Some people are always just a little bit behind the styles, and behind the times. When the fashion police show men wearing bow ties, they say, “Yuck!” and it takes them about three years to join in the fashion – once they get used to seeing it around enough that they feel comfortable with it. By then it is quite out of style of course. Or maybe it’s a particular kind of shirt or jacket that is “all the rage” as they used to say. These people wait until they work their way down to the Walmart level or the thrift store/yard sale level. Not usually caring about style much, they think, “oh, I’ve seen that around” and go ahead and buy and wear it. Why should they care about what somebody else decides is “cool” to wear? To them it’s just a ruse to get them to buy more stuff, and they are perfectly happy without being fashion champions.
This thought came to mind regarding all of the states who still have people pushing for medical marijuana to be legalized there. They say, “See, eighteen other states already have it – we are behind the times!” They feel like the guy that’s out of style.
But we here in Montana are so far ahead of the game this time! We legalized medical marijuana a while ago and our government is now already considering repealing it! But why?
Partly it’s because more conservative representatives have been elected to the House, and they tend to be less likely to favor even medical marijuana. The vote was mostly carried along party lines. It may not go over so well in the Senate.
But part of the reason is that the use of marijuana has grown beyond what they originally thought it would be. There seems to be a surplus of the drug around and it has attracted criminals and trafficking even within state’s institutions. Speaker of the House Mike Milburn also claims that the medical marijuana law is “starting to undermine the entire fabric of our state” and he called for a stronger medical marijuana law.
But the House Democrats say first of all that the state cannot just repeal a voter-approved initiative. And secondly, they believe that the problem is the fault of a legislature that did not create laws to regulate the “industry.” They say that instead of talking about repeal, they need to regulate it better.
Whatever happens, clarification is needed all around.
