"Blue Laws". Which state is the strictest?

[JayhawkCO]

Here's one thing I don't understand (and this may be veering off into verboten territory) but one of the arguments I keep hearing for legalization for medicinal use is the tax revenue it would bring to the state. Wait a minute. We don't tax medicine. So if medical pharmaceuticals aren't taxed, then why should medical marijuana be taxed? Where's the fairness in that? If it's medicine, don't tax it. If it's an intoxicant, tax it like alcohol.

You bring up the very point.  The pot people have wrapped the legalization deal in medical terms and such.  Wearing lab coats and using terms like "dispensary"   and selling joints in brown drug store bottles and all of this. 

I personally could not care less if a person want to smoke pot all day or not (as long as they get a J O B to pay for it) but the danger in calling this stuff "medicine"  is real and dangerous.  I know several, highly educated, people who are convinced it cures everything from cancer to bad breath.  It doesn't.  It is a recreational intoxicant.  If it is medicine, then so is Budweiser.

Saying otherwise prevents people from seeking out real physicians for real treatments for real illnesses.

I don't really know how you can make that statement.  Because of our country's policy of labeling marijuana a Schedule 1 drug, we can't even really do all the studies to determine all of the medical effects.  It's not that great of a leap that cannabis could have substantial medicinal properties just like a million other plants do.

Millions other plants have relatively narrow acting medical properties. So do most synthetic meds, with some off-label use which may or may not be working great.
That is one thing that makes me pretty skeptical about advertised medical properties of marijuana

And for the record, I am not one of those people who thinks that cannabis cures everything.  But I do think you can't rule out some things saying it has no benefit unless you study it to find out.

[triplemultiplex]

The prevailing school of thought in Kentucky is that marijuana legalization is being opposed/suppressed by the state's flagship bourbon industry.

Around here, the Tavern League of Wisconsin is a surprising powerful lobby against cannabis legalization.  No probably about it.  When they're not lobbying against more severe penalties for drunk driving, they take some time to spread FUD about legal weed.  And it's not a left-right thing.  The Tavern League is cozy with both parties in Wisconsin.

[Scott5114]

Here's one thing I don't understand (and this may be veering off into verboten territory) but one of the arguments I keep hearing for legalization for medicinal use is the tax revenue it would bring to the state. Wait a minute. We don't tax medicine. So if medical pharmaceuticals aren't taxed, then why should medical marijuana be taxed? Where's the fairness in that? If it's medicine, don't tax it. If it's an intoxicant, tax it like alcohol.

That's because there's a subset of the American people that can't (won't) understand any sort of political argument that isn't based on money. Legalizing it because it's the right thing to do, or because it will offer the people more freedom, or because it will help people, aren't arguments that will actually convince anyone anymore. The people that those arguments will convince are already convinced. So you have to bring up the tax revenue thing to convince the people who don't give a damn about the well-being of others that it's a good idea.

I personally could not care less if a person want to smoke pot all day or not (as long as they get a J O B to pay for it) but the danger in calling this stuff "medicine"  is real and dangerous.  I know several, highly educated, people who are convinced it cures everything from cancer to bad breath.  It doesn't.  It is a recreational intoxicant.  If it is medicine, then so is Budweiser.

Mmmhmm. Prior to being on medical marijuana my wife had to take off so much time off from work due to chronic pain that she lost two jobs over it. Now that she's on it, she's considered a top performer at her current job.

I wonder if medical marijuana could fix your M A L F U N C T I O N I N G  S P A C E B A R...

[SectorZ]

The prevailing school of thought in Kentucky is that marijuana legalization is being opposed/suppressed by the state's flagship bourbon industry.

Here's one thing I don't understand (and this may be veering off into verboten territory) but one of the arguments I keep hearing for legalization for medicinal use is the tax revenue it would bring to the state. Wait a minute. We don't tax medicine. So if medical pharmaceuticals aren't taxed, then why should medical marijuana be taxed? Where's the fairness in that? If it's medicine, don't tax it. If it's an intoxicant, tax it like alcohol.

In Massachusetts and Vermont, recreational marijuana is taxed (plus regular sales tax). If you have a prescription, it is not. Maine charges no weed tax but does regular sales tax for prescribed weed.

The potential fraud that may exist in that? Make of it what you will.

[GCrites]

Here's one thing I don't understand (and this may be veering off into verboten territory) but one of the arguments I keep hearing for legalization for medicinal use is the tax revenue it would bring to the state. Wait a minute. We don't tax medicine. So if medical pharmaceuticals aren't taxed, then why should medical marijuana be taxed? Where's the fairness in that? If it's medicine, don't tax it. If it's an intoxicant, tax it like alcohol.

That's because there's a subset of the American people that can't (won't) understand any sort of political argument that isn't based on money. Legalizing it because it's the right thing to do, or because it will offer the people more freedom, or because it will help people, aren't arguments that will actually convince anyone anymore. The people that those arguments will convince are already convinced. So you have to bring up the tax revenue thing to convince the people who don't give a damn about the well-being of others that it's a good idea.

I personally could not care less if a person want to smoke pot all day or not (as long as they get a J O B to pay for it) but the danger in calling this stuff "medicine"  is real and dangerous.  I know several, highly educated, people who are convinced it cures everything from cancer to bad breath.  It doesn't.  It is a recreational intoxicant.  If it is medicine, then so is Budweiser.

Mmmhmm. Prior to being on medical marijuana my wife had to take off so much time off from work due to chronic pain that she lost two jobs over it. Now that she's on it, she's considered a top performer at her current job.

I wonder if medical marijuana could fix your M A L F U N C T I O N I N G  S P A C E B A R...

[hbelkins]

I wonder if medical marijuana could fix your M A L F U N C T I O N I N G  S P A C E B A R...

I didn't see any formatting problems with his post. Everything looked spaced just fine.

But then I checked his post when I hit the "quote" button (I deleted his comments for this reply.) He double-spaced between sentences. It's a habit that's hard to break if you learned to type on a typewriter instead of a computer. I was one of those who was on the cusp of both technologies. I learned to type on an old manual typewriter. When I was in college, I would occasionally have to compose stories for the student newspaper on an old Compugraphic VDT and it only required a single space between sentences. It was a conscious effort not to use two spaces between sentences, as I had learned in typing class.

Kentucky's 2022 legislative session just started this week. There will be a push for both medical weed and sports betting. The horse racing industry will lobby hard against sports books, as they have against casinos in the past.

[hotdogPi]

I didn't see any formatting problems with his post. Everything looked spaced just fine.

J O B

[NWI_Irish96]

Here's one thing I don't understand (and this may be veering off into verboten territory) but one of the arguments I keep hearing for legalization for medicinal use is the tax revenue it would bring to the state. Wait a minute. We don't tax medicine. So if medical pharmaceuticals aren't taxed, then why should medical marijuana be taxed? Where's the fairness in that? If it's medicine, don't tax it. If it's an intoxicant, tax it like alcohol.

You bring up the very point.  The pot people have wrapped the legalization deal in medical terms and such.  Wearing lab coats and using terms like "dispensary"   and selling joints in brown drug store bottles and all of this. 

I personally could not care less if a person want to smoke pot all day or not (as long as they get a J O B to pay for it) but the danger in calling this stuff "medicine"  is real and dangerous.  I know several, highly educated, people who are convinced it cures everything from cancer to bad breath.  It doesn't.  It is a recreational intoxicant.  If it is medicine, then so is Budweiser.

Saying otherwise prevents people from seeking out real physicians for real treatments for real illnesses. 

There are plenty of studies showing that cannabis has medical benefits for a limited number of specific medical conditions, studies that are easy to find unless you're trying not to find them.

[kkt]

Looks like Wyoming is eligible to sell Samuel Adams Utopias, which is notable for being a 25.4% alcohol by volume beer.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2021/09/20/sam-adams-releases-25-4-alcohol-beer-illegal-in-15-states-but-legal-in-wyoming/

The lack of regulation on the amount of alcohol in beer sold in Wyoming means that the new Samuel Adams "Utopias"  beer is legal in the Cowboy state.

Not so in 15 other states where the 25.4% alcohol level is too high for it to be sold.

Last week, Samuel Adams' announced the latest incarnation of its "Utopias"  beer will be released on Oct. 11. The special brews are released every two years and this batch, the brewery said, is made with thousands of pounds of cherries and the highly-coveted "Balaton"  fruit – which is another type of cherry – and foodies love it.

The reason it's making news, however, is due to its alcohol content. At 25.4%, it's six times what the average beer holds. ...

The states which don't allow the beer include:  Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.

25.4%?  That's crazy.  Don't you have to distill it to make it that strong?  I don't mind if they make it and sell it, but they shouldn't be calling it beer.

[Road Hog]

Any beer that you can taste the alcohol of more than the flavor is not a beer. The flavor is the main point of getting to the buzz. Otherwise we'd all just mainline Steel Reserve and end the pretense.

[kkt]

Trying to wrap my head around hydration through beer...

Back before purification of drinking water was understood it was very common to make "small beer" with just enough alcohol content to discourage most of the microorganisms.  Everyone drank it, even young kids.  It was usually about 0.5% to 2.0% alcohol.  Wine-growing regions would make a low-alcohol wine instead.

[Rothman]

Trying to wrap my head around hydration through beer...

Back before purification of drinking water was understood it was very common to make "small beer" with just enough alcohol content to discourage most of the microorganisms.  Everyone drank it, even young kids.  It was usually about 0.5% to 2.0% alcohol.  Wine-growing regions would make a low-alcohol wine instead.

This ain't the Middle Ages, kkt!

[kkt]

I am adamant about this.  My mother, maternal grandmother, younger brother, and I would greatly benefit from medical marijuana.  We NEED medical marijuana to help treat our illnesses!

However, we don't actually KNOW that medical marijuana would be beneficial.  Some people swear by it.  But we can't really know until controlled studies can be done, just like any other medical drug.  And there can't be controlled studies done as long as marijuana remains on Schedule 1.  In order to get off Schedule 1, it would have to be proven beneficial.  Nice little catch 22 they've got.

[kkt]

Trying to wrap my head around hydration through beer...

Back before purification of drinking water was understood it was very common to make "small beer" with just enough alcohol content to discourage most of the microorganisms.  Everyone drank it, even young kids.  It was usually about 0.5% to 2.0% alcohol.  Wine-growing regions would make a low-alcohol wine instead.

This ain't the Middle Ages, kkt!

Effective drinking water purification wasn't really common until the late 1800s and early 1900s.  So it's not as long ago as you seem to think.

[kkt]

Richmond, VA, didn't let grocery stores open until 11 AM or noon or thereabouts on Sundays.  They couldn't make going to church mandatory, but they could make sure everything else was closed...

[NWI_Irish96]

I am adamant about this.  My mother, maternal grandmother, younger brother, and I would greatly benefit from medical marijuana.  We NEED medical marijuana to help treat our illnesses!

However, we don't actually KNOW that medical marijuana would be beneficial.  Some people swear by it.  But we can't really know until controlled studies can be done, just like any other medical drug.  And there can't be controlled studies done as long as marijuana remains on Schedule 1.  In order to get off Schedule 1, it would have to be proven beneficial.  Nice little catch 22 they've got.

Yeah, it's too bad that controlled studies are only done in the United States and not in any of the many countries where it is legal.

[hbelkins]

I didn't see any formatting problems with his post. Everything looked spaced just fine.

J O B

Honestly, that didn't even register with me because I'm so used to seeing people spell out words to emphasize them.

Perhaps that should become an entry in the "Minor Things That Bother You" thread. But it still doesn't bother me Like. Making. Every. Single. Word. Into. Its. Own. Sentence. Via. The. Use. Of. Capital. Letters. And. Periods. does. 

[Takumi]

Looks like Wyoming is eligible to sell Samuel Adams Utopias, which is notable for being a 25.4% alcohol by volume beer.

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2021/09/20/sam-adams-releases-25-4-alcohol-beer-illegal-in-15-states-but-legal-in-wyoming/

The lack of regulation on the amount of alcohol in beer sold in Wyoming means that the new Samuel Adams "Utopias"  beer is legal in the Cowboy state.

Not so in 15 other states where the 25.4% alcohol level is too high for it to be sold.

Last week, Samuel Adams' announced the latest incarnation of its "Utopias"  beer will be released on Oct. 11. The special brews are released every two years and this batch, the brewery said, is made with thousands of pounds of cherries and the highly-coveted "Balaton"  fruit – which is another type of cherry – and foodies love it.

The reason it's making news, however, is due to its alcohol content. At 25.4%, it's six times what the average beer holds. ...

The states which don't allow the beer include:  Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia.

25.4%?  That's crazy.  Don't you have to distill it to make it that strong?  I don't mind if they make it and sell it, but they shouldn't be calling it beer.

They're not the only ones who do it, but when a beer that strong is sold it usually doesn't have the ABV listed on the bottle. When visiting a local brewery that had some beers like that, they explained that they're not legally allowed to advertise the ABV if it's 20% or more. We didn't get into how those ABVs get so high in the first place, but a lot of beers like those are also aged in liquor barrels, which both changes the flavor and adds a bit of ABV.

[Rothman]

Trying to wrap my head around hydration through beer...

Back before purification of drinking water was understood it was very common to make "small beer" with just enough alcohol content to discourage most of the microorganisms.  Everyone drank it, even young kids.  It was usually about 0.5% to 2.0% alcohol.  Wine-growing regions would make a low-alcohol wine instead.

This ain't the Middle Ages, kkt!

Effective drinking water purification wasn't really common until the late 1800s and early 1900s.  So it's not as long ago as you seem to think.

*blinks*

This ain't the Middle Ages, kkt!