On a rare sociopolitical stance.

I don't talk politics very often. Those who know me know that at heart, I'm a moderate liberal; I just think political discussions are a lot like juice cleanses - people swear it makes a difference, but really, nothing changes except everyone's really irritable afterwards.

But today seems like a better day than most to bring up my stance on marijuana. And again, those who know me know my opinion on the matter, but my reasons for supporting legalization go beyond the obvious - when it comes down to it, it becomes more of a fiscal reason than anything else. We're blowing a shit ton of government money on the prosecution and incarceration of offenders, clogging our already-strained courts and jam-packed jails with them, tying up valuable police resources hunting down offenders.

Add to that the fact that legalization would lead to regulation, giving the economy a little jolt by creating jobs on the state, federal, and private levels. The tax revenue (assuming the government taxes the shit out of it, which I would imagine would be the case) alone would put some well-appreciated breathing room in the budget.

But what about the culture it would bring to the fore? Well, booze has been legal forfreakin'ever, and for every responsible couple sharing a bottle of wine with dinner, you have fourteen drunken shitbirds howling on the sidewalk at 2am. Take a look at any major metropolitan area on St. Patrick's Day and tell me we can do worse than that. Fact is, any time you have a controlled substance that induces an altered state, you're going to have to take the good with the bad.

And, of course, there's the slippery slope argument. That weed is a gateway drug that leads to harder substances. Honestly, I've seen more cokeheads develop out of alcoholics than stoners. On the whole, the only direction I've seen smokers go is towards hallucinogens, which is its own bag of worms, but it's still better than Bath Salts. Clearly trying to prevent its use isn't really working; we may as well put it above the table and start making money off of it.

Anyway. For those of you who were curious, that's where I stand on the matter. I'm not exactly passionate about the topic; I've just put a little thought into it, and from a pragmatic standpoint, once you get past the stigma and the fear, it just makes sense. To me, at any rate.

Cheers, y'all. Happy 4/20. Be safe, be responsible.