What Would YOU Tell Gov. Carney at His Marijuana Symposium?
It looks at least possible that the Governor is willing to consider marijuana legalization. Cynics might say that that’s b/c it’s just one more issue he hasn’t thought about. Even if that’s true, though, it means he could be persuaded. It’s better than the ‘over my dead body’ line in the sand drawn by Jack Markell, who is looking more and more like a failed governor with each passing day.
So, on Wednesday, Carney will hold a symposium at Del-Tech Wilmington at 4 pm. Six supporters of legalization, including bill sponsors Sen. Margaret Rose Henry and Rep. Helene Keeley, will speak about why they favor legalization.
If you were to address the governor, what would you say? Why do you support or oppose legalization?
I’ll start. I smoked pot in college and for at least 10 years, probably more like 15, after I graduated. I stopped enjoying it b/c it induced a sense of paranoia in me. However, if pot were legal, I’d probably use it. Not for recreation, but rather b/c my work has physical demands and I’m always aching when I get home. I would seek out a strain that is effective as a pain reducer. To the governor: It’s safer and less addicting than the opiates that are now the scourge of our country’s drug epidemic.
That’s mine. What’s yours?
Puff, puff, pass….. Stop messing up the rotation. And stop slobbering on the joint. You’re wetting up the tip.
Start with money and you’ll get his attention, then remind him that Delaware politicians never met a racket they didn’t love. While Delaware dithers and frets other legalization other states are raking in the revenue, and it’s just getting started. For a change we need to get on the train before it leaves the station, just this once.
I deal with what is sometimes debilitating depression and anxiety. When I’m good, I’m damn good. I have a masters degree, have run several organizations successfully, and teach in a masters program at a local university. My mental health issues hold me back. I don’t mean to sound arrogant but I often marvel at what I accomplish despite my illness and wonder what I could accomplish if I had better control. I see a therapist and I’ve been prescribed numerous pharmaceuticals, the side effects of which have a hugely negative impact on my life (some even worsened my depression). Weed helps, if I can get my hands on the right kind. A hit or two every few days is enough to give my mind a rest and helps put things into perspective. I’m terrified, of course, of the legal consequences. Legalization won’t fix everything, but it will go a long way to helping me get the right weed for my needs and to reducing stigma.
The stigma is a big problem. I suspect people like Carney and Sessions’ only image of a pot user is a crusty hippy or possibly something out of Reefer Madness.
In my experience, a “typical pot user” has a full time job, probably a mortgage, and drinks less alcohol than people who don’t toke. I can also attest to it’s usefulness in dealing with stress and anxiety. Go-to pharmaceuticals only ever made my problems worse.
I would also point out the untapped potential of industrial hemp. It’s versatility seems to grow every year as new uses for such a fast-growing and fibrous substance are discovered.
John, El Som…. FWIW, CBD (or Cannabidiol) extracts are legal in Delaware and sold as a dietary supplement in vape or head shops. It is the chemical in pot that mainly helps deal with pain and anxiety… If you’ve ever gotten paranoid while on pot, it is because the strain has very high levels of THC (the chemical people are most familiar with) and very low levels of CBD. lately, I’ve taken to just using that instead of the classic plant, as it keeps my head clear and I don’t get lethargic.
Dear John,
I’m wondering why, as a Democrat, you would want to continue the cannabis policy of Richard M. Nixon, not a Democrat, and the only US President to resign in disgrace. Nixon is credited with establishing the current cannabis policy. It was a conscious, deliberate decision to acquire a political weapon to use against HIS perceived enemies, African Americans and anti-war activists. Had Nixon had a scientific basis for the cannabis policy he hungered for, one could almost overlook the political as well as the moral consequences of the policy he promulgated. But Nixon did NOT have a scintilla of empirical evidence to support his cynical, anti-democratic, morally repulsive choice. Nixon authorized a commission to “study” the cannabis phenomenon. The results were supposed to be rigged to support cannabis categorization as a Schedule 1 drug. The Shafer Commission, formally known as the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, did NOT find evidence that supported Nixon’s twisted purpose. Twice the head of the commission went to Nixon and said that the findings did NOT support making cannabis illegal. (Nixon promised Shafer a federal judgeship if he would publicly support Nixon’s desire to attach severe legal consequences to involvement with the plant. Shafer refused, Nixon withheld the judgeship.) Nixon proceeded to get cannabis classified as a schedule one drug without the Commission’s blessing.
So now we come to you, Governor. Do you want a weapon you can use to incarcerate pesky blacks and liberals? Surely you are not forgetting that these people are your allies and can be counted upon to vote for you. Is this how you would like your tenure recorded, that you happily jailed your friends over a discredited national policy?
Or would you like to be remembered as the man who freed the political prisoners clogging up Delaware’s courts and jails? The man who reduced the non-violent inmate population and simultaneously reduced the strain on the Department of Corrections Budget? The man who found a new source of revenue for tax deprived state coffers? The man who finally put an end, to this morally corrupt form of political persecution in Delaware? I vote for the latter. I bet my neighbors do to. Choose, Governor. There is no middle ground on the moral dimensions of this issue.
I have heard some activists reference a “pocket passage” where Carney can not sign or veto this law, and it still goes in to law. Is there anyone here with more knowledge than I who can shed some light on this?
Not what you are looking for, Ben, but may be telling…
“Delaware, The governor must sign or veto legislation within 10 days after … than 10 days left in the session, failure of the governor to act results in a pocket veto.”
On the other hand, the ___ says, “Governor must sign or veto legislation within 10 days after transmittal (During the session) (excepting Sundays), or it becomes law without signature. After session adjournment, governor must act within 30 days of adjournment, or legislation is pocket vetoed.”
This is from “International Association Of
Healthcare Central Service Materiel
Management (IAHCSMM)” on Google using the search term “delaware signing bills into law without the governor’s signature”
Thanks BF…. makes me sightly more confused, but i think it means Carney cant do nothing. I was hopeful that he could be a spineless little snot, and just leave it. Turns out he’ll need to buck his FoP masters.
A bill can pass into law without the governor’s signature. That’s how we got slot machines back in ’95. Carper wanted the money but didn’t have the guts to sign the bill so it became law without his signature.
It’s a f-ing naturally occurring plant. Find someone else to harass
stoner that i am, that’s a dubious argument, given all the breeding that has been done to it. Gorilla Glue and AK-47 dont grow naturally….. that said, yes. We have pharma companies making new heroin addicts every day, and the Sessions/Carney agenda targets something that makes people financially support take-out restaurants.
Selective breeding is what agriculture is all about. Animal husbandry, too. As well as, once upon a time, royal lineage.
But how can a naturally occurring plant be illegal? it makes no sense.
Rhetorically…. or what was the insane and racist process by which a paper mogul tried to stamp out competition? Because it was insane and racist.
“But how can a naturally occurring plant be illegal? it makes no sense.”
See how far you get growing coca.
I just like the way it smells.
Coca, or weed. Personally…. I like the way it works, but I’ve encountered some stank-nasty sticky icky that smells like skunks.
Im very annoyed the bill doesn’t allow for home growers.
Weed was used in ancient times and in cultures all over the world as a medicine. Even Pat Robertson stated it was a medicine used by Christians. They used the plant mixed with olive oil and applied it all over their bodies. Its not a drug, that’s Big Pharma territory. Big Pharma has addicted our nation and yet, they haven’t paid a cent for recovery of those they addicted? We should be able to grow it in our gardens like oregano, or basil. Problem for Delaware is even the Medical Marijuana grow operation is a joke. They charge more for a gram than you can get on the street, and they don’t have edibles. Is it true the same guy to got the contract in Wilmington is also going to be the owner of the dispensaries state wide? Carney is more concerned with the beating big pharma will take when pot is legalized nationwide. We need a real smoke in at Leg Hall, and how many of those legislators smoke or have family members who do…Carney is a joke.
I’ve not grown anything worth smoking. It’s a rather complex operation to get female plants to put out high level THC buds. So sick of puritanical right wing religious folk. I wish they would all move to some slave state and have their own fascist utopia
Wednesday at 4:00 in Wimington. No working people and no one south of the canal. Legalization was brought up in a positive way at every one of the Governor’s budget reset meetings. He knows that over 60% of Delawareans want it legalized per the U of D and he knows the base of support for legalization is broad and diverse.
Tomorrow is a dog and pony show so he can pretend he listened. The electeds that don’t support the bill are either cop related Rs or Blue Dog Ds. Carney will stealthly prevent the bill from passing so he won’t have to sign or veto sh*t.
Prepare to be weaseled.
Weaseled by the squid.
Until we have people standing up to ban cigarettes, booze, sugar and fat, which kill literally thousands of Delawareans annually, we need to come to terms with the fact that prohibition of personal vices doesn’t work. Doesn’t. Hasn’t. Won’t.
The facts are in.
We below the canal are just as supportive of legalization as those above! If you listened to WDEL this morning you would know the callers (from below the canal) were more supportive than the nitwit ignorant callers who used the same ole propaganda against legalization. I agree Carney is using the meeting today as “see I listened”, but those in the Cannabis lobby stated he has been listening and may very well have changed his mind. If he refuses to legalize why don’t we all just grow it in our gardens, what will they do arrest us all. The prisons are already overcrowded. They did announce Tom Carpers goon cop in charge of the upstate dispensary also has the contract for downstate. How much is Carper getting out that deal?