cause you dont really know me and i could be lying .i’m not trying to say that i am lieing , just you shouldnt rely on my words alone.anyways thank you for this one man. hey i just quit drinking about 3 months ago. if you’re ever in tallahassee florida.Hit me up if you’d like to chill with someone ,have a couple spliffs and probably drink a bloody mary or too if you want. anyways love this page keep it up

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  3. claygooding says:

    I wish one of the reporters would ask the LEO’s how much federal drug funding their agencies received last year at every news conference they mention being opposed to Prop 19 at.

  4. ezrydn says:

    Just as the DEA9’s letter shows their discomfort with 19, so shows the alcohol contribution to No on 19. They throw a knife and it transforms into a paint brush which they can’t erase. Time is short. Paint your hearts out. Good one, Pete!

  5. Just me. says:

    Nicely spoken Pete…and all it took was for someone to mention the word boycott.

  6. Just me. says:

    Seems they are playing the ol”enemy of my enemy is my friend”.

  7. G says:

    Excellent point! When you trust that you are in the right the enemy will destroy himself!!!

  8. darkcycle says:

    I ain’t boycotting, I just don’t drink.

  9. Pete says:

    and nothing wrong with that.

  10. Richard Steeb says:

    Advocating continued/increased tyranny in support of financial gain is despicable. Whether it’s the prison guards’ union, CNOA, OR the adult-beverage industry; it’s unconscionable.

    Think I’ll go find me a hemp ale and ponder the implications…

  11. Rev. Run says:

    For the last few years, I have been a “near-teetotaler.” I average less than one drink per month. Then I read about this scientific study which seems to indicate that even alcohol seems to have significant health benefits. Although I don’t often put faith in just one study– for technical reasons–the effect size of this is so dramatic that I think I need to start drinking again.

    Nevertheless, I hate the taste of alcohol and I don’t find the buzz very satisfying.

    Can anyone recommend a drink that’s low in sugar and yet not-too-dry? (I need to watch my sugar intake for health reasons, so no Mudslides for me!)

    I enjoy cannabis immensely and I used to take pride in eschewing alcohol. It used to make me motivated about cannabis activism to think about the sheer arbitrariness and bigotry of our ban on cannabis. Oh, well, I’ll still crusade for cannabis laws.

  12. Rev. Run says:

    Messed up the last sentence: “I’ll crusade to reform cannabis laws and end prohibition.”

  13. raspberry beret says:

    I do love me some free alcohol. It tastes better and buzzes ya better when someone else is paying.

  14. Dante says:

    Clay said:
    “I wish one of the reporters would ask the LEO’s how much federal drug funding their agencies received last year at every news conference they mention being opposed to Prop 19 at.”

    May I add one part? We should ask them how much federal funding they will LOSE as a result of Prop. 19. That will show their true colors. When the people learn that LE only cares about money (for them), they will completely stop supporting LE. Perhaps, in time, the vast majority of American citizens will look upon LE like today’s Germans look back at the Nazis. I’m already there.

    Protect & Serve (Themselves!)

  15. Yet another perfect analysis that takes the argument exactly as far as is intellectually honest. I believe it will have more impact than the hyperbole and anti-alcohol messages. This is precisely what it’s about.

  16. claygooding says:

    The latest report is in and guess what,drug use is up,our drug czar is disappointed.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/16/AR2010091600639.html

    “Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, called the 9 percent increase in drug use disappointing but said he was not surprised given “eroding attitudes” about the perception of harm from illegal drugs and the growing number of states approving medicinal marijuana.

    “I think all of the attention and the focus of calling marijuana medicine has sent the absolute wrong message to our young people,” Kerlikowske said in an interview.”

    “Other results show a 37 percent increase in ecstasy use and a 60 percent jump in the number of methamphetamine users.”

    “The survey found the number of youths aged 12-17 who perceived a great risk of harm from smoking marijuana once or twice a week dropped from 54.7 percent in 2007 to 49.3 percent in 2009.”

    So much for Calvina Fay”s claim that marijuana use among teenagers has dropped steadily because it is prohibited.

  17. daily double says:

    Protect and serve the status quo who will kick them to the curb eventually. To serve and protect is just a decal on the side of a car. If it was legally binding they could be sued anytime a crime happened to someone. All the trough feeding civil servants will unite as they see the gravy they have been swimming in for years about to dry up.

  18. Maria says:

    Definitely on the money. I can’t help but think that the alcohol lobby is doing us a favor with their obviousness. Can I also wish for such easy pickings and sloppiness from big pharma? While I’m wishing, I also want a pony and a lifetime supply of ice-cream.

    This is one of those cases where simply pointing out that they are openly funding continued prohibition is enough to make most intelligent people pause. Enough to make a lot of people think on what this really says about cannabis and the realities of the current drug prohibition.

    As much as I enjoy a good drink, alcohol producers have a deep rooted cultural monopoly on our ways of celebrating, living, chilling, relaxing. Once some of the parent entities realize they can’t maintain that monopoly I’m pretty sure they will expand to cannabis production. I’d assume that there’s already back room conversations and positioning to tap into the cannabis market for when it is very very legal and proper. Long term, logical business planning that goes into years if not decades.

    Are there any resources out there covering how pernicious the alcohol industry has been in keeping cannabis illegal?

    /OT One can enjoy so many substances in moderation and live a good life. I really think the older the substance and process the more it is “ok” for us. Like HFCS versus honey from bees that haven’t been fed supplemental sugar.
    I do know that such thinking is a gross generalization. natural doesn’t always equal good or safe. It’s an argument that can open up a pandoras box of counter arguments but notice I’m not saying substances are “Good”” or “Bad”. Most substances are good or bad in context. A glass of wine with dinner versus chugging a few boxes at a frat party.

    Rev.Run. Stick to a good red wine with a meal to keep blood sugars in check. Gin and tonic with lemon maybe if you’re not into wines, or a modified Tom Collins (no simple syrup) use a little apple juice and throw in some muddled mint leaves and even a few fresh strawberries instead. I’m sure there’s a name for it. It’s an interesting flavor, not for everyone. er… sorry for the OT. 😛

  19. jhelion says:

    Couldn’t we consider alcohol distributors a drug cartel of sorts? So could we say that anti-prop 19 has received funding from a drug cartel?

  20. Duncan20903 says:

    —————————————————————————
    Warning: wall of text ahead. Enter at your own risk.
    —————————————————————————————

    When it comes to alcohol I’m a certifiable drunk. Seriously, if I take a drink I’ll take 20 and have a blackout before it’s over. Not infrequently I think of the David Banner character in the fictional Hulk stories who would from time to time say ‘Don’t make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I’m angry’ but I substitute the word ‘drunk’ instead of ‘angry’. The really annoying thing in all this is that I just don’t particularly enjoy an alcohol buzz, and detest the taste. I’ve never in my life drank a full 12 oz of beer at one sitting because I think the taste one of the most disgusting around and have no clue why other people enjoy the taste. I sincerely doubt I would have ever gotten drunk if beer were the only alcoholic beverage available. But that isn’t a bad thing for me it’s what kept my drinking career limited to a little less than a year and a half before I signed myself into rehab and it seems most drunks drink for a couple of decades before giving it up, if they ever do. It really is a damn shame that 12 step recovery programs are simply religious services. I know I posted somewhere this week that I’m a stone cold atheist that would make Madeline Murry O’Hair look like a waffling agnostic in a side by side comparison. They say there are ‘no atheists in foxholes’ but it just isn’t true. In 1987 I was robbed at gunpoint and the robber shot me. Really, it’s not a good idea to try to disarm an armed robber and I won’t make that mistake again. But the bullet went through my arm into my chest puncturing my left lung, diaphragm, and coming to rest in my liver 1/4 inch from the major artery that feeds the liver. I’ve always presumed that they say there are no atheists in foxholes because the soldiers there are scared that their life is going to end. On that day in 1987 I was 100% convinced that my number was up. The last thing I thought as the anesthetic mask was put on my face was, ‘so this is how it ends, on an operating table surrounded by midgets.’ No pathetic pleas for forgiveness, no bargaining with ‘god’ no praying to the supernatural in any manner. Yes, for some reason I can’t explain the surgical team was composed of unusually short people and were actually standing on some manner of stool to be able to reach to prep me for surgery. It was one way that I determined just how fucked up my mind was from the booze when I signed up for rehab because I was actually entertaining the idea that some supernatural being or magic fairy might come to my rescue. Everybody at the 12 step meetings told me to read the chapter to the agnostic in the Big Book but I purposefully avoided that for about 6 months. Amusingly, when I did finally read that chapter of the Big Book it snapped me back to reality and I dumped the 12 step church services the next day. That chapter is one of the most arrogant and offensive things that I’d ever read, and was more a projection of the writer’s arrogance and bigotry against people with the common sense to discard tribal god images and religious fairy tales and I want nothing to do with people that believe that bullcrap. Point in fact is that there were no negative consequences like jail or losing my job influencing my decision to sign up for rehab. I was simply tired of being a drunken stumblebum.

    I don’t really think much about alcohol anymore. But I was at the grocery store yesterday and they had their store brand of mouthwash on sale and had it on a really pretty end cap display that was backlit and had some ludicrous sales slogan in 12 inch letters. It reminded me how stupid I felt when I met the Listerine lady at an AA meeting because I had more than a few simply miserable nights dealing with the early stages of alcohol withdrawal when I misjudged my need and ran out when the liquor stores and bars were closed. It never even crossed my mind to go buy mouthwash at the 24 hour Wal-Mart less than a mile away at the time.

    The most annoying thing about telling people about this part of my life is they suddenly try to hide their drinking alcohol from me or just abstain when they would have enjoyed a drink had I not been present. I don’t have any problem with people drinking alcohol and enjoying it around me. I only have a problem with me drinking it as I don’t have the ability to enjoy it or to do it in moderation. Being a drunk is a problem from within, not from without. It is a significant and major flaw in the prohibitionists argument that availability of whatever mind altering drug will cause people who don’t have the same defect as I do to develop this defect. It’s simply nonsense. The first time I drank I drank myself into a blackout. I gave it up for nearly 30 years because I woke up one morning in my 8 year old niece’s bed with no clue how I came to be there and was worried to death that I had molested her. I finally asked her about it years and years alter and she got a nice belly laugh and said that she and her brother found me passed out drunk and helped me to bed. They picked her bed because it was the closest to me and they were 7 and 8 years old and I weighed 250 at the time. Their old man was a degenerate drunk so they had previous experience with a drunk passed out in their house. It’s simply a horrible experience waking up and not having a clue if you’re a kiddie diddler or not. Blackouts are specifically caused by alcohol use. There’s no other drug that turns off the tape recorder in your brain so you have no idea what happened when you come out of it. It’s why you can’t tell if a drunk is in a blackout because everything else is working as it should be when you’re stumblebum drunk, your brain just isn’t recording the events. It is simply maddening that it’s legal to bend your mind like that with booze but the prohibitionists arguing that cannabis should be illegal because it gets you stoned. In 33 years of cannabis consumption I don’t have any comparable negative stories, and my drinking lasted a total of less than 2 years but I have lots of other stories about the negative effects of alcohol and also cocaine. Now I really did enjoy using cocaine when I was stuck in that reality. But cocaine makes you repay every good feeling it gives you in kind. An example being that I got shot when being robbed of it, but was able to make it to help so it also saved my life that day. Something very peculiar to cocaine is that it creates a wash by sending you to both extremes and then averaging them. Thanks I’d rather just skip the getting shot part.

    AA has a lot of platitudes and aphoristic slogans, among them ‘a drink is a drink is a drink’. That platitude originated in the early days of AA because a lot of people thought they could drink beer or wine without a problem, and it is accurate that 1 beer = 1 glass of wine = 1 shot of liquor all three delivering the same amount of ethanol to the drinker. NA has bastardized the platitude to ‘a drug is a drug is a drug’ which is preposterous. An aspirin = a shot of antibiotics = a shot of heroin? A bottle of Robitussin = a hit of methamphetamine = a joint of reefer? Uh, not really. Actually, not even close.

    WTF is it about this forum that compels me to spill my guts? I’m not proud of myself for the way I was in those periods of my life but I do have the insider’s skinny on the reality of being a degenerate addict, and so many people are just clueless about that reality. Getting tossed into jail in 1987 because I got shot in a room full of cocaine was absolutely no ‘help’ to me whatever. I didn’t quit cocaine until May of 1989. I suppose it would have happened sooner but the idiot police officer bald faced lied in the affidavit for the search warrant to search my motel room that day, and was easily verified by uninterested 3rd parties including the EMTs and the motel’s front desk clerk. The prosecutor didn’t even bother letting it go to a suppression hearing it was so cut and dried that the cop ‘testilied’ on the affidavit for the search warrant. But she was nice enough to offer to go ‘easy’ on me if I confessed to the possession of cocaine w/intent to deliver. Nice try lady, you’ve got to be kidding.I’m not even sure why they bothered getting a warrant as there were exigent circumstances coming out of the yingyang that would have made a warrantless search legal. I would think they could wait until checkout time and ask the manager for permission to search the room, and it was only 3 hours to checkout time. I doubt they were able to secure the warrant in less time. But they decided to get a search warrant, which would have been upheld easily had the cop told the truth to get it. I’ve wondered from time to time if that cop wasn’t actually feeling sorry for me and doing me a favor when he filed that perjurious affidavit with the Court because the lie was so easily proven to be bald faced, and he didn’t think it right that someone who was robbed and shot should be put in jail because of it. But that was only about 9 months after Len Bias died and the war on some drugs was becoming a holy war by that time so it doesn’t seem likely the cop would perjure himself as a favor to me. The entire series of events that morning is absolutely baffling to me.

    Oh well, hope my wall of text adds some perspective to those who haven’t had the ‘pleasure’ of the experiences that I’ve detailed above. I would ask that you respect me and treat your alcohol drinking in the same manner that you would if you weren’t around me. The problem is not caused by the inanimate object, but by a specific defect in my brain. You need not worry whether I’ll fall off the wagon if you enjoy a drink or talk about enjoying a drink. I pass bars, liquor stores, and mouthwash displays every day. It’s why people that have really quit the stuff aren’t in favor of prohibition by and large. They have recognized that the defect is within, and unavoidable to those born degenerate addicts. The war on some drugs hasn’t stopped one degenerate addict from debauching himself. The law might steer us to drinking liquor or sniffing model airplane glue but we’re definitely not sober as the proverbial judge because of the law. It is one of the core mistakes of prohibitionists is the thought that degenerate addiction can be ‘caught’ by a person who isn’t already a degenerate addict. Send a normal person to the hospital for major surgery, give him opioids for the pain until he develops a physical addiction and he’ll figure out to quit the shit after not too long. Yes, you guys can get physically addicted to physically addictive drugs, no, you’ll never become a degenerate addict if you weren’t one already. Note how all hysterical drug rhetoric contains the notion of ‘instant’ addiction. The first I heard of that was back in the 1970s and it was heroin that gave you ‘instant, lifelong’ addiction. In the late 1980s/early 1990s it was crack cocaine that was the object of the propaganda and in the aughties it’s crystal meth. According to the US Government there are less than 2 million past month users of cocaine and 15 million who have tried it. That means 13 million people who used it didn’t suffer from lifelong addiction. There are a little under 4 million lifetime heroin users, but only 200,000 past month users. I really think this number is misrepresented because pharmaceuticals are fast replacing heroin use among those inclined to be opioid addicts. I understand that heroin is much cheaper than pharmaceutical opioid, but even the degenerate addicts see the value in getting their drugs from a production facility that feature the quality controls needed to make a substance fit for human consumption. It’s the rare producer that installs quality control for producing contraband drugs. I believe the only 2 I’m aware of is the guy that produced LSD in a silo, now doing life without parole, and Walter White who is a fictional television character who cooks meth.

    There are a little under 4 million lifetime meth users, and about 500,000 past month users. 3.5 million more who didn’t suffer from ‘instant lifelong’ degenerate addiction.

    I’m not sure how many have tried drinking alcohol in their lifetime but there are about 15 million practicing degenerate alcohol addicts. The major flaw in the prohibitionists argument that we can ‘defeat’ degenerate addiction without criminalizing all drugs used by degenerate addicts. Since there’s absolutely no support whatever for returning to alcohol prohibition the thought of keeping degenerate addicts sober is just a lost cause. While I doubt it’s possible to make all mind altering drugs illegal and succeed in keeping degenerate addicts from showing symptoms of their brain defect, it’s certain without controversy that it will never work without including all mind altering, physically addictive drugs. As long as I can get a tube of model airplane glue or a gallon of gasoline I can get high.

  21. Duncan20903 says:

    Gil is lying no doubt, but it is a required part of his job. But his heart just isn’t really into in like John Walter’s was, so I don’t seem to find him annoying or disturbing.

    What is it about cannabis that makes people blame it for every bad thing that happens in it’s general vicinity. Medical cannabis causes people to try Ecstasy and Meth? Huh?

    Really, cannabis is the Rodney Dangerfield of drugs. No respect I tell you, no respect at all.

  22. Duncan20903 says:

    It would be great if we could get a cartel to make a contribution. Would it be worth counterfeiting one? I’ll send the no on 19 outfit a check for $5000 and sign it ‘la familia’.

    Frankly I’m skeptical that perception from a different point of view will be what we see. There’s just too many people that don’t understand that saying ‘alcohol and drugs’ is equivalent to saying ‘pizza and food.’ They honestly believe there’s a significant difference between alcohol and (some) drugs. I think you’ll find these people admiring the alcohol producers for standing up for public safety and of course protecting the cheeee-ldren. they may go as far as buying a different brand of beer because the beer company made a contribution to maintain prohibition. I hope I’m wrong and that they do see it from a realistic point of view.

  23. malcolmkyle says:

    Duncan, I’m glad I didn’t notice the inicial warning wall of text ahead!, until I’d finished.
    I went through a gamut of emotions on the way through it all. Thank you!

  24. MtLawnFan says:

    Nicely put Duncan. Recovering alcohic/pillhead myself. I was seriously addicted to any/all alcohol and any/all pills for several years (8 yrs, 2 months, and a couple weeks but who’s counting!) but have never been a “degenerate addict” when it comes to cannabis. I love it, but can take it or leave it as circumstances warrant. I didn’t notice your post being a “wall of text” but when you said “idiot police officer” you were just wasting words!

  25. MtLawnFan says:

    alcoholic not alcohic

  26. Dante says:

    Gil said:
    ““I think all of the attention and the focus of calling marijuana medicine has sent the absolute wrong message to our young people,” Kerlikowske said in an interview.”

    Hey, Gil. What kind of “message” do you send to the children when your storm troopers break into their house and shoot their dogs, shoot their parents, and finally, shoot them?

    I know “legalization” is not in your vocablulary. What about “murder”?

  27. Duncan20903 says:

    I fully believe that the cause of degenerate addiction is due to a malfunctioning endocannabinoid system. I just learned a few months ago that immediately after birth mom’s milk is teeming with endo-cannabinoids and that its a significant benefit to the infant as it is what motivates the baby to learn how to suckle mom’s tit. My mom didn’t produce milk that was any good for her children. She actually was accused of purposefully starving my sister Pat when mom and pop were at the hospital begging the doctors to figure our why the baby was crying non-stop and shrinking rather than growing. So my mom had given up breast feeding a decade and a half before I was born and the result for me was no breast milk teeming with endocannabinoids my first couple of days of being alive. I’ve taken a small survey of the degenerate addicts I’m able to buttonhole and ask if they had been breast fed their first couple of weeks alive and darn if the answer wasn’t that at least 4 of 5 had mothers didn’t produce any breast milk because mom wasn’t able or willing to breast feed. (note: small sample, not statistically meaningful only shows some support for the theory.) This could also explain why men so like to look at and play with a woman’s breasts which are functionally useless for sexual purposes. What do almost all degenerate addicts have in common? I’ve heard people say ‘mother’s milk’ in jest but that may very well be the correct answer. Well actually “lack of mother’s milk.” but that’s just nitpicking.

    Malcolm, I admire your work as well. I got the idea to boilerplate comments for posting on comments sections from watching you do it. Have I mentioned that I think that these comments section are playing an integral role in ending the war on (some) drugs? From Woodstock to the turn of the millennium support for legalizing cannabis sat at 33%. That is more than 3 decades of flat line. It looks like the flat line when you price oil with gold, and that’s one long term flat line. Since the turn of the millennium in 2001 the polls have moved to 44% nationwide that 44% is to the best of my recollection. Yes I’m aware that correlation doesn’t prove causation, god I know that one front, back, sideways, and upside down. But the Internet has allowed us to instantly post the truth in response to the know nothing’s propaganda. When I was a lad we had to hand write a letter to the editor to the editor, walk 6 miles through the frozen tundra, uphill, to get it to the post office so a man would actually carry your letter to the editor. Seriously, he would put it in a bag and actually carry the physical piece of paper to the editor 18 miles away and uphill. By the time all that nonsense took place everyone had digested the propaganda and lost interest. Not so much this forum, to me this place serves the purpose of reminding me that there are actually people who aren’t blithering idiots in the world and to help improve arguments for use against the know nothings propaganda.

    I must say one of the most precious things the know nothings say is that “they’ve seen cannabis ruin peoples lives.” I actually saw a post from someone talking about his friend dying at 39 because of a heroin overdose and blaming his death on the cannabis he’d smoked between the age of 12 and 18. If we could only have gotten him off of that pot he would never have overdosed and died 21 years later from a different drug that doesn’t even work in the same part of the brain as cannabis. No respect I tell you. No respect at all.

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  29. Dan says:

    This is all true, except I don’t see a problem with boycotting. For hundreds of years, boycotts have proved an effective means of encouraging companies to change policy. Of course, not enough people will boycott, so it’s sort of a waste of time.

    My main beef is that rather than highlighting the fact that the alcohol lobby is giving money to “no on 19” and trying to shame big alcohol, we should be highlighting the fact that “no on 19” took the money. A better way to point out that law enforcement groups are really just supporting their own bottom line is to ask “how can they about “public safety first” if they’re actively promoting the interests of the alcohol lobby?”

  30. It’s exciting to see the prospect of legal weed in the United States. I started smoking in the late 70’s, having acquired the habit while serving in the US military.

    Having won the war (the Cold one – lol), I left the military and joined the civilian workforce, but I missed the camaraderie* of the soldiering experience, so I replaced it with an informal and part-time (though intensive) position as a drug warrior. The kind of drug warrior that the cops are dead set on eliminating. Not multimillion dollar kingpins and the huge international traffickers. So long as those guys don’t miss a payment to “the man”, they’re safe as a tortoise under it’s shell.

    At the end of the day, it turned out the the vast array of state and federal power was(is?) most afraid of non-repentant, outspoken and successful marijuana enthusiasts. I had just won the cold war (nearly single-handedly) and my country was rewarding me for protecting our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, by declaring war on me and my neighbors. That kinda pissed me off.

    My upcoming autobiography** will fill in all the gaps, but for the curious I’ll note that it concludes with me buying legal weed without a prescription.

    The topic of this post is the position of the alcohol industry against pot, and the author clearly makes a good point about the justifiable though heinous liquor industry fears of business competition. In regards to the discussion of economic competition in the field of cannabis I offer the following:

    Hemp. Industries negatively affected could include cotton, oil, paper, and industrial forestry. I’m sure that list is not exhaustive. Wonder where those particular industry lobbyists are putting their pressure??

    Enjoy.

    *sitting in the barracks, smoking weed with my buddies, and playing “albums” on the obnoxiously oversized Pioneer/Sansui stereos the troops bought cheap at the PX in overseas bases.
    **Tentatively titled “The Big Book of Tim” due out if and when I feel like it. You’re not the boss of me!

  31. mike says:

    Excellent post. I’ll bet anything that the tobacco industry is also funding opposition to legalization. Anyone know? Wouldn’t want people to have a non-addictive substance to smoke, would they?

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