KY Repug Leader Files Bill to Legalize Pot
Since repugs only get behind progressive initiatives when it directly affects themselves or their family (see gay marriage, children of repug electeds who want), I'm going to guess that someone Dan Seum loves is suffering from physical pain, can't get legal opiods and is using pot to relieve the agony.
We're not judging you, Dan Seum - OK, we're judging you for being a repug - but what took you so long? Are you going to let your bill sit there, or are you going to lobby your fellow repugs to get it passed? Also, it's time to share.
From the Herald:
A bill to legalize marijuana in Kentucky was introduced Wednesday by a Republican lawmaker who touted the value of cannabis as a revenue source for a cash-strapped state government.Not for nothing, but I have been saying this for years.
Sen. Dan Seum, a member of the Senate's GOP leadership team, said his bill would legalize marijuana use for adults 21 or older. He said it's time for Kentucky to join the marijuana legalization trend taking root elsewhere.
"It's already out there, it's always very available to anybody who wants it," the majority caucus chair said in an interview. "So you legalize it, you tax it and the state gets the new revenue."
Eight states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for recreational use.
Taxing the production, processing and use of marijuana could generate between $100 million and $200 million yearly — revenue that Kentucky badly needs, Seum said.Yeah, the repugs are repeating the century-old lies linking pot to heroin and crime. For the record: Pot is not an opioid. Pot is not a narcotic. Pot is not a hallucinogen. Pot makes you too fucking sleepy to even think about violence, much less commit it. The biggest threat from pot use is rampant obesity from giving in to the munchies.
Seum's bill was introduced a day after Republican Gov. Matt Bevin proposed spending cuts of more than 6 percent across most of state government. Lawmakers also are looking at shoring up the state's woefully underfunded public pension systems.
But other prominent senators quickly dashed the prospects that Kentucky could soon embrace legal toking.
Not to mention that using pot can help opioid addicts get off the hard stuff. I think we might have one or two of those here in Kentucky.
It is the height of self-destructive stupidity to criminalize pot while keeping the far more lethal alcohol and nicotine on store shelves.
(Seum) said that decriminalizing marijuana would benefit police. "It frees a tremendous amount of money up in law enforcement to go after the violent people," he said.Hey, DEMOCRATS! Where the fuck are you on this? I'm sure it's fun to watch the repugs twist in the wind on this issue, but meanwhile your constituents are suffering from lack of access to pot and from budget cuts legal pot could fix.
Seum said legalizing marijuana would create jobs in production, processing and retail. And he gave a libertarian-leaning justification, too.
"It gives people the right to conduct their lives as they so choose, to partake in a product they're already partaking in, and we tax it and we generate revenue," Seum said.
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