7 ms·

Nevada marijuana legalization gets official OK for 2016 ballot

93 points by remotorboater 12y ago

Meowmore7 12y ago
Remember when this site was about tech?
- pg_is_a_butt 12y ago
  remember when the first poster wasn't an ignorant hypocrite? fuck off. BAN COFFEE
- SwellJoe 12y ago
  No, actually, I don't remember that, at all. It's been about business, science, startups, tech, and anything interesting to someone with a hacker mindset from the very first day (I was around then, I have absolute confidence that this article is not all that far from HN's traditional wheelhouse). Personally, I think there's a lot of interesting startups that will be enabled by legalization of marijuana...if you can't see the opportunities for tech in a burgeoning multibillion dollar industry...well...I dunno. I think it's an interesting change in the world; the kind that entrepreneurs love to spot early.
- seattlegal 12y ago
  If you think this doesn't relate to Tech, you must have never worked with programmers on the west coast.
  - deleted 12y ago
    [deleted]
  - Carrok 12y ago
    Or more generally, the insane amount of Tech now being developed around marijuana cultivation and distribution. Like the highly customizable automation system I just designed and installed in a legal grow house.
    - johnward 12y ago
      This site seems to be mostly about tech and business (plus other things that interest "hacker culture"). You can tell that cannibis is on it's way to be a big business. The direction we are heading is full legalization nationwide which is going to open up a new industry. If the US legalizes this drug it will probably change the rest of the world because a lot of countries seem to follow many of our drug policies.
  - ddingus 12y ago
    Totally.
Sevzinn 12y ago
Neat--it will be interesting to see how all the states go along. There won't be the constitutional issue of gay marriage, so it looks like it's a matter of the federal government leaving it up to the states eventually. Even ethanol had a constitutional component (as opposed to just statute).
stevesearer 12y ago
It seems like marijuana legalization is the inevitable outcome at this point, but I do wonder what will be the fate of people incarcerated in the time between now and whatever point it happens in the future.
- ddingus 12y ago
  A lot has to depend on how quickly things go. If it takes 20 years to really solidify the new direction, many of them will have served their time. Say it takes 5 years? Could happen! I think it will go more quickly for economic "land grab" type reasons. Those who move early will gain advantages over those who move later. I know Oregon was thinking growth in industry right along with savings from unproductive corrections. In that kind of scenario, movements are very highly likely to form to do release advocacy. Some States may be active about it too. I suspect Oregon will do this once the law is settled and working.
Tenhundfeld 12y ago
I see two interesting things about this story: 1) There's no mention of tourism in that article. Vegas seems like a natural fit for marijuana legalization, as a party destination, and while I don't have hard data on this, I do wonder if they are/fear seeing a negative impact on tourism as people seek out more "green friendly" destinations. 2) The utter lack of surprise about this. Another state legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana, ho hum, whatevs. The issue has reached the point where it feels inevitable. That's still a bit shocking for me (in a good way). I don't mean to equate the substance of the issue, but in my mind it feels similar to the march of progress on marriage equality (AKA "gay marriage"). They're both areas where I've long thought our society needed obvious reforms, but as the years marched by, I began to expect not to see any substantive changes in my life. Now I sit here in my 30's, and by the time my daughter is an adult (~15 years), she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me. P.S. For those who think it trivializes marriage equality to compare it to marijuana legalization, I'll remind you that this issue isn't about making it easier for people to get high. It's about the millions of lives hurt by a drug arrest, over 11,0000,000 arrests for marijuana possession from 1996-2012 – and the unequal enforcement of drug laws. For example, in California, a black person is 10 times more likely to serve prison time for a marijuana arrest than a non-black offender. And across the US, black offenders are 3.7 times more likely than white offenders to be arrested for possession. Even ignoring the unequal enforcement, about 12% of prisoners are serving time due to a marijuana-related offense. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.
- grecy 12y ago
  > she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me. Welcome to the majority of developed countries on the planet now. One day, you might even see universal healthcare!
  - Tenhundfeld 12y ago
    A man can dream...
  - 12y ago
ddingus 12y ago
Just a comment here about how surreal this is. Like many of us, pot has always been part of the underground culture, associated with serious trouble. Now that it's normalizing rapidly where I live, I see many of us just sort of in a state of wonder. Very soon, it's going to be perfectly ordinary to have a BBQ or some other basic social event and see people light a few up, talk, code, game, whatever, and doing that will be as OK as drinking is. Strange and wonderful times we live in.
anonbanker 12y ago
and, just like the NRA had nothing to do with DC v. Heller (and in fact, filed a brief _against_ it when CATO filed), NORML has nothing to do with these victories. the NRA was an elaborate way to milk money from gun owners whilst sabotaging the overall movement. I can't help but think NORML is the exact same thing from their track record.
RangerScience 12y ago
Man, I tell you, this'll have an impact on Burning Man. What, I don't know, but it's actually a kind of a huge point out there that "no, you can't just tote up". I couldn't tell you the arrest numbers for weed, but my anecdotal understanding is that it's the #1 mistake that gets you searched that reveals all the other stuff...

93 points by remotorboater 12y ago

Meowmore7 12y ago

Remember when this site was about tech?

pg_is_a_butt 12y ago
remember when the first poster wasn't an ignorant hypocrite? fuck off. BAN COFFEE
SwellJoe 12y ago
No, actually, I don't remember that, at all. It's been about business, science, startups, tech, and anything interesting to someone with a hacker mindset from the very first day (I was around then, I have absolute confidence that this article is not all that far from HN's traditional wheelhouse). Personally, I think there's a lot of interesting startups that will be enabled by legalization of marijuana...if you can't see the opportunities for tech in a burgeoning multibillion dollar industry...well...I dunno. I think it's an interesting change in the world; the kind that entrepreneurs love to spot early.
seattlegal 12y ago
If you think this doesn't relate to Tech, you must have never worked with programmers on the west coast.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Carrok 12y ago
  Or more generally, the insane amount of Tech now being developed around marijuana cultivation and distribution. Like the highly customizable automation system I just designed and installed in a legal grow house.
  - johnward 12y ago
    This site seems to be mostly about tech and business (plus other things that interest "hacker culture"). You can tell that cannibis is on it's way to be a big business. The direction we are heading is full legalization nationwide which is going to open up a new industry. If the US legalizes this drug it will probably change the rest of the world because a lot of countries seem to follow many of our drug policies.
- ddingus 12y ago
  Totally.

Sevzinn 12y ago

Neat--it will be interesting to see how all the states go along. There won't be the constitutional issue of gay marriage, so it looks like it's a matter of the federal government leaving it up to the states eventually. Even ethanol had a constitutional component (as opposed to just statute).

stevesearer 12y ago

It seems like marijuana legalization is the inevitable outcome at this point, but I do wonder what will be the fate of people incarcerated in the time between now and whatever point it happens in the future.

ddingus 12y ago
A lot has to depend on how quickly things go. If it takes 20 years to really solidify the new direction, many of them will have served their time. Say it takes 5 years? Could happen! I think it will go more quickly for economic "land grab" type reasons. Those who move early will gain advantages over those who move later. I know Oregon was thinking growth in industry right along with savings from unproductive corrections. In that kind of scenario, movements are very highly likely to form to do release advocacy. Some States may be active about it too. I suspect Oregon will do this once the law is settled and working.

Tenhundfeld 12y ago

I see two interesting things about this story: 1) There's no mention of tourism in that article. Vegas seems like a natural fit for marijuana legalization, as a party destination, and while I don't have hard data on this, I do wonder if they are/fear seeing a negative impact on tourism as people seek out more "green friendly" destinations. 2) The utter lack of surprise about this. Another state legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana, ho hum, whatevs. The issue has reached the point where it feels inevitable. That's still a bit shocking for me (in a good way). I don't mean to equate the substance of the issue, but in my mind it feels similar to the march of progress on marriage equality (AKA "gay marriage"). They're both areas where I've long thought our society needed obvious reforms, but as the years marched by, I began to expect not to see any substantive changes in my life. Now I sit here in my 30's, and by the time my daughter is an adult (~15 years), she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me. P.S. For those who think it trivializes marriage equality to compare it to marijuana legalization, I'll remind you that this issue isn't about making it easier for people to get high. It's about the millions of lives hurt by a drug arrest, over 11,0000,000 arrests for marijuana possession from 1996-2012 – and the unequal enforcement of drug laws. For example, in California, a black person is 10 times more likely to serve prison time for a marijuana arrest than a non-black offender. And across the US, black offenders are 3.7 times more likely than white offenders to be arrested for possession. Even ignoring the unequal enforcement, about 12% of prisoners are serving time due to a marijuana-related offense. So yeah, it's kind of a big deal.

grecy 12y ago
> she'll live in a society where (probably/hopefully) most states have some form of marriage equality and marijuana is at least decriminalized. That is amazing to me. Welcome to the majority of developed countries on the planet now. One day, you might even see universal healthcare!
- Tenhundfeld 12y ago
  A man can dream...
- 12y ago

ddingus 12y ago

Just a comment here about how surreal this is. Like many of us, pot has always been part of the underground culture, associated with serious trouble. Now that it's normalizing rapidly where I live, I see many of us just sort of in a state of wonder. Very soon, it's going to be perfectly ordinary to have a BBQ or some other basic social event and see people light a few up, talk, code, game, whatever, and doing that will be as OK as drinking is. Strange and wonderful times we live in.

anonbanker 12y ago

and, just like the NRA had nothing to do with DC v. Heller (and in fact, filed a brief _against_ it when CATO filed), NORML has nothing to do with these victories. the NRA was an elaborate way to milk money from gun owners whilst sabotaging the overall movement. I can't help but think NORML is the exact same thing from their track record.

RangerScience 12y ago

Man, I tell you, this'll have an impact on Burning Man. What, I don't know, but it's actually a kind of a huge point out there that "no, you can't just tote up". I couldn't tell you the arrest numbers for weed, but my anecdotal understanding is that it's the #1 mistake that gets you searched that reveals all the other stuff...