Pothead prohibitionists

One of the curious creatures that we’ve never really talked about here, is one that sometimes shows up in comment threads (or, more often, message boards) that I like to call “pothead prohibitionist.” You know the ones… “hey man, I can get all the pot I want, so don’t legalize it, you’ll just mess things up and have to pay taxes and stuff.”

Of course, they’re ignoring all the destructive aspects of prohibition, but as long as their pot is flowing freely, they don’t care.

Attached to the recent Paul Armentano article I mentioned were two rather extreme cases of this species.

nico1950 wrote on 01/10/2010 07:25:50 PM:

I’ll wager money marbles or cowshit that in the days of bath tub gin and speakeasys when alcohol was illegal people were much happier then todays mostly miserable drinkers. Legalize weed and it will take all the fun out of it. The government has a way of ruining things.

Well, yes, the government does have a way of ruining things (take a look at the drug war). Bath tub gin? Really? Those were the good old days, huh? Must have grown up on the Dukes of Hazard, Beverly Hillbillies and The Real McCoys.

thomasgee wrote on 01/10/2010 08:04:36 PM:

Legalizing marijuana is the worst idea of all. What are you legalizing when it becomes an arrestable crime when you can be arrested for being under the influence of a controlled substance? Alcohol and marijuana checkpoints couldn’t be too far behind. Imagine having to pay the same exorbitant fines and hassle as a drunk driver only the arrest was for marijuana used while operating a vehicle. The government and police agencies are drooling over the legalization of pot.

OK, that’s mostly incoherent (and apparently he thinks that marijuana smoking is only to be done while driving a car), but I can assure you that police agencies are not drooling over the legalization of pot. Legalization of pot to them means a likely dramatic loss of grant funding (not to mention loss of seizure funding).

These are fringe elements, I realize, but I’ve always been curious about them. Are they actually pot dealers without enough ambition to go into legitimate businesses once it’s legalized? Interestingly, despite the fact that they favor prohibition, they tend to fit the stereotype that prohibitionists like to use to paint drug policy reformers.