a wall rack of wine bottles.

Public Health ‘Experts’ Set The Stage For A New Prohibition

Public Health 'Experts' Set The Stage For A New Prohibition

Alcohol

Cancer

Health

Marijuana

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Surgeon General

Singer <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/elton-john">Elton John</a> recently said legalizing <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marijuana">marijuana</a> in parts of the United States was misguided because it leads to the use of harder <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drugs">drugs</a>.
The 77-year-old EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony) award winner expressed his thoughts during an <a href="https://time.com/7201151/icon-of-the-year-2024-elton-john/?linkId=685585144">interview</a> with TIME magazine after being named the &#8220;2024 Icon of the Year.&#8221; John said he didn’t think cannabis should be legalized.
“I maintain that it’s addictive. It leads to other drugs,” John told the outlet. “And when you’re stoned — and I’ve been stoned — you don’t think normally. Legalizing marijuana in America and Canada is one of the greatest mistakes of all time.”
The outlet noted that John, who practices a sober lifestyle, has helped other famous artists who were experiencing addiction. He was rapper Eminem’s sponsor and helped pop star Robbie Williams get to his first rehab stint. The “Rocket Man” singer tried to help out singer George Michael with his addiction battle but was ultimately unsuccessful. 
“It’s tough to tell someone that they’re being an a**hole, and it’s tough to hear,” John said. “Eventually I made the choice to admit that I’m being an a**hole.”
The singer went on to discuss how he holds these views on marijuana because of his cocaine addiction, which began in the 1970s. 
“You make terrible decisions on drugs,” John continued. “I wanted love so badly, I’d just take hostages. I’d see someone I liked and spend three or four months together, and then they would resent me because they had nothing in their life apart from me. It really upsets me, thinking back on how many people I probably hurt.”
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John discussed the specifics of his addiction, including abusing alcohol, marijuana, and cocaine, during an interview with Piers Morgan in 2010.
“This is how bleak it was: I’d stay up, I’d smoke joints, I’d drink a bottle of Johnnie Walker and then I’d stay up for three days and then I’d go to sleep for a day and half, get up, and because I was so hungry, because I hadn’t eaten anything, I’d binge and have like three bacon sandwiches, a pot of ice cream and then I’d throw it up, because I became bulimic and then go and do the whole thing all over again,” the recording artist <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/celebrity/elton-drugs-nearly-killed-me-20101212-18tuh.html">said</a>.
“And I’m not being flippant when I say that, when I look back I shudder at the behavior and what I was doing to myself.”
John added that he would be “very close” to death during the height of his drug use. “I mean, I would have an epileptic seizure and turn blue, and people would find me on the floor and put me to bed, and then 40 minutes later I’d be snorting another line.”

Elton John

Elton John Said Legalizing Marijuana Is ‘One of the Greatest Mistakes of All Time’

addiction

Celebrities

Drugs

Entertainment

World

There have been a lot of moments in American politics when candidates realize they&#8217;re trailing badly in the polls, so they do something extreme in an effort to win some support. It usually doesn&#8217;t work out too well. Think of the &#8220;Dean Scream&#8221; back in 2004, which was supposed to rally the base after a tough loss in the Iowa caucuses. It ended up being played about 600 times on cable news until Dean dropped out of the race. Or if you want to go back further, think of George McGovern&#8217;s plan to shake up the race in 1972 by picking a totally unvetted running mate. That was exciting right up until it emerged that his running mate had received electro-shock therapy several times to treat his chronic mental illness. McGovern ended up losing 49 states. 
As we enter the homestretch of the 2024 presidential election, it&#8217;s clear that the Kamala Harris campaign now finds itself in a similar desperation mode. They&#8217;re trailing badly in pretty much every important poll and prediction market that matters. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz admit that they&#8217;re now the &#8220;underdogs&#8221; in the race. And so, inevitably, they&#8217;re feeling the pressure to do something unthinkable in a desperate attempt to win back votes. They have to throw out the playbook and try a new strategy.
In recent days, we&#8217;ve learned what this last-minute Hail Mary looks like. It means that Harris will actually go out in public and speak without a script. This clearly wasn&#8217;t the plan when she first entered the race. For the first month of her candidacy, Kamala Harris was completely shut off from the media. It was one of the most surreal periods in modern presidential politics. We had a presidential nominee who wouldn&#8217;t talk to any journalists at all — even journalists who are friendly to her campaign. 
But now Harris has no choice. She&#8217;s facing a blowout loss. So, now she has an interview with Fox News planned for tonight. She&#8217;s also participating in &#8220;radio town halls&#8221; with hosts like &#8220;Charlamagne Tha God.&#8221;
Unfortunately for Harris, already, this strategy isn&#8217;t going well. Like so many other Hail Mary&#8217;s in presidential politics, it&#8217;s backfiring. And it&#8217;s backfiring because every single time Harris opens her mouth, it becomes very clear why her campaign was hiding her away for so long. 
Let&#8217;s start with one of the questions asked on &#8220;Charlamagne tha God&#8217;s&#8221; show, because the question raises a bunch of its own issues. It concerns taxpayer-funded reparations for black people. Watch:
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Vice President Kamala Harris says she&#39;s open to using taxpayer&#39;s money to pay racial reparations: &quot;It has to be studied, there&#39;s no question about that.&quot;
She adds: &quot;In terms of my immediate plan &#8230; as it relates to the economy &#8230; I grew up in the middle class&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HPjdHSgB29">pic.twitter.com/HPjdHSgB29</a>
&mdash; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1846308621270888947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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The first thing he says is, &#8220;We all know that America became great on the backs of free black labor.&#8221; So, I guess we&#8217;re pretending that slaves didn&#8217;t cost anything, for starters. That&#8217;s being conflated here with the idea that &#8220;black people weren&#8217;t paid.&#8221; That might seem like an irrelevant distinction but actually, it matters quite a bit in relation to the argument he&#8217;s making. As a factual matter, slavery involved massive investments that ultimately slowed the progress of this country dramatically. It turned out to be a much worse investment than the alternative.
A professor at Brown University named David Meyer has <a href="https://fee.org/articles/no-slavery-did-not-make-america-rich/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that, in the South prior to the Civil War, “investments were heavily concentrated in slaves,&#8221; relative to the North. And that led to the South&#8217;s failure to, “to build a deep and broad industrial infrastructure.&#8221; That includes services like railroads and schools. Once slavery was abolished, that infrastructure is what led to this country&#8217;s success in the generations following the Civil War. We became the top economy in the entire world once we jettisoned slavery.
What didn&#8217;t lead to this country&#8217;s success — before or during the civil war — was slavery. The majority of slaves were involved in growing or picking cotton. But as the Foundation for Economic Education has <a href="https://fee.org/articles/no-slavery-did-not-make-america-rich/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, cotton didn&#8217;t account for a big portion of the overall U.S. economy. Economic historians, &#8220;have observed that although cotton exports comprised a tremendous share of total exports prior to the Civil War, they accounted for only around 5 percent of the nation’s overall gross domestic product, an important contribution but not the backbone of American economic development.&#8221;
<h3><a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">MATT WALSH&#8217;S &#8216;AM I RACIST?&#8217; COMING TO DAILYWIRE+ OCT. 28</a></h3>
So, if you&#8217;re saying that slavery was instrumental to this country&#8217;s success, you&#8217;re vastly overstating the case. And it&#8217;s an argument that applies to many other countries far more credibly than it applies to ours. Africa was the last continent to officially abolish slavery, and that didn&#8217;t happen until the 1980s. So, why exactly is this America&#8217;s burden to bear? Why are we uniquely responsible for slavery? And why would we want to stoke the kind of generational race hatred that&#8217;s led to the murders of white farmers in places like South Africa?
And for that matter, when is Kamala Harris going to pay her reparations? The Washington Free Beacon has reported that Harris was the &#8220;descendant of an Irishman who owned a slave plantation in Jamaica.&#8221; So, why hasn&#8217;t she pulled a Robin DiAngelo and opened her purse to offer black Americans some of her own money? She hasn&#8217;t even handed over a single dollar as far as I can tell, much less 20 dollars. It&#8217;s an outrage.
But it&#8217;s not one that Harris has ever addressed. Maybe she&#8217;ll explain her reasoning in my next movie. 
Instead, in this &#8220;radio town hall,&#8221; Harris predictably chose to focus on the &#8220;systemic&#8221; ideal of reparations. And here&#8217;s her plan in that regard:
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Vice President Kamala Harris says she&#39;s open to using taxpayer&#39;s money to pay racial reparations: &quot;It has to be studied, there&#39;s no question about that.&quot;
She adds: &quot;In terms of my immediate plan &#8230; as it relates to the economy &#8230; I grew up in the middle class&quot; <a href="https://t.co/HPjdHSgB29">pic.twitter.com/HPjdHSgB29</a>
&mdash; Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) <a href="https://twitter.com/RealSaavedra/status/1846308621270888947?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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She starts rambling again about growing up in a middle-class family or whatever, even though she didn&#8217;t actually grow up in a middle-class family, and even though (as always) it&#8217;s completely irrelevant to what she&#8217;s talking about. But already — just from this short, 30-second answer — it&#8217;s clear that Harris herself doesn&#8217;t even know what she&#8217;s saying. In response to that question about reparations, here&#8217;s what she just said: &#8220;It has to be studied. I&#8217;ve been very clear about that position.&#8221;
But she hasn&#8217;t been &#8220;very clear&#8221; about that position. In fact you can find multiple clips of Harris stating that she supports reparations. She doesn&#8217;t support a &#8220;study&#8221; of reparations, she actually thinks they should be paid out, in some form. Watch:
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Kamala says she’s in favor of reparations because America is racist and there are inequities including Black people not being able to vote <a href="https://t.co/DFlafInsJd">pic.twitter.com/DFlafInsJd</a>
&mdash; Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) <a href="https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status/1830650612134080901?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 2, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&quot;There have to be some form of reparations&quot;
&#8211; Kamala Harris
 <a href="https://t.co/xkhMKWEu0z">pic.twitter.com/xkhMKWEu0z</a>
&mdash; Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) <a href="https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1818322296169214294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2024</a></blockquote>
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So, this is, once again, a complete retreat from what Kamala Harris previously claimed to believe. We can add it to the list of policies that she supported back in California, but disavows now. That&#8217;s a list that includes decriminalizing illegal immigration, providing free healthcare to illegals, abolishing private health insurance, banning gas-powered cars, banning fracking, confiscating guns, and so on. Now &#8220;taxpayer-funded reparations&#8221; are on the chopping block, at least temporarily. Now Harris says that reparations must be &#8220;studied.&#8221;
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1465-member-exclusive" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h3>
But that&#8217;s already happened too. And it happened in Harris&#8217; home state of California, as I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-reparations-grift-is-finally-collapsing" target="_blank" rel="noopener">discussed</a> earlier this year, all the way back in February. California established a &#8220;reparations task force.&#8221; That task force suggested that it would be a good idea to pay more than a million dollars to every descendant of a slave — which, altogether, would cost something like a trillion dollars. And then a bunch of lawmakers decided to reel that back in. They suggested that &#8220;reparations&#8221; shouldn&#8217;t consist of cash payments after all, after Gavin Newsom pointed out that the state is broke and doesn&#8217;t have the ability to pay anything. This was a whole conversation that lasted for years, in Harris&#8217; home state. But apparently she&#8217;s not aware of this conversation. She wants to keep having it, again and again, for the rest of time.
This is a dodge that&#8217;s meant to hide the fact that the Biden-Harris administration has already announced massive race-based reparations plans, and continues to do so. They started with billions of dollars in race-based aid to black farmers. They continued with various affirmative action programs in the government — which, as I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/this-shockingly-easy-test-has-been-deemed-racist-heres-why" target="_blank" rel="noopener">outlined</a> last week, now involves filing a lawsuit against any fire department or police department that declines to hire black people, regardless of how unqualified they are. And just the other day, Kamala Harris herself personally announced an openly racist policy to send money directly to black people, solely because they&#8217;re black. Here&#8217;s an image of the plan Kamala Harris&#8217; account posted on social media:
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Black men deserve a president who cares about making their lives better. <a href="https://t.co/cUCdsvvYZ6">pic.twitter.com/cUCdsvvYZ6</a>
&mdash; Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) <a href="https://twitter.com/KamalaHarris/status/1845993766441644386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 15, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Here are the key bullet points: &#8220;Provide 1 million loans that are fully forgivable up to $20k for Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business. &#8230; Protect cryptocurrency investments so Black men who make them know their money is safe. &#8230;. Legalize recreational marijuana and create opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry.&#8221;
So, first of all, a loan that&#8217;s &#8220;fully forgivable&#8221; isn&#8217;t actually a loan. It&#8217;s a cash payout. The government is never going to see any of that money back. But even if this were just a loan, it&#8217;d still be a completely unconstitutional, overtly anti-white policy, to the point that it&#8217;s insane that any presidential candidate would ever put this in writing. This is a stage of desperation that has no parallel in American politics. Kamala Harris&#8217; campaign is now so underwater among black voters that they&#8217;re straight-up offering to hand them cash, and get them some weed.
Oh, and they&#8217;re going to &#8220;protect cryptocurrency investments so black men know their money is safe.&#8221; You can read that 20 times, and still have no idea what they&#8217;re talking about. Does Bitcoin work differently for black people? And why wouldn&#8217;t we want to make sure that everyone — not just black people — feel that their crypto is &#8220;safe&#8221;? No one knows. Kamala Harris doesn&#8217;t know. Imagine asking her to explain what that line means. She probably has no idea someone wrote that and posted it to her account.
What&#8217;s underlying all of these proposals isn&#8217;t just anti-white racism, although that&#8217;s a big part of it. This is also about Kamala Harris&#8217; deep and abiding disdain for America and its history. This alone makes her unqualified for the position she&#8217;s seeking. It&#8217;s the same reason she posted on social media the other day about &#8220;Indigenous People&#8217;s Day,&#8221; instead of Columbus Day. She&#8217;s previously gone on the record saying Columbus Day should no longer exist:
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Kamala Harris: I&#39;ll eliminate Columbus Day, make it Indigenous People&#39;s Day <a href="https://t.co/sM2Um8YrFF">pic.twitter.com/sM2Um8YrFF</a>
&mdash; End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) <a href="https://twitter.com/EndWokeness/status/1845808197799420019?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 14, 2024</a></blockquote>
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We&#8217;re at a point in this country where the political Left and Right celebrate different national holidays. And we&#8217;re in this position because of politicians like Kamala Harris, who have nothing to offer. So, in the absence of any substance, she&#8217;s trying to destroy anything Americans have in common. She&#8217;s trying to revise America&#8217;s history, which is the go-to move for communist dictators throughout the ages. And for good measure, she&#8217;s looting the treasury for the benefit of her preferred racial groups. 
Fortunately for the Trump campaign, Kamala Harris isn&#8217;t capable of hiding any of this. Every time she sits down for an interview, Kamala Harris makes it very clear she doesn&#8217;t know anything. She also doesn&#8217;t have any idea what she&#8217;s saying. She wants to simultaneously signal that she&#8217;s backing off reparations, even as she proposes explicit payments to Americans on the basis of their skin color. This is the kind of incoherence that defines the last days of a desperate campaign. And it&#8217;s a sign that Kamala Harris&#8217; campaign — like so many other transparent train wrecks in modern politics — is on a path to a very public implosion in just a couple of weeks.

We The People: An Audio Townhall With Kamala Harris And Charlamagne Tha God

Kamala’s Pathetic Plan To Bribe Black Voters With Reparations And Marijuana

2024 Election

Blacks

Democrats

Kamala Harris

Racism

Reparations

Slavery

Voters

A decade after the first state moved to legalize recreational marijuana, the dangerous effects of the drug are coming to light.
Across the country, physicians are seeing more people with marijuana addiction, psychosis including delusions or paranoia, schizophrenia, and a serious syndrome involving severe vomiting as more people use the drug, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/us/cannabis-marijuana-risks-addiction.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found</a>. The outlet examined medical records, insurance data, and spoke to hundreds of doctors and marijuana users.
Emergency rooms are seeing more people present with cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome, a condition involving &#8220;severe vomiting,&#8221; nausea, and pain caused by heavy marijuana consumption. The condition can cause extreme dehydration, seizures, kidney failure, cardiac arrest, and even death. At least eight people have died in the U.S. from the condition, the Times reported.
One Maine pediatrician said she sees teenagers who use marijuana almost all day, every day, “a remarkably scary amount,” and are dependent on it. A Massachusetts psychiatrist said she is seeing more cases of schizophrenia related to cannabis use. Even temporary psychosis from marijuana use can last months in some cases.
Some research suggests that about six million people who use the drug almost daily could have symptoms of cannabinoid hyperemesis syndrome.
One emergency room doctor in Aurora, Colorado, said his hospital treats people with the condition daily. A Michigan pediatrician said she sees the syndrome all the time as well.
About 18 million people, nearly a third of all adult users, reported symptoms of cannabis use disorder, meaning they continue to use the drug despite significant negative effects on their lives, a new data analysis of the 2022 U.S. national drug use survey <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/04/us/cannabis-marijuana-risks-addiction.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">showed</a>.
Younger users especially tend to misuse the drug. Nearly 17% of people 18 to 25 have cannabis use disorder, now higher than the 15% rate of alcohol use disorder, according to last year&#8217;s National Survey on Drug Use and Health. More than 4.5 million of these young people use the drug every day or almost every day.
This is also concerning since marijuana use affects brain development until around age 25.
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More people also use marijuana to ease anxiety and depression amid <a href="https://www.psychiatry.org/news-room/news-releases/annual-poll-adults-express-increasing-anxiousness#:~:text=—%20The%202024%20results%20of%20the,2023%20and%2032%25%20in%202022." target="_blank" rel="noopener">rising</a> <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483000/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">rates</a> of those mental health disorders.
Marijuana is a $33 billion industry in the U.S., and the new products are much more potent than the versions of the drug that were around several decades ago. In the 1990s, marijuana had about 5% THC, the substance that causes the drug&#8217;s &#8220;high.&#8221; Today, some products sold include concentrates with as high as 99% THC.
Only two states limit the amount of THC in most recreational marijuana products.
Recreational marijuana is now legal in 24 states, but it is still illegal under federal law.
Initially, advocates pushed to legalize medical marijuana to ease the suffering of chronically ill people. However, the push largely in Democrat-led states for recreational legalization did not take long, spurred by activists who opposed keeping people convicted of lower-level marijuana offenses in prison, particularly black offenders.

Obama Admin. Unveils New Policy Easing Medical Marijuana Prosecutions

Marijuana Use Causing Psychosis, Addiction, Rare Syndrome Especially Among Young Adults: Report

Marijuana Use Causing Psychosis, Addiction, Rare Syndrome Especially Among Young Adults

Health Care

Social Issues

Republican presidential nominee <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/donald-trump" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Donald Trump</a> announced his support for legalizing marijuana in the state of Florida, but said that it should be banned from being consumed in public.
Trump made the remarks in a post on Truth Social Saturday afternoon in response to Amendment 3, which will be on the ballot this fall.
“In Florida, like so many other States that have already given their approval, personal amounts of marijuana will be legalized for adults with Amendment 3,” he said. “Whether people like it or not, this will happen through the approval of the Voters, so it should be done correctly. We need the State Legislature to responsibly create laws that prohibit the use of it in public spaces, so we do not smell marijuana everywhere we go, like we do in many of the Democrat run Cities.”
He said that using marijuana should no longer be criminalized in the state of Florida considering that it is legal in some other states.
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“We do not need to ruin lives &amp; waste Taxpayer Dollars arresting adults with personal amounts of it on them, and no one should grieve a loved one because they died from fentanyl laced marijuana,” he said.
“As everyone knows, I was, and will be again, the most respected LAW &amp; ORDER President in U.S. History,” he added. “We will take our streets back by being tough &amp; smart on violent, &amp; all other types, of Crime.”
Floridians will have the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” on the measure this fall, with the measure needing 60% to pass.
If passed, estimates show that legalizing marijuana could generate between $200 million and $430 million a year in tax revenues for the state.

GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Campaigns In Michigan

Trump Backs Legalizing Marijuana In Florida — But There’s A Catch

Donald Trump

Florida

Politics

Maryland Democratic Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order pardoning more than 175,000 marijuana convictions on Monday.
Moore&#8217;s mass pardons come a year after the state legalized recreational marijuana and are estimated to affect around 100,000 people who have misdemeanor convictions for simple possession of cannabis or for possession with intent to use drug paraphernalia, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/maryland-governor-announces-pardons-175000-marijuana-convictions-rcna157466" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. With Moore&#8217;s executive order, Maryland became the first state to issue mass pardons for people convicted of crimes related to owning drug paraphernalia.
&#8220;We cannot celebrate the benefits of legalization if we do not address the consequences of criminalization,&#8221; Moore said. &#8220;So I want to be clear: When it comes to cannabis, rolling out one of the best and most equitable legal markets in the country is incredibly important. But that rollout must go hand in hand with pardoning past conduct, and Maryland is going to lead by example.&#8221;
The governor&#8217;s office added that it &#8220;is committed to promoting social equity and ensuring the fair and equitable administration of justice. Because the use and possession of cannabis is no longer illegal in the state, Marylanders should not continue to face barriers to housing, employment, or educational opportunities based on convictions for conduct that is no longer illegal.&#8221;
Maryland Democratic Attorney General Anthony Brown said Monday&#8217;s pardons are &#8220;about racial justice.&#8221;
“While the order applies to all who meet its criteria, the impact is a triumphant victory for African Americans and other Marylanders of color who were disproportionately arrested, convicted and sentenced for actions yesterday that are lawful today,” Brown said, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/17/us/maryland-marijuana-pardon-wes-moore.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a>.
Maryland is one of 24 states, along with Washington, D.C., that has legalized recreational marijuana. While other states and jurisdictions have issued pardons for low-level marijuana offenses, Moore&#8217;s executive order stands out as one of the largest pardons for those convicted of cannabis-related crimes, <a href="https://norml.org/marijuana/fact-sheets/marijuana-pardons-and-expungements-by-the-numbers/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. Earlier this year, Massachusetts Democratic Governor Maura Healey also <a href="https://www.npr.org/2024/03/14/1238653870/massachusetts-gov-maura-healey-pardons-marijuana-possession-convictions#:~:text=Maura%20Healey%20pardons%20marijuana%20possession%20convictions%20Massachusetts%20Gov.,or%20driving%20under%20the%20influence." target="_blank" rel="noopener">issued</a> mass pardons for marijuana possession convictions.
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President Joe Biden is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-admin-moves-to-reclassify-marijuana-as-less-dangerous-drug" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> looking to reclassify recreational marijuana as a Schedule III substance, downgrading the drug from Schedule I, where it sits alongside heroin and LSD. According to Campus Drug Prevention, an official U.S. government website, Schedule I drugs &#8220;are <a href="https://www.campusdrugprevention.gov/content/drug-scheduling-and-penalties" target="_blank" rel="noopener">defined</a> as drugs with no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse,&#8221; while Schedule III drugs &#8220;are defined as drugs with a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.&#8221;

Wes Moore

Maryland Governor Pardons More Than 175K Marijuana Convictions

Maryland Governor Pardons Over 175K Marijuana Convictions

Maryland

Pardon

Martha&#8217;s Vineyard is about to run out of marijuana thanks to a state regulator balking at allowing cannabis to be transported over the ocean, and the situation has led to a lawsuit and a scramble to fix the problem.
One marijuana company, Fine Fettle, previously grew its own product on the island, circumventing the ocean transportation problem. However, the company, which also runs the last open pot dispensary on the island, has said it plans to stop growing marijuana on Martha&#8217;s Vineyard and will soon close the store.
Meanwhile, the state&#8217;s Cannabis Control Commission is afraid that transporting the drug over ocean waters could break federal law despite Massachusetts voters legalizing marijuana back in 2016.
Critics have argued that there are ways to get to Martha’s Vineyard without leaving state territorial waters, but so far, no marijuana supplier has convinced the commission to allow this.
Benjamin Zachs, who runs Fine Fettle&#8217;s Massachusetts operations, <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/marthas-vineyard-run-pot-led-lawsuit-scramble-regulators-110973917" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> the Associated Press that they initially thought the &#8220;captured market&#8221; on Martha&#8217;s Vineyard would remain profitable. However, many people now bring their personal stashes over on the ferry, and the drug is cheaper in other parts of Massachusetts. The cost of hiring testers on the island is also higher, Zachs said.
Among the island&#8217;s famously wealthy residents are more than 230 registered medical marijuana patients and thousands more recreational users. Some medical users are older adults, including an 81-year-old woman who has been unable to get her regular order.
The owner of one of the island&#8217;s two marijuana dispensaries, Geoff Rose, sued the state&#8217;s Cannabis Control Commission as his Island Time dispensary was running out of product. Rose had to temporarily shutter the store last month due to the regulations, and the island has only one other marijuana dispensary that is <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/marthas-vineyard-run-pot-led-lawsuit-scramble-regulators-110973917" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> due to run out of product by September.
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The state&#8217;s Cannabis Control Commission has expressed to Martha&#8217;s Vineyard residents that it considers the problem an urgent one.
“Obviously, this is a super priority for us, because we don’t want to see the collapse of an industry on the islands,” Commissioner Kimberly Roy told residents during a visit to the island earlier this month.
“It&#8217;s a funny juxtaposition,” Roy said. “The entire industry is federally illegal. But that&#8217;s evolving, too. We are just trying to stay responsive and nimble.&#8221;
Other areas where pot is legal locally have struggled with illegal dispensaries.
Last year, New York <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-york-losing-millions-in-taxes-from-legal-marijuana-sales-while-illegal-market-booms-report">found</a> it was losing millions of dollars in tax revenue from its anemic legal marijuana sales while an illegal market thrived.

Could Martha’s Vineyard run out of weed?

Martha’s Vineyard Running Out Of Weed, Sparking Lawsuit

Martha's Vineyard Running Out Of Weed, Sparking Lawsuit

Martha's Vineyard

Massachusetts

Prescription Drugs

U.S.

When it comes to marijuana, I always go back to the question: Has the legalization of weed in any city made that city better?
You might ask: What do you mean by better?
Well, is that city now a better place to live — for anybody? Has it solved any problem? Has it helped anything? Give me something that has been helped. Show me a city where they&#8217;ve legalized weed and something about that city, something tangible, has improved. Show me. You can&#8217;t, because it hasn&#8217;t. It has not made anywhere a better place to live. There is no example, because it always works the opposite way and we all know it.
Having people walk around stoned all the time has made everything worse. It has improved nothing, absolutely nothing. It has created problems and solved none. So it&#8217;s a bad idea. If you&#8217;re going to do something that is guaranteed to make nothing better, while making a lot of things worse, then you shouldn&#8217;t do it. It&#8217;s really that simple.
And this, by the way, is why I <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9frDNHLvqHY" target="_blank" rel="noopener">changed my mind</a> on it personally.
I was recently debating this on X/Twitter — where all the very fruitful debates happen. Somebody pulled one of my favorite moves where they say, “This is what you&#8217;re saying on this topic now, but let me see if you&#8217;ve always said this exact thing.” And someone “scandalously” discovered that back in 2018 I sent out a tweet where I was advocating for legalizing marijuana.
They didn&#8217;t have to go search through my tweet history; they could have just asked me and I would tell them, “Yes, that used to be my position.”
I used to be in favor of legalizing marijuana. I was. And I was wrong. I changed my mind; you&#8217;re allowed to do that. Just because you say something now, you don&#8217;t have to say exactly the same thing forever until you die. Not only are you allowed to process new information and change your opinion, but you also should. You should be open to new information and your opinion should be open to change depending on that new information.
That&#8217;s what happened with legalizing marijuana. I was never militant about it. It&#8217;s not something I personally want to engage in but I was generally persuaded by the arguments people made in favor of it.
What changed my mind? Well, it really wasn’t an argument anybody made on the other side. I simply saw in practice what happens. I heard all the arguments from the weed advocates saying, “Oh, yeah, we can legalize it, and here&#8217;s what the results will be.” Foolishly, I believed that argument. Then, when we did legalize it, I saw that none of that happened. In fact, everything the prohibitionists said would happen did happen and none of the positive results that the advocates promised panned out. So, of course I changed my position.
It&#8217;s not even a valid position anymore to be in favor of weed legalization because we&#8217;ve all seen the results in front of our faces. There&#8217;s really nothing else to say about it, which is why you then get a bunch of clichéd slogans shouted at you by the potheads.
As an example, I was having this debate recently when someone tweeted this — and I&#8217;m using this because it is like a rundown of the most clichéd arguments. They tweeted:
<blockquote>Badcall, alcohol and cigarettes are far worse. God created it. [Weed] It hasn&#8217;t killed anybody. Veterans need it for PTSD, etc. A Democrat made it illegal decades ago. Joe Biden is against it and thinks it&#8217;s a gateway. Drug prohibition is unconstitutional.</blockquote>
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Bad call. Alcohol and cigarettes are far worse. God created it. It hasn’t killed anybody. Veterans need it for ptsd etc. a democrat made it illegal decades ago. Joe Biden is against it and thinks it’s a gateway drug. Prohibition is unconstitutional.
&mdash; Bobby (@Bobby1493401) <a href="https://twitter.com/Bobby1493401/status/1773527644362998048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 29, 2024</a></blockquote>
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I&#8217;m using this as an example because this is the classic rundown of pro-weed arguments we hear all the time. Every tweet that anyone puts out in favor of weed legalization, it&#8217;s always like that or some variation.
There are a few problems with these arguments.
First of all, there are many substances that exist in the natural world that you&#8217;re not supposed to put in your body. So, saying, “God created this stuff” is dumb. Even back when I found the pro-weed argument, legalization argument persuasive, I was never persuaded by that because it&#8217;s so stupid.
What? God created it, so therefore it&#8217;s automatically a good idea to light it on fire and inhale it? There are a whole lot of things God has created that you should not light on fire and inhale. There are a lot of things God has created that you should not consume in any form.
If you&#8217;re lost in the woods, for example, and you&#8217;re starving, and you stumble across some kind of a bush with berries and without any prior knowledge say, “Well, God created these berries, so they must be okay to eat. God created them.” If you make that assumption enough times, you will definitely die because God has created a lot of poisoned berries. There are a lot of poisonous things in the world that you&#8217;re not supposed to consume. So the “God created it” line is true, but that doesn&#8217;t mean that it&#8217;s okay to consume.
As for alcohol and cigarettes, even if alcohol and cigarettes are worse, that still doesn&#8217;t mean that weed should be legal. By that logic, all you’ve done is add to the problem. And saying that it hasn&#8217;t killed anyone is just false. For one thing, it ignores the deaths caused by people under the influence and ignores all the volumes of research about all the negative health side effects. Even if I agree that alcohol and tobacco products are just as bad or worse, that&#8217;s not an argument for legalizing yet another bad thing.
It&#8217;s sort of like, if I was morbidly obese, but I didn&#8217;t drink alcohol, and then you said, ”Well, you&#8217;re already obese. You might as well be a binge drinker too.” That logic doesn&#8217;t make any sense. That only makes sense in a kind of defeatist suicidal way. That&#8217;s quite literally a suicidal argument when you&#8217;re saying, “Well, these other bad things are happening.” So let&#8217;s just add another bad thing? Let&#8217;s give up, basically? That doesn&#8217;t make sense.
Also, alcohol and tobacco have been a part of American culture since the beginning of this country. That&#8217;s one of the reasons why any effort to totally ban them has not been successful — because it&#8217;s just an ingrained part of American culture. Tobacco in particular helped build this country from the very beginning. So did alcohol. Now, I&#8217;m not saying that this is a definitive reason to not ban them, but it is a reason not to ban them. And it&#8217;s a pretty good one, actually. Tradition matters. History matters. Tobacco and alcohol have been a part of our culture. Historically, marijuana has not.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-matt-walsh-show">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
Somebody brought up that Native Americans smoked it and so it is part of American heritage.
I think it&#8217;s true that Indian tribes had marijuana — I haven’t done a lot of research on this — but I don&#8217;t think that they had it prior to contact with the New World. As far as I&#8217;m aware, marijuana was introduced to the native tribes in the 15th or the 16th centuries. But even if they didn’t smoke marijuana, the native tribes did smoke peyote. They had other kinds of drugs with hallucinogenic properties. So it is probably true that even if it wasn&#8217;t exactly marijuana, it&#8217;s probably true that the drug habits of Native American tribes were closer to the drug habits of Americans today.
Think about that for a second. Native tribes were 5,000 years behind the civilized world. They were stuck in the Stone Age. Many of them didn&#8217;t have the wheel. They didn&#8217;t have written language. Many of them — not all — were nomadic tribes, hunter-gatherers. They were extremely primitive, even by 16th century standards. So the fact that they were also high all the time perhaps should tell us something. We know that a society with people smoke tobacco constantly and drink whiskey from morning to night can also be a highly functional, highly successful society.
We know that because that was our society. That was our society in the 20th century when we accomplished all of the things we accomplished — we were winning world wars and landing on the moon. We went from horse and buggy to the moon landing.
So we know that the greatest civilizations in the history of the Earth have at least had booze, and people were constantly drunk. Our own civilization had tobacco and booze. Now, I&#8217;m not saying that tobacco and booze made us great, exactly, but it did not prevent our greatness. There is no evidence on a societal scale that having easy access to legal tobacco and booze will precipitate a societal collapse. There&#8217;s no evidence of that because we&#8217;ve seen a society that is drowning in nicotine, caffeine, and booze — America has run on those things. So we&#8217;ve seen that. We know that.
What about a society full of stoners and druggies? Can that kind of society thrive? There&#8217;s no evidence of that. There has never been a society of people who are drugged out of their mind, stoned, that has thrived. There are plenty of societies that have engaged in those sorts of activities and they live in mud huts.
They struggled to invent the wheel. That&#8217;s what that kind of society looks like.
And if we want to end up back there, if we want to just decline all the way and take this thing full circle, then that&#8217;s what&#8217;s going to happen.
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Close-up of young adult man rolling a marijuana joint on blur background.

I Changed My Mind About Marijuana. This Is Why.

Native Americans

Readers Pass

President Joe Biden&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/drugs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Drug Enforcement Administration</a> (DEA) is reportedly moving to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Attorney General Merrick Garland made the recommendation to loosen restrictions on the drug, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2024/04/30/marijuana-restrictions-loosen/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>.
The reported change would downgrade marijuana from being a Schedule I drug alongside drugs like heroin and cocaine to a Schedule III substance, meaning it could be obtained with a prescription.
“Today, the Attorney General circulated a proposal to reclassify marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III,” <a href="https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-biden-dea-criminal-justice-pot-f833a8dae6ceb31a8658a5d65832a3b8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> Justice Department director of public affairs Xochitl Hinojosa. “Once published by the Federal Register, it will initiate a formal rulemaking process as prescribed by Congress in the Controlled Substances Act.”
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The proposal would not legalize marijuana outright for recreational use, the Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/marijuana-biden-dea-criminal-justice-pot-f833a8dae6ceb31a8658a5d65832a3b8">reported</a>.
The White House Office of Management has to review and sign off on the plan before the DEA then opens it up to public comment.
If the public comment period goes smoothly enough then the proposal will be reviewed by an administrative judge before the agency finalizes the rule, the report said.
“Criminal records for marijuana use and possession have imposed needless barriers to employment, housing, and educational opportunities,” Biden said in December. “Too many lives have been upended because of our failed approach to marijuana. It’s time that we right these wrongs.”
The report said that Biden was potentially pursuing the reclassification of marijuana to appeal to certain demographics that he is struggling to gain support from ahead of the election.
The announcement was met with mixed reactions across the country at the federal, state, and local levels.
In Alabama, Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham <a href="https://www.wsfa.com/2024/05/01/montgomery-county-sheriff-responds-potential-marijuana-reclassification/">said</a> that the rule change was not &#8220;opening up the door for it.&#8221;
“If you ask me, it is a gateway drug,” the sheriff said. “That’s how we start off with marijuana and then we move up to something else.”

Biden Admin Moves To Reclassify Marijuana As Less Dangerous Drug

Biden Administration

General

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Oklahoma GOP Sen. James Lankford <a href="https://www.lankford.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Letter-to-CBP-on-Marijuana-Policy.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-sen-security-threat-border-patrols-drug-use-standards&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1712678270348000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3h7-emWQ0VGrniIAFAh-UP">wrote a letter</a> warning U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) not to loosen its policy on the use of marijuana by Border Patrol agent recruits before they had applied for the job.
The CPB’s previous policy involved looking back through the prior two years before applying for employment to determine if the recruit had used marijuana; the policy had been changed to only checking the previous 90 days.
“As you are aware, marijuana is currently classified as a Schedule I substance under the Controlled Substances Act,” Lankford wrote to Troy A. Miller, a senior official performing the duties of the commissioner for CBP. He noted CBP briefers told his staff that the change had been effected in part “because of confusion between Federal law and state law in states where marijuana has been legalized. However, as a Federal agency, CBP should ensure its personnel comply with Federal law regarding the illicit or otherwise prohibited use of controlled substances.”
“Briefers noted to my staff that recruits who admit to marijuana usage during their polygraph often admit to other disqualifying criminal conduct,” he continued. “In addition to users’ decisions, the marijuana industry and markets in states where marijuana has been legalized often are riddled with corruption.”
“&#8230; marijuana use has been shown to increase schizophrenia and psychosis among users, particularly among young adults — an age range that CBP targets as potential recruits for U.S. Border Patrol agents,” he pointed out, noting that a “rogue or corrupt Border Patrol agent has the ‘potential to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security’ and could produce a ‘substantial or even inestimable amount of harm or serious damage to the public trust.’”
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“In evaluating this policy change, was CBP aware of the effects of marijuana on users, including a higher incidence of psychosis or schizophrenia? If so, how did this factor into CBP’s decision?” he asked.
“According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, legislation to regulate marijuana for non-medical purposes or adult usage has been enacted in 24 states, as well as two territories and Washington, D.C. The NCSL&#8217;s data was updated Nov. 8, 2023,” <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-sen-security-threat-border-patrols-drug-use-standards">Fox News noted</a>.
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Sen. Lankford

Oklahoma’s Lankford Warns CBP On Prior Drug Use By Recruits

Border Patrol

Congress

James Lankford

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

Former “<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/reality-tv">Jackass</a>” star <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/celebrities">Steve-O</a> claims he turned down an appearance on Bill Maher’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/podcast">podcast</a> because the host refused to refrain from smoking <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/marijuana">marijuana</a> in front of him.
The 49-year-old reality star, whose real name is Stephen Glover, went through a very public battle with addiction and says he’s been sober for 16 years. Glover told guest Patrick Bet-David on a recent episode of his podcast, “Wild Ride,” that drugs were the reason he didn’t appear on Maher’s “Club Random.”
“For me, I’m a clean and sober guy. It’s very important that I maintain my sobriety,” Steve-O said, per <a href="https://ew.com/steve-o-bill-maher-refusing-not-smoke-pot-podcast-8623659">Entertainment Weekly</a>. “It’s approaching 16 years. I am about to be sweet 16. Really, there’s nothing that I value more than my sobriety. There’s nothing more that I protect than my recovery. And I found it kind of upsetting when the Bill Maher podcast, which I saw you on, reached out.”
“His thing is, he smokes pot the whole time while he interviews people. I said I’d happily go on there, but while I’m on, out of respect for my sobriety, could he refrain from smoking pot. He said no. That’s a deal breaker,” the reality star added.
Glover said he’s never encountered this issue before as a podcast guest.
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“Mike Tyson’s podcast is called ‘Hotboxin,’” Steve-O added. “Be real! All of these prolific potheads, I’ve been on their shows and it wasn’t so important to them to blow marijuana smoke in my face. But for Bill Maher, it was a deal breaker.”
The outlet reported that Maher usually smokes marijuana during “Club Random” interviews but did not during a recent discussion with Sheryl Crow that aired on March 24. 
While discussing the Israel-Hamas war, Maher said, &#8220;That&#8217;s when I need a joint, but I will never light one up,” he said. “But can I hold one?”
Crow replied, “If I weren’t singing tomorrow, I’d say light that bad boy up right now.&#8221;
“I’ve never not,&#8221; Maher said. &#8220;But for you? First of all, I would do this standing on my head, but it is a little like running a marathon for the first time.&#8221;

Steve-O

‘Deal Breaker’: ‘Jackass’ Star Steve-O Claims Bill Maher Refused His Request To ‘Refrain From Smoking Pot’ During Intv

'Jackass' Star Steve-O Claims Bill Maher Refused His Request To 'Refrain From Smoking Pot' During Intv

Bill Maher

Media

Podcast

Reality TV

sobriety

Virginia Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed two bills on Thursday that were largely backed by Democrats in the state.
Youngkin released a statement explaining his decision to veto a bill that would allow the retail sale of cannabis along with a bill that would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, WRIC <a href="https://www.wric.com/news/politics/capitol-connection/youngkin-vetoes-democrat-led-bills-to-raise-virginias-minimum-wage-and-open-legal-retail-cannabis-market/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. The Republican governor cited dangers to “Virginians’ health and safety” — especially for children — as the main reason for vetoing the marijuana bill.
“The proposed legalization of retail marijuana in the Commonwealth endangers Virginians’ health and safety. States following this path have seen adverse effects on children’s and adolescent’s health and safety, increased gang activity and violent crime, significant deterioration in mental health, decreased road safety, and significant costs associated with retail marijuana that far exceed tax revenue,” Youngkin wrote in the statement.
Virginia was the first Southern state to legalize marijuana in 2021, but the law didn’t allow for retail sales of the drug, according to the <a href="https://apnews.com/article/virginia-retail-marijuana-veto-youngkin-minimum-wage-d90ee994918c41eacb5a62c61378e37e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. While it’s legal for Virginians who are 21 and older to possess and grow small amounts of cannabis as well as purchase cannabis through the state’s medical program, sales for recreational weed remain illegal with Youngkin’s veto.
“Addressing the inconsistencies in enforcement and regulation in Virginia’s current laws does not justify expanding access to cannabis, following the failed paths of other states and endangering Virginians’ health and safety,” Youngkin said.
Youngkin also vetoed another Democrat-supported bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage, which stands at $12 an hour, to $13.50 by 2025 and $15 by 2026. The governor said the proposed minimum wage increase “imperils market freedom and economic competitiveness.”
“The free market for salaries and wages works,” said Youngkin. “It operates dynamically, responding to the nuances of varying economic conditions and regional differences.”
Youngkin also expressed concern about how the minimum wage bill would affect small businesses in rural parts of Virginia, where the economic conditions don’t match those of the cities in the northern part of the state.
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“Implementing a $15-per-hour wage mandate may not impact Northern Virginia, where economic conditions create a higher cost of living, but this approach is detrimental for small businesses across the rest of Virginia, especially in Southwest and Southside,” he said. “A one-size-fits-all mandate ignores the vast economic and geographic differences and undermines the ability to adapt to regional cost-of-living differences and market dynamics.”
The minimum wage increase passed by Virginia Democrats in 2020 established the $12-an-hour rate and allows for further bumps in the future as long as the state’s Assembly votes in favor of increasing the minimum wage again. Currently, Virginia has a <a href="https://www.paycom.com/resources/blog/minimum-wage-rate-by-state/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">higher minimum wage</a> than over half of the country.

Glenn Youngkin

Glenn Youngkin Vetoes Bills That Would Open Legal Marijuana Market, Raise Minimum Wage

Minimum Wage

Virginia

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