I know enough people whose lives have been damaged from the legal consequences of smoking pot, that I’ll likely vote to legalize marijuana. (If I had any faith that the Legislature would decriminalize it, I’d take a wait-and-see approach. But now that Sen. Fred Dyson retired, courage on this issue is barely existent in Juneau.) That said, if there was one thing that would convince me otherwise, it’s that Charlo “’f*ck it, I quit” Greene is a spokesperson for it. Here she is talking to High Times about how “over the moon,” she was when she visited Colorado and was able to buy weed with a credit card, about her favorite strain of pot, and about how kids aren’t walking around Colorado, with a joint between their lips, walking out on their jobs, embarrassing their colleagues, offending their viewing audiences. You know, that kind of thing.
Can other people assume that you are drunk all the time simply because you have a different opinion than them?
First of all, the problems villages and the native community has as a whole with alcohol is due largely to the fact it is outlawed. Making alcohol illegal only reinforces the notion that the only purpose of alcohol is to get drunk, and in effect encourage heavy abuse. We saw the same thing in the rest of the nation with alcohol prohibition, and see it now with the prohibition of other drugs as well. For example, opiates and cannabis were hardly thought of or used as drugs purely for intoxication before we outlawed them.
Second, if cannabis was available as an alternative to alcohol in these villages, there would be far less domestic violence and crime problems that currently plague our native communities.
Furthermore, even if I haven’t convinced you we should end the idea of “dry villages” and cannabis use would actually be a far preferable to alcohol abuse, I can almost guarantee you that the alcohol control board and state law will determine villages will be able to outlaw cannabis in their villages as they have done with alcohol.
So you are going to base your decision on what is really a key civil rights issue on the conduct of ONE person who is in no way representative of the movement or users as a whole? I can assure you that her behavior had everything to do with her own morals (or lack thereof) and not her use of cannabis. I suggest you do a little more soul searching and think about the negative impact that this absurd war on drugs has had on Alaska and our nation as a whole.
Amen.
blah blah blah side-boob blah blah blah
Yeah..
OK. As soon as I hear a person use the descriptor “epic” I automatically subtract 20 IQ points and disregard whatever it is they are about to say next. So this made for a difficult opening for these two.
Charlo has single-handedly flushed the pot movement down the toilet. I will not be shocked if the pot ballot measure goes down by double digits. But hey, at least Charlo got her 15 mins.
I hope we wake up to the future here, to a legal future here in November.
I hope we finally do the right thing, so that all the scared fear mongers get to witness the folly of their ways. I hope all the NO people who painted such a menacing portrayal get to watch their admonitions disproven, again and again, for history.
The saddest thing on the planet is the misconception of what would happen to the bush villages if it were legalized. When I hear local/regional leadership say things like “why would we add to our troubles?” it makes me double up inside.
When will we wake up and realize the legacy that alcohol has and see it, rightfully, as different from cannabis? If the bush communities had a recreational alternative that didn’t fuel violence and didn’t kill people things would be better. People want recreation, they want stress relief and they want a diversion from the bleak day-to-day realities of their lives.
What would happen to the bush communities? I think the sad truth is that domestic violence would go down, and these poor communities are fighting back against this out of fear.
I think Alaska has the solution at hand with the Ravin Decision. Grow your own if you want it. Understand that is legal. Let the Legislature raise the maximum personal possession amount or make it legal unless any other controlled substance is found with the marijuana if that will help overburdened prosecutors. If this passes can communities declare themselves “dry,damp or wet” regarding this as they can Alcohol?
We have enough problems with Alcohol and I am not convinced another legal public intoxicant is going to help with any or our problems. The idea of industrializing the production of candies and cookies and other treats laced with the active ingredient makes me wonder who the target consumers for that product might be.
I’m confused. Is Charlo interviewing for a job at the Bush Company or acting as a spokesperson for the Pot Legalization Initiative? Or maybe after the press interview she was going to the Bush Company and wouldn’t have time to change. Like I said, I’m confused. That joint kicked me earlier tonight.
@Anonymous: And then there’s that.
I have been searching my soul for the answer on how to vote on the question of legalization of marijuana. This posting helped me make up my mind. I will be a NO vote. There are strong reasons on both sides of the ledger to justify one’s vote; however, if Ms. Greene is representative and a leader of the pro-legalization movement, then I know that I won’t be supporting legalization. Call me petty if you like. Ms Green’s professional judgement and behavior must be attributed to impairment. We don’t need more people on the streets and in the villages acting like her.
A wardrobe malfunction, a wArdrobe malfunction, My kingdom for a wardrobe malfunction!
You should add Ivan Moore to the list of morons using F$#k on anything they write about pot. No wonder nobody believes his poll numbers – he is probably high all the time.
I worry about what will happen to the Bush villages once marijuana is legal.