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Comment by encryptluks2 | Hacker News Reader

Wow, they really want to keep the liquor, tobacco and pharmaceutical industry going as long as they can. There are a lot of professional workers that smoke marijuana, business owners, successful artists, etc. The devil's lettuce might not be for everyone, but how can these people be anti-vaccine mandate (pro-choice) while still trying to prevent marijuana legalization?

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My understanding, from knowing someone close to these political circles, is that there is a conflict between the religious faction and the individual-liberty faction. So whenever that gets resolved, we will see further movement on that front.

>The devil's lettuce might not be for everyone

It’s not for me. Neither is alcohol. Doesn’t mean I think it should be illegal. I don’t get why other people have this attitude about keeping things illegal simply because they don’t personally get enjoyment out of it.

Other peoples's enjoyment has a tendency to stink up the place. I can smell some homes from the opposite side of a four lane road.

That’s not any different than loud cars or smelly food. The smell of barbecue smoke gives me a headache, but I don’t demand that we outlaw barbecue.

How is this any different than someone smoking cigarettes, other than that we're more accustomed to exposure to second hand tobacco?

Survivor bias: There are plenty of ways to consume pot that don't "stink up the place" (vaping, tinctures, and edibles among them) that are preferred by many. You're only smelling the weed from people smoking in specific ways. My brother-in-law's house smells like weed the second you step inside but is a perfectly unsmelly suburban home from the even the porch.

If the religious faction can get over the leaders they supporting lying and cheating all the time they can get over people smoking a plant.

If only that's how psychology worked...

Well you aren't wrong.

Sadly.

They can cheat, lie and steal but as long as they ask for forgiveness they believe they are more pure than an honest pot smoker. I look forward to the day where most religions are classified as a mental illness. The fact that psychology has kind of made this exception makes me think the whole industry is pretty messed up.

“Politics is mathematics. Principles are worth having, but they don’t get you elected.”

Why pick on the states at this point.

It is utterly absurd there is not more a push to legalize at the Federal level.

Part of the lack of Federal push is because many individual states/industries have interests in it not happening.

And one thing about the way the US has things set up, the States often function as the laboratories for social experiments. That's why you get things like Colorado being the first to legalize weed and Texas attempting to soft-ban abortion.

"Part of the lack of Federal push is because many individual states/industries have interests in it not happening."

Many individual states had an interest in keeping slavery and segregation alive, and yet they were made illegal on the federal level.

And because of that impending banning of slavery, the South decided to bolt, instead of wait for the westward expansion of non-slavery friendly states to be added to the government.

...yes, and we had to fight a whole war about that.

I cannot think of politically backlash stronger than "and then we went into Civil war about that topic, with the victors of the war settling the matter".

What point are you intending to make? That individual states/industries do not have the political power to influence a discussion at the Federal level?

> but how can these people be anti-vaccine mandate (pro-choice)

The context of “pro choice” referring to abortion is not the same context as “pro choice” referring to vaccinations.

Abortions do not affect anyone else, certainly not physically relative to the woman going through the pregnancy. Infectious diseases do affect everyone else. Using the term to equate the validity of the two positions is incorrect and misses the reasoning.

The pro life people don't see any difference between a 4 month old fetus and a 4 month old baby. They are both lives worth protecting. If that's how you see the world, then an abortion certainly does affect somebody other than the woman.

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