My theme for the day seems to be how you can take a defeat and call it a victory. That's why Joe Bolkcom's dead on arrival medical marijuana bill is a big win.
Bolkcom's bill goes nowhere in the house because the Republican in charge of the committee, Clel Baudler, is beyond hostile: He's an ex-state trooper who actually got a medical weed prescription for fake hemorrhoids in California to prove it was a "joke."
The fact that Joe's bill is getting this much attention, mostly positive, and that people are saying in public what the once only admitted in private is a big win. It's not enough progress to get passage in our particular state in this particular year, but this is a long haul fight. Every month, every year, it gets easier to get politicians to come out on this.
But here's the best sign of progress. Used to be that whenever a drug legalization story came up, it was treated as a joke. Even the "objective" press made fun of it, and invariably there was a Cheech and Chong joke.
No one's laughing anymore. Not one story treated the bill as a sideshow. Instead, it's the naysayers like Clel Baudler, a character straight out of Reefer Madness, who now look ridiculous, while Joe Bolkcom, standing alongside sick kids, looks rational. Joke's on you, Clel. Even though you win this round, we'll get the last laugh.
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