Joe Biden supports decriminalizing marijuana, stops short of calling for legalization

[PatrickforO]

18. Good. But you know what is desperately needed -

when the feds decriminalize marijuana, they need to allow BANKING SERVICES for all of the dispensaries in states where it is legal. Right now, marijuana buyers must use cash. It is a cash business and the money needs to be carefully laundered before the banks will touch it. This causes dangerous situations with big crates of cash and so on.

It is insane.

Just because when alcohol was legalized again in 1933, the prohibition czar didn't want to be on the soup lines, so he began to talk about how bad marijuana was.

Used to be, you smoke pot, you shoot your horse.

Then, you smoke pot, you shoot your mother

Then, you smoke pot and are mainlining heroin six months later!

I got into an argument about it with a transit executive one time. He turned a serious face to me and solemnly intoned, "Marijuana is a gateway drug!"

I said, well, back in the day when we were kids, the same pusher who had the pot also was pushing the pills and the powders, so when you became a steady pot customer, he'd say, hey, try these pills, try these powders!

Now, though, clean, well-regulated, well-taxed dispensaries sell pot. The pusher may still have the pills and the powders, but they don't run in the same circles as the marijuana retailers.

So, pot was a gateway drug...maybe...but now is no more.

He didn't buy it, just shook his head, rattled the ice in his drink and went to join another knot of people. And I was left alone, checking out the cool snack tables.