Buzzkill or Blessing?

 
The New Yorker ran an article about Washington's (the state) problems and issues with the legalization of marijuana a few days ago. The object of a ballot initiative "I-502" passed in November of 2012. It's an interesting read, I think. An excerpt:

The law, which was sixty-four pages long and contained hundreds of specific provisions, assigned the liquor-control board the role of regulating the pot market. Yet many difficult questions remained: Who would be allowed to grow legal marijuana? Who would be allowed to sell it? How much would an ounce of legal pot cost? The legislation gave Washington officials only a year to come up with answers. Randy Simmons, the state’s project manager for I-502, says, “From the week after the initiative passed, it’s been about a hundred and fifty miles an hour.”

We do not often consider the details of things in advance, do we? Nor do we often consider the unintended consequences. The year that the law provided to set up the legal apparatus to handle the new business is just about up. Many people think that Colorado and Washington are just the first two and that the rest will follow pretty quickly. I tend to agree.

Just as the Prohibition Era advanced organized crime, fueling and funding it beyond imagination, the legalization of marijuana for recreational use will send ripples of turmoil throughout the country that are impossible to predict... The prohibition of marijuana was not, as some people seem to think, age-old. It started in the 1910's, around the time alcohol Prohibition started to gain traction. Before that, it was legal. Not widespread, mind you, but not prohibited by law so much and not at all by the federal government. You could say it was part of the Temperance Movement. Which some say just wanted to ban pleasure. Here's a good rundown of the timeline: History of Marijuana.

Should be an interesting decade, don't you think?