# Political Consequences if Congress legalized marijuana? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [November 23, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109 "2008-11-23T16:38:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![slime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@slime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slime)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/41 "2008-11-28T22:57:47Z")
there’s one other group that will be vehemently against legalization and that’s the anti-smoking groups. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/42 "2008-11-28T23:08:56Z")
> [@slime](#): > > there’s one other group that will be vehemently against legalization and that’s the anti-smoking groups. Maybe, but pot doesn’t have to be smoked or chewed like tobacco. It’d be a boon to the bakeries, candy makers, etc. Sounds like there could be some interestingly named brands of pasta sauce, cooking oils, butters, etc. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/43 "2008-11-29T01:40:13Z")
> [@levdrakon](#): > > Maybe, but pot doesn’t have to be smoked or chewed like tobacco. It’d be a boon to the bakeries, candy makers, etc. Sounds like there could be some interestingly named brands of pasta sauce, cooking oils, butters, etc. Mentioned in the first couple of paragraphs of the New Yorker article was a device called the [“Volcano”](http://www.thevolcanovaporizer.com/index.php): > [@](#): > > Blue has a photo I.D. card from the City of Los Angeles confirming that he is a bona-fide medical-marijuana patient. His malady is anxiety. On a side table by his bed, he keeps a Volcano, a German-made vaporizer that resembles a stainless-steel coffeemaker. The Volcano, which costs five hundred dollars, warms dried marijuana, releasing vapor into a plastic bag and leaving behind a toasted brown chaff that smells oddly like popcorn. When Blue uses the Volcano, he inhales the contents of the plastic bag through a bong, which purifies the vapor. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/44 "2008-11-29T02:08:07Z")
It would be the gay marriage question all over again, where ignorance and prejudice rules the day. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/45 "2008-11-29T02:18:13Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It would be the gay marriage question all over again, where ignorance and prejudice rules the day. Maybe we could word it so that a vote against gay marriage is tied to a vote to legalize cannabis. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/46 "2008-11-29T04:10:16Z")
> [@](#): > > Those with an interest in the “corrections” industry likewise…if non-violent pot offenses were no longer crimes, the prison population would decline drastically. Speaking as an unofficial representative of the corrections industry, we don’t really care. As I pointed out above, the legalization of marijuana would have a negligible effect on prison population. If the much larger step of complete legalization of all drugs was enacted, we would notice the difference. But it would be a short-term ripple. You have to remember that we don’t summon people to prison. We’re the end result of the legislature, law enforcement, and court system. They’re the ones who send people to prison. We’re a strictly reactive agency. And we’re a resource that’s already been paid for. If all the prisoners serving time for drug-related crimes were released tomorrow, we’d start getting refilled with other prisoners the next day. Crime is not in short supply. Cell space is the bottleneck. If prison beds were empty, you’d see people who are now getting probation being incarcerated and people who now receive a 1-2 year sentence getting a 5-10. ---
**Author:** ![InterestedObserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@InterestedObserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InterestedObserver)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109/47 "2008-12-01T03:02:23Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mujaxzs3X4) Bill and Hillary were there and proud of it. Come ONNNNN…it is an open “secret” even in the older crowd. It WILL happen, it is merely a matter of how and when. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/political-consequences-if-congress-legalized-marijuana/474109.md?page=2)