If they could somehow legalize marijuana (not just medical, but all marijuana) in New Orleans, do you think a lot of people would move there?
It’s already a hedonistic place, so pot kinda fits there. Might improve the local economy, too.
It would not do it for me, but I have friends that would consider it.
It sounds like a good idea to me. Use New Orleans as a test case.
Jim
I’m not sure what you’re getting at here. New Orleans usta be a hedonistic place, but, currently, it’s a very depressing place to live, as told by family who live there. (Though, as they tell it, Prozac scrips are way up in NOLA)
And, perhaps, mind-altering gotta-deal-with-this-shit methods being human nature, maybe Miss Mary Jane is currently finding more purchase than usual in NOLA of late.
Somehow, though, I don’t think the local powers that be are gonna go for it. They’re having enough trouble getting real federal money, and the current DC administration would surely rather pinch out more loaves than advocate the horror of a drug-addled populace. Won’t someone think of Louis Armstrong?
I wouldn’t move there permanently as it’s just too dang hot but it’s already one of my favorite places to visit and that would significantly increase my frequency of visits. 
I went to Tulane so I did live there for a time. What a great place it is or perhaps was. I think it is a pretty good idea really. It isn’t like it would increase the debauchery level but it would give tourists renewed reason to come back.
Being allergic to pot, it would only add to the reasons that I wouldn’t go there.
Now, if they did something like, oh, making bare breastages mandatory…
Shagnasty, Please elaborate on why this would be a good idea. NOLA is begging for help now, and I just don’t see how “Give us your wired , alternate minded masses” is the tack to take here.
I ain’t a prude at all, but no way this will fly with the current beady-eyed government. Like to hear why it might fly, though, to your mind.
I don’t even think the pro-pot movement would go for it. Post-Katrina New Orleans isn’t exactly a pretty, problem-free place to use as an example. You’d have the prudes saying, “Look! See? Pot = abandoned houses, wrecked cars, unemployment, and separated families!”
No, I wouldn’t move there just to smoke pot legally, and as much as I favor legalization, it would be a really dumb move to try to start this in New Orleans, especially right now. Pot users can be brilliant, hard working, valuable members of society. But the sort of person who would pull up stakes just to go smoke a little of the sticky green is not likely to be any of those things. You’re going to get the people for whom pot is the most important things in their lives: the losers, waste-oids, and burn-outs. It would be stupendously damaging both to the legalization movement, and to the image of New Orleans.
Anyway, it’s a moot point, as marijuana sale and usage is against federal law. You can’t make it legal in just one state, let alone just one city.
No. I have no interest in pot, and making it legal wouldn’t change that. And I have no inclination to live in New Orleans at present, or any place else too near the ocean.
You are assuming that I thought this out. I blame the OP for confusing me and distracting me with a concept I had never heard before. I have no idea why it would be a good idea but it makes a good late-night debate.
With the rampant crime and institutional corruption to be found in New Orleans before the hurricane, to say nothing of after, I don’t think I’d be interested in moving there if they legalized pot and I was a smoker.
Marc
I can see the tourism adds now:
- “Come to New Orleans: Closer Than Amsterdam!!!”*
No, because in all honesty the punishment for simple possession of an ounce or less of point is so minor, that I doubt there are very many people who don’t smoke pot now, who would do so if it were legal. I may be myopic about this, but I doubt a cop would even bother taking you downtown for simple possession anymore- a couple of them on Cops just have the perp throw it out.
That’s certainly my position.
I’m a strong advocate for the legalization of marijuana, and i have friends who smoke the stuff. But i don’t use it myself, and that wouldn’t change if it were legal.
Somehow stoners rebuilding an economy and infrastructure of a town hits me as a major oxymoron.
A native checking in here. Some random thoughts about this; YMMV and all that.
New Orleans isn’t so much a hedonistic place, at least for those who live and work and raise families here, as it is a “we-don’t-mind-if-you-come-down-here-and-blow-off-some-steam-and-have-fun-as-long-as-you’re-not-a-jerk-about-it” kind of place. So if you visit, get a bit tipsy or a bit high, have a good time, and don’t hassle anybody, most cops won’t bug you. We’re tolerant that way. Not that we locals don’t party, but that you normally won’t find the French Quarter filled with New Orleanians.
As such, legalizing dope would not be that much different here than legalizing it in NYC, Chicago, Savannah, San Francisco, or similar metropolitan areas that are also popular with tourists. There are some merits in the proposal, particularly for visitors, but the negative far outweigh the possible positives.
As mentioned, we already have a significant problem with drugs, drug dealing, and drug-related crime. Legalized dope would pull some of these thugs into the tourist areas, which would not be a good thing. Upwards of 90% of the violent crime you hear about down here is drug and turf and feud related, and while it may appear “rampant” to those from away, most neighborhoods are safe.
My rambling $.02 worth, FWIW.
This is brilliant.
Pot gave my car water damage!
See those sagging levies? Pot!