8 ms·

Vermont becomes 11th state to legalize recreational marijuana market

119 points by yboris 6y ago

ddddfbbnn 6y ago
Thank god for kahama harris saving us from all those poor black men selling a plant. I love that the replacement for the dumpster that is trump is another awful candidate.
williadc 6y ago
In case you are like me and only clicked the article to find out what the other 10 states were. Here's what Wikipedia says: > The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in 11 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington), the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago
  New Jersey is likely to be next in a few weeks. I wonder if any other states have it on the ballot for this year's elections.
  - scottmcf 6y ago
    Arizona, Mississipi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota are all voting on recreational or medical ballot measures.
  - Simulacra 6y ago
    Oh how nice, I can take Amtrak up, load up, and go home!
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - Kednicma 6y ago
      Prepared cannabis can't be taken across state lines legally yet, in general. However, you certainly can imbibe many milligrams of edible oil and be extremely stoned on Amtrak. (This isn't legal advice.)
- jakear 6y ago
  Funny that the “small government!” states are the same ones with governments disallowing them from consuming plants deemed socially unacceptable.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    > Small government for me; restricted civil liberties for thee.
    - throw_away 6y ago
      Someone needs to figure out how to make weed grow out of the barrel of a gun.
      - grawprog 6y ago
        I feel like the internet has failed me today. I legitimately searched hoping to find an example of someone growing weed from or in a gun. Sadly, i could not actually find this.
  - coderintherye 6y ago
    I've been amazed by this too. South Dakota and Idaho especially. South Dakota is coming around but Idaho is steadfast in all marijuana is bad, no matter what the THC level, even industrial hemp and cbd oils are fully banned. I'd love to hear from someone who is from the state and in-line with the conservative small government platform explain their position on keeping marijuana illegal.
    - vmception 6y ago
      It comes down to incumbent representatives ruining so many peoples lives that they have to be right. Reconciling that is impossible and admitting to that they need to free incarcerated people and absolve ex-felons isnt just a pride issue for them, it might be perceived as dangerous to them. Its a flaw in the system for the state apparatus to be hamstrung by its need to be respected.
- triyambakam 6y ago
  Guam surprises me. I've only heard bad things about working conditions there
  - Simulacra 6y ago
    Maybe it’s like North Korea, they let I grow wild so people can use it.
sk5t 6y ago
Will this put pressure on New "Live Free or Die" Hampshire? Or shall the Granite State prefer more limits on what "free" means?
- reducesuffering 6y ago
  Ya that state is a surprising one given the high prevalence of libertarians and proximity to Massachusetts, who has already legalized it. Maybe someone within the state could give their reasoning?
m0zg 6y ago
States should legalize growing for personal consumption as well. Currently where I live legal pot feels like scam. Very expensive, for no good reason. I mean, the thing is literally easier to grow than tomatoes. Why must 10 pot brownies be $30?
- pengaru 6y ago
  I too find the pricing of legal weed ridiculously high esp. after taxes. But having said that, I regularly spend $2-$3 on a single chocolate chip cookie at cafes. Those aren't even psychoactive.
  - DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
    > But having said that, I regularly spend $2-$3 on a single chocolate chip cookie at cafes. Those aren't even psychoactive. Do you mean at Starbucks - or more like a CBD-only hash-brownie?
    - pengaru 6y ago
      Not necessarily Starbucks, but yes, a coffee and tea type of cafe. I'm in California, not Amsterdam. Though being in California, those individual cookies are often "vegan" and/or "organic" to try justify the high price. But it's just a sweet like you'd give a child, nothing interesting.
- coderintherye 6y ago
  A lot of the expense is state and local tax, but it's also costly to create quality. Growing and harvesting good smokeable flower is generally a lot more expensive than just growing biomass for oil. Trimming is also a big expense. If you want untrimmed flower you can buy it by the pound quite cheap and trim it yourself, but then you'll see how much labor it is to create a good hand-trim. That said 10 brownies for $30 sounds like a good deal to me.
  - FractalParadigm 6y ago
dasKrokodil 6y ago
So, only 39 states to go, and then maybe the federal laws might change, and then maybe 5 years after that it might finally be legalized here in Germany as well.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
RickJWagner 6y ago
I know it's popular, but I feel this is a mistake. If we had the chance to disallow tobacco use before it was available, don't you think we should do it? The deaths, medical costs, etc. make it not worth it. Marijuana has been shown to have negative effects on the brain, I think this is a price that's not worth paying.
- mchusma 6y ago
  I appreciate you sharing your comment, but the reality is you can't just stop something by making it illegal. Even if we all agreed "marijuana for recreation is bad" (which it is not so clear on - it seems likely less bad than tobacco or alcohol), Then you still can not want it criminalized. This is because when something is not criminalized you don't: -force only criminals to sell it -provide criminals funding by allowing them to sell it -prevent users from getting help -prevent criminals from solving disputes through the State, instead they have to enforce their own violence -people should be free to do things in general that don't directly harm others (e.g. pot on the couch is ok, while driving not) -jailing people to enforce the criminalization The war on drugs is directly responsible for huge amounts of global violence (e.g. mexico) andenormous incarceration rates in the US (about 10x our peers). The downsides are huge, the upsides are harder to quantify.
- schwartzworld 6y ago
  if you think it's a risk, don't take it. what skin is it off your back if other people feel differently? Besides, you'd achieve a lot more boost to public health if you banned booze and processed sugar than you ever would for pot

119 points by yboris 6y ago

Thank god for kahama harris saving us from all those poor black men selling a plant. I love that the replacement for the dumpster that is trump is another awful candidate.

williadc 6y ago

In case you are like me and only clicked the article to find out what the other 10 states were. Here's what Wikipedia says: > The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in 11 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington), the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, and Guam.

lotsofpulp 6y ago
New Jersey is likely to be next in a few weeks. I wonder if any other states have it on the ballot for this year's elections.
- scottmcf 6y ago
  Arizona, Mississipi, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota are all voting on recreational or medical ballot measures.
- Simulacra 6y ago
  Oh how nice, I can take Amtrak up, load up, and go home!
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - Kednicma 6y ago
    Prepared cannabis can't be taken across state lines legally yet, in general. However, you certainly can imbibe many milligrams of edible oil and be extremely stoned on Amtrak. (This isn't legal advice.)
jakear 6y ago
Funny that the “small government!” states are the same ones with governments disallowing them from consuming plants deemed socially unacceptable.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  > Small government for me; restricted civil liberties for thee.
  - throw_away 6y ago
    Someone needs to figure out how to make weed grow out of the barrel of a gun.
    - grawprog 6y ago
      I feel like the internet has failed me today. I legitimately searched hoping to find an example of someone growing weed from or in a gun. Sadly, i could not actually find this.
- coderintherye 6y ago
  I've been amazed by this too. South Dakota and Idaho especially. South Dakota is coming around but Idaho is steadfast in all marijuana is bad, no matter what the THC level, even industrial hemp and cbd oils are fully banned. I'd love to hear from someone who is from the state and in-line with the conservative small government platform explain their position on keeping marijuana illegal.
  - vmception 6y ago
    It comes down to incumbent representatives ruining so many peoples lives that they have to be right. Reconciling that is impossible and admitting to that they need to free incarcerated people and absolve ex-felons isnt just a pride issue for them, it might be perceived as dangerous to them. Its a flaw in the system for the state apparatus to be hamstrung by its need to be respected.
triyambakam 6y ago
Guam surprises me. I've only heard bad things about working conditions there
- Simulacra 6y ago
  Maybe it’s like North Korea, they let I grow wild so people can use it.

sk5t 6y ago

Will this put pressure on New "Live Free or Die" Hampshire? Or shall the Granite State prefer more limits on what "free" means?

reducesuffering 6y ago
Ya that state is a surprising one given the high prevalence of libertarians and proximity to Massachusetts, who has already legalized it. Maybe someone within the state could give their reasoning?

m0zg 6y ago

States should legalize growing for personal consumption as well. Currently where I live legal pot feels like scam. Very expensive, for no good reason. I mean, the thing is literally easier to grow than tomatoes. Why must 10 pot brownies be $30?

pengaru 6y ago
I too find the pricing of legal weed ridiculously high esp. after taxes. But having said that, I regularly spend $2-$3 on a single chocolate chip cookie at cafes. Those aren't even psychoactive.
- DaiPlusPlus 6y ago
  > But having said that, I regularly spend $2-$3 on a single chocolate chip cookie at cafes. Those aren't even psychoactive. Do you mean at Starbucks - or more like a CBD-only hash-brownie?
  - pengaru 6y ago
    Not necessarily Starbucks, but yes, a coffee and tea type of cafe. I'm in California, not Amsterdam. Though being in California, those individual cookies are often "vegan" and/or "organic" to try justify the high price. But it's just a sweet like you'd give a child, nothing interesting.
coderintherye 6y ago
A lot of the expense is state and local tax, but it's also costly to create quality. Growing and harvesting good smokeable flower is generally a lot more expensive than just growing biomass for oil. Trimming is also a big expense. If you want untrimmed flower you can buy it by the pound quite cheap and trim it yourself, but then you'll see how much labor it is to create a good hand-trim. That said 10 brownies for $30 sounds like a good deal to me.
- FractalParadigm 6y ago

dasKrokodil 6y ago

So, only 39 states to go, and then maybe the federal laws might change, and then maybe 5 years after that it might finally be legalized here in Germany as well.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

RickJWagner 6y ago

I know it's popular, but I feel this is a mistake. If we had the chance to disallow tobacco use before it was available, don't you think we should do it? The deaths, medical costs, etc. make it not worth it. Marijuana has been shown to have negative effects on the brain, I think this is a price that's not worth paying.

mchusma 6y ago
I appreciate you sharing your comment, but the reality is you can't just stop something by making it illegal. Even if we all agreed "marijuana for recreation is bad" (which it is not so clear on - it seems likely less bad than tobacco or alcohol), Then you still can not want it criminalized. This is because when something is not criminalized you don't: -force only criminals to sell it -provide criminals funding by allowing them to sell it -prevent users from getting help -prevent criminals from solving disputes through the State, instead they have to enforce their own violence -people should be free to do things in general that don't directly harm others (e.g. pot on the couch is ok, while driving not) -jailing people to enforce the criminalization The war on drugs is directly responsible for huge amounts of global violence (e.g. mexico) andenormous incarceration rates in the US (about 10x our peers). The downsides are huge, the upsides are harder to quantify.
schwartzworld 6y ago
if you think it's a risk, don't take it. what skin is it off your back if other people feel differently? Besides, you'd achieve a lot more boost to public health if you banned booze and processed sugar than you ever would for pot