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July 08, 2011 10:06 PM UTC

Not Your Dad's Hippie Marijuana Legalization Campaign

  • 7 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

As the AP’s Kristen Wyatt reports:

A campaign to legalize small amounts of marijuana for adult recreational use in Colorado is aimed at middle-aged, budget-conscious voters – not the pot smokers typically associated with such efforts…

The representatives of the “Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol” wore suits and stood on a public lawn before the state Capitol and made their case that marijuana legalization would raise needed tax revenues and save money spent on arresting and prosecuting small-time pot users.

Again and again, they talked about how they would aim to limit the legalization effort – only for adults and only in small quantities…

Mason Tvert said the campaign wants to appeal to Republicans and older voters, not just young people who typically turn up at smoke-filled pot rallies. A 2006 measure to legalize marijuana in Colorado was soundly defeated, as was a legalization measure last year in California.

“We think this is going to appeal to a lot more people,” Tvert said.

For one thing, our use of the term “legalization” runs counter to the message of this campaign–they are working hard to frame the discussion in terms of “ending prohibition,” hoping (smartly in our opinion) to conjure up images of G-men dumping casks of booze in the gutter and other images of the failed Prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s. And of course, most of the hippie kids who were previously targeted as potential legalization voters had never heard of Prohibition.

It’s always been our opinion that dispassionate fiscal arguments–both the tax revenue that could be raised from marijuana, as well as reduced costs of processing marijuana offenders through the criminal justice system–were much more effective than silly comparisons between the “dangers” of pot versus alcohol or nonprescription medications. Even if the argument had merit, that conversation, which formed the basis of the failed 2006 campaign, began at a huge disadvantage with, say, people who neither smoke pot nor drink alcohol.

If you want pot made legal, and you intend for more than the potsmokers themselves to actually turn out and vote for legalization, you’ve got to show the sober voters what’s in it for them. If that’s what the pro-pot crowd intends to do this time, they might indeed have more success.

Comments

7 thoughts on “Not Your Dad’s Hippie Marijuana Legalization Campaign

  1. I think they need to try to pick off Republicans with the freedom argument.  Remember, that thing that the Constitution guaranteed us, even though everyone knew there would be screw-ups.  To me, as a “Real” Republican (sometimes called a RHINO by today’s republicans – capitalization and quotes intended)this is the heart of the argument about freedom at all.  People have to be free to make mistakes and they have to take the consequences.  This is what “Real” Republicans used to believe.  You need to go after that vote especially me and my friends in the 45 to 65 generation who were around drugs, sex and rock and roll when we were in college.  I call us the “you can’t do anything that I haven’t already done” group of parents.

    1. Moral authoritarians (mostly Republicans) steal your freedom of behavior and fiscal authoritarians (mostly Democrats) steal the fruits of your labor. These 2 party’s work together to abolish liberty .

      1. Democrats recognize that

        1) it is necessary to have roads, fire depts, schools, health depts and many other things which assist us in having a quality of life

        2) those that can contribute toward the above types of functions should do so. Those with the most actually benefit the most and can utilize the existence of all those govt activities in ways that provide greater enrichment.

  2. as aptly documented here:


    I have a lot of friends and family who smoke pot, and the majority of them are pretty vocal about wanting it legalized. Let me make perfectly clear right off the bat that I’m not coming at this as an “anti-pot” guy because I personally don’t give a shit if they legalize it, and it doesn’t bother me that people smoke. I’ve done my share of illegal substances.



    But goddamn are pot advocates some of the most annoying fucking people on the planet.
    I’m not talking about the average Joe who just wishes it were legal. Hell, those people are inching into the majority and comprise a significant portion of our own audience. I’m talking about the people who push it so hard that they’re just short of going door to door, like Mormons. And they get so aggressive and misguided in their arguments that I’m pretty sure that they are their own worst enemy at this point.

    http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-

  3. Floyd Baskette, city editor of The Alamosa Daily Courier, 1936, as related in congressional testimony:

    “I wish I could show you what a small marijuana cigarette can do to one of our degenerate Spanish-speaking residents. That’s why our problem is so great; the greatest percentage of our population is composed of Spanish-speaking persons, most of who are low mentally, because of social and racial conditions.”

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