Monday, December 10, 2012

Amendment 64 officially becomes law; Hickenlooper declares marijuana now

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Amendment 64 officially becomes law; Hickenlooper declares marijuana now legal for adults in Colorado

File photo.
File photo.
DENVER—Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper signed an Executive Order today formalizing Amendment 64 as part of the state Constitution and officially making the personal use, possession, and limited home-growing of marijuana legal for adults 21 and older.

The governor also signed an Executive Order establishing a Task Force on the Implementation of Amendment 64 consisting of various government officials and other stakeholders, which will provide recommendations to the legislature on how to establish a legal market for businesses to cultivate and sell marijuana to adults.

Gov. Hickenlooper's announcement is available here.

Amendment 64, the initiative to regulate marijuana like alcohol, was approved 55-45 in last month's election.

"This is a truly historic day. From this day forward, adults in Colorado will no longer be punished for the simple use and possession of marijuana. We applaud Gov. Hickenlooper for issuing this declaration in a timely fashion, so that adult possession arrests end across the state immediately,"  said Mason Tvert, a proponent of Amendment 64. "We look forward to working with the governor's office and many other stakeholders on the implementation of Amendment 64. We are certain that this will be a successful endeavor and Colorado will become a model for other states to follow."


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Amendment 64 officially becomes law; Hickenlooper declares marijuana now

 I think a lot of these new laws in states are more about stopping the thousands of deaths in Mexico in the drug cartels than anything else. I don't think that legalizing marijuana is a good idea other than reducing deaths in Mexico and reducing people going to jail on Marijuana charges. Those to me are the only good things about legalizing marijuana by the states.

My reasoning about this is that even though people in the beginning at least are less violent than the barbituate effects of alcohol which causes a lot of violence and deaths, when they use marijuana, still driving on marijuana kills people because they forget they are driving and focus on a doorknob, a tree or a car or a person and forget they are driving a car and are soon dead.

Also, beyond making people more susceptible to thinking about God and philosophy and important things the first few months of use, after that it starts damaging brain cells and cognitive function and the way a brain operates after that. So, even though violence and death is reduced by Marijuana instead of alcohol, it still numbs the person and stops that person from functioning in a more normal manner when it goes beyond a few months of use as THC builds up in the brains and cells through constant use. So, even though marijuana doesn't destroy your liver like Alcohol does, it does harm cognitive function over time and tends to prevent normal brain function as it is used more and more. Also, over time it has the same kinds of effects upon the lungs as smoking cigarettes and leads to lung cancer.

 

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