Recap: Legalizing Marijuana in California

I did my quasi-daily "marijuana" search on Google News and found this great video from CNN. It breaks down the most recent developments concerning California Proposition 19 - notably, that both sides are unable to raise an exceptional amount of money. Yes on Prop. 19 has certainly fared better ($2 million verses No's $200,000), but both camps rarely, if ever, air television commercials due to lack of capital. Although this would usually be devastating for a ballot-bound measure, not so much for good ol' Mary Jane. People and the media apparently have an instinctive passion for weed, as Proposition 19 has had no trouble making the news - screw costly PR efforts. Check out the video below:

The major political candidates in California opposes the legalization of pot - begrudgingly, I hope, though probably not. Even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is not only famous for smoking weed back in the day, but more importantly recently signed into law a measure that makes the possession of less than one ounce of pot equal to a speeding ticket. That is, a $100 fine. I can't wait for Arnold to speak out post-governorship and admit that he loves weed. Okay, that probably will not happen, but you know he would reap the benefits of legalization. The Democratic candidate who hopes to take over Arnold's seat, Jerry Brown, is also against Prop. 19. "If the whole society starts getting stoned, we're going to be even less competitive," he says.

If by "getting stoned" he means completely incompetent, lazy, and stupid, then yes, the United States would become less competitive. But I smoke, I get stoned, and I don't consider myself to be "less competitive" than someone who does not. I began to smoke pot on a regular basis during my senior year at UCLA. I smoked more or less everyday, emphasis on the more. Rather than complaining of senioritis and screwing over my last year of college, I traveled abroad, earned a 4.0 all three quarters, worked, read and graded papers for my favorite professor, and had countless "This is the last time we're doing [insert activity]!" moments with my best friends. It would be the understatement of the year to say that pot did not lead to the destruction of my life. Weed is simply a part of my life, a great addition to my life, and is so for so many women.

xoxo, rose

Changes to the blog

I initially began Rhain or Shine strictly as a blog about weed. Then I thought making it more personal would be fun. But as the blog continues to grow, I'm finding that indulging in personal details and discussing weed do not go hand in hand - at least in 2010 and at least on the internet. I actually feel stupid thinking it could work - I think I did for about two weeks. In a perfect world there would be no stigma attached to marijuana, and of course no legislation outlawing it, so perhaps a weed blog could be personal. But as of now, let's make this a bit more anonymous. This blog just started so it's of no real consequence, thank goodness. But I wanted to keep readers in the loop. If this blog is no longer your M.O., I totally understand - though I would love for you to give it a shot. For those who are interested, I'll be updating regularly on everything marijuana.

UPDATE (Oct 23): I didn't keep that promise of making this impersonal... But I think that's a good thing.

Hate Speech

The name marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana or mariguana. The term is now well known in English largely due to the efforts of American drug prohibitionists during the 1920s and 1930s. The prohibitionists deliberately used a Mexican name for cannabis in order to turn the US population against the idea that it should be legal by playing to negative attitudes towards that nationality (wikipedia).

There is an assumption that the law runs on a moral compass.That assumption is wrong. Proposition 19 in California, to be voted on by the people on November 2, will allow for the recreational use of marijuana - regulate, tax, control.

Indifferent History

Marijuana has been illegal for less than 1% of the time that it’s been in use. Its known uses go back further than 7,000 B.C. and it was legal as recently as when Ronald Reagan was a boy. source.

Something I thought about today.

History will not even show that we didn't smoke weed. Because people have been smoking for hundreds of thousands of years - only recently, in the recent century, have we gone out of out way to make it illegal and start this nonsense war on drugs. so because we have been not smoking weed for only a blip - and i mean blip - of time, history will not even record this time as having a prohibition on marijuana. and when i say history, i don't mean the history books that will be written for my future, theoretical kids. i mean like in the grand scheme of things. the fact that we didn't smoke weed, while everyone else in the history of time has, will be overlooked, lost in the majority. no one will care. no one will assure us that it was the right decision. we will never know if it even did anything beneficial for us, or prevented some kind of real danger. because sooner or later, history will go back on its course, and law and society will loosen its grip on marijuana legislation. it's just what will happen.

Marijuana has been around and in use since 7000 B.C.

2010 - it's only our loss.