Legalized Marijuana in the South?

[EconGreen]

Hi all, new poster here. Got a topic of personal interest here.

Being from Louisiana, I'm constantly disappointed in my home state's lack of progress in moving forward, but this might be a bit of good news...

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/louisiana-lawmakers-to-discuss-marijuana-legalization/

Looks like a state House Committee will be discussing legalization on the 21st. And with poles trending strongly in favor of ending oppressive laws, maybe there is some outside chance that some real progress can be made here?

Knowing the political attitudes of so many people down there, I see it as highly unlikely that anything substantial happens quickly. But at least the conversation is being had and hopefully Louisiana can find a way to be a leader for something positive for once in our history.

And as a more fun/interesting thought as opposed to simply wishful thinking (which I admit, this probably is), anyone want to make guesses on which southern state is the first/last to legalize marijuana? I'm personally going Kentucky first, Texas last.

[vt_native]

1. It's only because they need the tax revenue

[EconGreen]

2. Valid Point

The state's financials (like so much else) are a huge mess right now. However, I'll still be all for it. Sounds like a win-win

[spin]

4. There is a possibility that the legalization of marijuana might reduce the costs of our ...

War on Drugs which we lost years ago.

[MADem]

3. High as pottin' in June!!!! (As opposed to cotton!)...

I'll be a contrarian, and say TX is gonna move sooner than we think--not first, but not last. That's a big market, there, and that's some serious revenue for them.

[Jesus Malverde]

5. Welcome to DU...nt

[In_The_Wind]

6. Hello ~ EconGreen Welcome to DU.

Florida will be the first.


Alabama may be last.

[RainDog]

7. Florida is looking at medical marijuana

Florida has a pretty effective organization in place, it looks like, retiree activists who have been building a case in the public's mind. And Florida has a large tourism industry, so, after seeing what is happening in CO - maybe. Crist, the robo-dem, supports mmj while his teabagging opponent does not.

Last year someone in the LA house tried to introduce leg. to reform sentencing for mj, iirc, I posted about it in this forum.. but it didn't pass.

At the least lawmakers could look at revising sentencing. In Louisiana, you can spend life in prison if you are convicted of possession three times b/c of the three strikes law.

Someone should name it the Louis Armstrong Memorial law...

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Hemp’s industrial uses in the production of food, fuel, and fiber are widely documented, but few people are aware of Hemp’s potential as a remediator. Why is Hemp superior to other phytoremediators? Hemp grows quickly, reaching full harvest in just 180 days and produces a root ball extending into the ground from 6 to 8 feet. At that level, toxins can be extracted without the need to remove any of the contaminated top soil, thus avoiding the expense of transportation to offsite disposal facilities. Other factors making Hemp the champion of remediates are its ability to grow unaffected by the toxins it accumulates, its fast rate of absorption and its ability to bind compound contaminants from the air and the soil. Hemp actually removes CO2 from the air as it removes heavy metals and other pollutants from the soil.

http://www.hemp.com/2012/06/soil-contamination-phytoremediation-with-hemp/

[WhiteTara]

8. Arkansas has MMJ on the ballot

again this year.

[Go Vols]

9. If the South was more liberal ....

http://cannacentral.com/news/what-us-state-produces-the-most-marijuana-per-person/

[RainDog]

10. Do you know if there's any momentum on this issue in TN?

Maybe Nashville needs to invite Willie to visit... It's Willie v. Billy in the south (Nelson v. Graham)

Everyone smokes weed in TN, across political lines, if they smoke, of course.

[Go Vols]

11. Bill would make medical marijuana sales legal in Tennessee

: Saturday, January 4, 2014 11:26 AM EST

NASHVILLE — A Democratic legislator has filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session that would authorize prescription sales of marijuana for medicinal purposes in Tennessee under somewhat stringent regulations.

"It's just simply a matter of being rational and compassionate," said Rep. Sherry Jones, D-Nashville, sponsor of HB1385. "It would apply to only the most severely debilitated people ... children suffering a hundred (epileptic) seizures a day, people on chemotherapy, people with multiple sclerosis ... people with a plethora of diseases" who now must either leave the state to get marijuana or make their purchases illegally.

Tennessee allowed marijuana by prescription under state law for a period in the 1980s, but that law was repealed, and attempts to revive it have died in legislative committees since — most recently in 2012. But Jones and Doak Patton, president of the National Organization for Marijuana Legalization in Tennessee, say times might have changed in the state because of developments on the national front.

http://www.wrcbtv.com/story/24362030/bill-would-make-medical-marijuana-sales-legal-in-tennessee




I would like to see it legalized like grapes.I want to make my own wine is cool,if not I go to the store and pay tax on wine in a frosted bottle.

[RainDog]

12. Would you mind posting this as an OP here?

That way we can see what leg. is up and how it goes.

Since the Southern Baptists are so powerful (hdqtrs of the SBC in Nashville) first going the medical route might be best to appeal to their basic decency in regard to people like the children with Dravet's epilepsy.

But since tourism is such a big deal in Memphis, Nashville and the Smokies area - even to Johnson City's Storyteller's Guild, etc... it's sort of weird not to just legalize, since music is such an important part of the TN economy. But then again, I'm not right with gawd.

[Go Vols]

13. np

Baptist ...