In other news, Spreading Santorum and Dan Savage are all over the Internet today (Huff, Sullivan, everywhere) -- traced back to a funny Mother Jones article about Rick Santorum's anal sex problems.

@1 At least they got "flying monkeys" right...

Re: West Virginia: That's a cool editorial, it's also refreshing that most of the comments are pro-legalization, and the one guy who was anti had his arguments refuted by other commenters.

So who are your flying monkeys, Dan? Are you accepting applications?

Posted By: gmhoover (2:42pm 08-27-2010)

Okay...here's my bottom line. If anyone can prove to me that the state won't use legalized pot as a means of growing the bureaucracy, regulational authority, and can control the quality of the product without doing so....I will agree with them. Until you can do that...I oppose your assumption and disagree with this editorial.

Classic.

I always click on pot-related articles, and every single time, comments in favor of legalization outnumber by far those opposed.

It seems politicians are the only cohort where legalization is a minority position.

@3 Perfectly idiotic.

So that guy thinks that growing the government and bureaucracy with FUNDS raised by marijuana in order to regulate marijuana and so forth is BAD... Presumably because he is a "small government conservative/libertarian".

But keeping it illegal, and growing the government and bureaucracy with para-military police squads and by imprisoning millions of people, both of which have far greater potential for abuse and require a far greater deference to government authority, etc. is... OK by him.

I have a hard time believing someone could make that argument in good faith. But I always find myself underestimating people's stupidity.

Blah blah blah pitbullcakes.

@6: Actually, moonshine is more of a risk to the eyes and liver, than to the brain, due to its potentially dangerous levels of methanol.
The main health risk of long-term marijuana use is the damage to myelin (a protein that protects nerve cells) caused by tetrahydrocannabinol and its metabolites.
And West Virginians ares smarter than you give them credit for. They avoided ending up on the Confederate side, no?

The editorial board of the Charleston Gazette is great-- very progressive group of folks.

America - as a whole - is as sick of this failed War on Drugs as it is sick of the failed Republican Foreign Civil Wars of Adventure in Iraq and Afghanistan.

When stresses like this happen, either change occurs or you have a revolution. Revolutions are always bad for women and kids.

That's actually pretty impressive, given that most WV politicians are so conservative John McCain is practically a liberal heathen by their standards.