The New American Morals

So after 6 years of allowing morally relative degenerates to run the country we're suddenly surprised that children are using drugs?
3rd-Graders Caught Smoking Pot In Sonora School Bathroom

SONORA (CBS SF) — Three third-grade students at a Sonora elementary school were busted for smoking pot in the school’s bathroom last week.
Two 8-year-olds and a 9-year-old were caught by another student, who immediately informed school administrators.  Those officials then alerted local police.
The students were questioned by officers, and later released to their parents on February 27th.
Sonora Elementary School Principal Chris Boyles would not speak with CBS SF regarding the case, but Superintendent Leigh Shampain confirmed that the students were caught smoking marijuana in the school’s bathroom.  He would not discuss how the students might be disciplined.
“(I’m) shocked. To be in third grade and have their own pipe,” parent Linda Rodriguez commented to KTXL-TV. “I think they should be expelled, but I also think they should follow it further to where they found (the drugs).”
The case was forwarded to the Tuolumne County Probation Department.

Some AG's Go After E-Cigs

Government just doesn't know when to give up when it comes to inserting itself into our lives.

Although I gotta say selling nicotine products to minors should be illegal but any other interference directed at adults is really just nanny statism.

 AR Atty General: E-Cigs Need to be Regulated Immediately

LITTLE ROCK, AR-- Forty attorneys general from around the U.S. are urging the FDA to impose more regulatory controls on the sale and marketing of e-cigarettes
Namely, restrict advertising and ban the sale of of the product to minors.  In a letter to the Food and Drug Administration, they've ask for an immediate action to treat the electronic cigarettes the same as all "tobacco products" under the Federal Tobacco Control Act.
According to a press release, e-cigarette have been doubling every year since 2008 and, unlike with traditional tobacco products, there are no federal age restrictions to prevent children from obtaining e-cigarettes.
Earlier this year, the Arkansas Legislature enacted Act 1451, which prohibits the sale of e-cigarettes to minors in the State but there is no such federal prohibition.
The letter calls into question the practice of advertising the electronic cigarette with primetime commercials and celebrity endorsements.~snip~

You know they've already taxed traditional cigarettes pretty much out of reach of most low income Americans. The cheapest per pack in this area is around $4.12. Thirty days of that and you're looking at around 124 bucks a month.
Then you got the complaints of second hand smoke and the stale tobacco smell, neither of which e-cigarettes have.
So a lot of people who picked up smoking in the past have switched and the various nicotine "juices" are a lot cheaper than a pack of cigarettes. People can pay around 7 to 8 dollars to supply their habit for around a month.
Quite the cut and it's even cheaper than a ounce of pot where it's legal. But then again the politicians want to tax the hell out that also.
Which is really what it's all about.......taxes.
All stages of government, federal on down, seem to think that they have a right to confiscate as much money has possible from the citizens to do whatever they want with it. Because they're so much smarter than the rest of us.
Maybe e-cigs aren't the best place to draw a line against government taxation and intrusion but there has to come a time when we need to push back.
Because when they're done with what is easy they'll come for other things until they can penalize us all for anything they choose.

Marijuana Goes Mainstream

I'll admit that when I was a very young man I used pot and unlike Bill Clinton I actually inhaled.
Back when you could buy a "nickel" and an ounce cost $10.00.
Smoking pot back then was sort of a revolutionary act a way to stick it to the "man" and throw off the oppression of the government and uptight squares.
Plus I kind of liked getting high.

That was back in the day when love was free, more women where becoming single moms, started exploring food stamps and welfare and divorce became "no fault".

Hardly good social changes.

I'm not saying smoking pot caused these changes but I do know that it can rob people of their ambitions.
I can't tell you the number of times I've sat around listening to people at the time get high and then lay out their entire lifes plan then instead of acting on it all they did the next day was get high again.

But then again that's what being an American is all about, as John Kerry said we do have a right to be stupid.

So it's no surprise that a majority of Americans would poll to support legalizing pot.

Majority Now Supports Legalizing Marijuana

For the first time in more than four decades of polling on the issue, a majority of Americans favor legalizing the use of marijuana. A national survey finds that 52% say that the use of marijuana should be made legal while 45% say it should not.
Support for legalizing marijuana has risen 11 points since 2010. The change is even more dramatic since the late 1960s. A 1969 Gallup survey found that just 12% favored legalizing marijuana use, while 84% were opposed.

Yup, that's right, something that used to be a revolutionary act is going mainstream with the public and you know if it ever does get legalized the federal and state governments are going to tax the shit out of it.
As a matter of fact a lot of them are salivating at the prospect of another revenue stream. The very same governments who have been been crappy stewards of our money as it is.
Because they have been so bad at it before they need new ways to raise taxes so they can piss away even more. Pot will be perfect for them for the simple fact that it will be considered a vice like alcohol or cigarettes so the tax potential will be unlimited.

When pot becomes legal it'll be the governments opportunity to stick it to the users again.
Counter culture going full circle, how ironic will that be?