The 420 Club
December 23, 2010 4:03 PM   Subscribe

Pat Robertson calls for the legalization of marijuana.
posted by gman (81 comments total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
Wise man Pat's bringing home the "myrrh" for Xmas this year!
posted by chavenet at 4:06 PM on December 23, 2010


no way
posted by clavdivs at 4:10 PM on December 23, 2010 [5 favorites]


It really is getting harder and harder to keep up the charade of prohibition.

I mean, seriously, they've lost Pat Robertson.
posted by Avenger at 4:11 PM on December 23, 2010 [51 favorites]


"I'm not exactly for the use of drugs - don't get me wrong..."

OK, Pat, I won't get you wrong. Except, wait a minute — what do you mean you're not "exactly" for the use of drugs? Are you sort of for the use of drugs? Or what?
posted by John Cohen at 4:11 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


In other news, Pat Robertson just got diagnosed with Glaucoma.
posted by Ufez Jones at 4:11 PM on December 23, 2010 [52 favorites]


The 420 Club

heh
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:12 PM on December 23, 2010 [24 favorites]


What are headlines I never thought I'd read?
posted by Aizkolari at 4:13 PM on December 23, 2010 [9 favorites]


Well, it HAS been a cold December. I just didn't realize Hell froze over too.
posted by St. Alia of the Bunnies at 4:13 PM on December 23, 2010 [42 favorites]


His views on marijuana lit up the Internet on Thursday

I see what you did there, Wapo.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 4:14 PM on December 23, 2010 [12 favorites]


I know he's a hater and all, but this gave me a warm Christmasy feeling
posted by angrycat at 4:15 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


"Robertson said there is "something else we've got to recognize. We're locking up people that take a couple of puffs of marijuana and the next thing they know they've got 10 years. They've got mandatory sentences and these judges just ... throw up their hands and say there's nothing we can do."

{third source and a nice pic of pat and I just wrapped a christmas cracker}
SCOOP-Ei DOPPa
posted by clavdivs at 4:15 PM on December 23, 2010 [4 favorites]


no way

Yahweh.
posted by (Arsenio) Hall and (Warren) Oates at 4:15 PM on December 23, 2010 [123 favorites]


On Thursday, a CBN spokesman said in an e-mail that Robertson is "unequivocally" against illegal drug use and that he does not support legalizing marijuana.

I guess that settles it.

What?
posted by warbaby at 4:18 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Warbaby, I guess he can say that he supports the de-criminalization of cannabis (or at least the de-felonization -- is that a word?) without supporting it's legalization or normalization. I think that position is intellectually dishonest, but for a staunch Republican, it's revolutionary.
posted by Avenger at 4:21 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


I'm watching this and I glance up at my menubar clock. Yep, it say "4:20". Clearly this is a sign from God.
posted by chairface at 4:21 PM on December 23, 2010 [7 favorites]


I keep pinching myself, but I can't wake up.
posted by Splunge at 4:22 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Christmas. Miracle.
posted by jnnla at 4:25 PM on December 23, 2010


Right then, I'm quitting the ganja. Clearly, drugs just aren't cool anymore.
posted by Jimbob at 4:29 PM on December 23, 2010 [8 favorites]


Heh, really. He's just so damn wrong about everything else. Weed has to be really bad for you.
posted by Splunge at 4:29 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


IN THE EVENT OF RAPTURE THIS BONG WILL BE UNMANNED
posted by Spatch at 4:32 PM on December 23, 2010 [34 favorites]


Must be pretty icy in hell today.
posted by JimmyJames at 4:33 PM on December 23, 2010


Avenger: "Warbaby, I guess he can say that he supports the de-criminalization of cannabis (or at least the de-felonization -- is that a word?) without supporting it's legalization or normalization. I think that position is intellectually dishonest, but for a staunch Republican, it's revolutionary."

Yeah, I read CBN's response and I don't really understand how "We've gotta take a look at what we're considering crimes" could be considered anything but a pro-legalization statement.

And I really enjoyed the fact that he didn't spout off the usual right-wing reason for legalization - taxation. I also love how his example was "a few ounces of pot" and not "a joint" or "a couple grams".
posted by gman at 4:33 PM on December 23, 2010


Chris Roslan, a CBN spokesman, insisted Thursday that Robertson "did not call for the decriminalization of marijuana. He was advocating that our government revisit the severity of the existing laws because mandatory drug sentences do harm to many young people who go to prison and come out as hardened criminals."

This is a pretty sensible position. I mean, even in The Netherlands, cannabis is technically illegal. Across the board legalization doesn't really exist anywhere, (except in Portugal?), so reduced penalties are, for now anyway, the next logical step.

The problem with cannabis in the United States is the schizophrenic nature of the penalties for possession, cultivation, etc. In some states and counties, you get a slap on the wrist for possession (West Coast, large cities), but in the Bible Belt and small counties, for the same infraction you can get mandatory months and years in state prisons. There's no overarching federal guidelines for punishment.

Reducing simple possession--as well as cultivation--should be reduced down to wrist slaps, all across the nation. Then we can work on actual legalization. (I know, it's "legal" in California but what that word means in that instance I find totally confusing, state vs. federal rights, who's in charge and all that).
posted by zardoz at 4:36 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


Cannabis is NOT legal in California. Cultivation and possession is legal for people with a doctor's recommendation for medical use. Not for anyone else. Which is why there have been half a million arrests for marijuana in California in the last 10 years.

And yes, I am as surprised as anyone to discover that I agree with Pat Robertson on ANYTHING and even more so that it's about marijuana.
posted by gingerbeer at 4:42 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Reducing simple possession--as well as cultivation--should be reduced down to wrist slaps, all across the nation. Then we can work on actual legalization. (I know, it's "legal" in California but what that word means in that instance I find totally confusing, state vs. federal rights, who's in charge and all that).

No, Prop 19 failed, so it is not in fact legal in California. It is a slap on the wrist if you're caught in possession, though.
posted by Thoughtcrime at 4:44 PM on December 23, 2010


And what happened then?
Well, in Who-ville they say
That Pat Robertson's heart
Grew three sizes that day!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 4:53 PM on December 23, 2010 [10 favorites]


gman: "Yeah, I read CBN's response and I don't really understand how "We've gotta take a look at what we're considering crimes" could be considered anything but a pro-legalization statement.

And I really enjoyed the fact that he didn't spout off the usual right-wing reason for legalization - taxation. I also love how his example was "a few ounces of pot" and not "a joint" or "a couple grams"
"

I thought the same thing. "A few ounces?" The only people I knew who had "a few ounces" laying around were selling it. But maybe also Robertson's never seen weed, and when he says "a few ounces" he's thinking of like, three sugar packets' worth.

This news is just the cherry on the sundae of my day. Even if the 700 Club ends up trying to explain this away with rhetorical chimp flips, I still cannot get over hearing Robertson talking about "a few ounces of pot."
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:56 PM on December 23, 2010


Pat Robertson? Really?

Am I on drugs right now?
posted by Rangeboy at 5:00 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


IN THE EVENT OF RAPTURE THIS BONG WILL BE UNMANNED

If I can't take it with me, I don't want to go.
posted by furiousxgeorge at 5:01 PM on December 23, 2010 [12 favorites]


I wonder what kind of cancer he just got diagnosed with?
posted by kafziel at 5:12 PM on December 23, 2010 [8 favorites]


Harsh dude. Haaaaarrrrsh.
posted by Splunge at 5:13 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


I predict the Pope will be next. Just keep His Holiness away from the communion wafers if he blazes up.
posted by jonmc at 5:21 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


*snort*
posted by Melismata at 5:35 PM on December 23, 2010


Cool. Pat Robertson has found his mind. So what's Obama waiting for?
posted by philip-random at 5:38 PM on December 23, 2010 [4 favorites]


OK, when do I wake up and find out that the last three and a half weeks weren't real?

This is almost enough to make me believe there really is a God; this has got to be some kind of performance art on a cosmic scale. Right?
posted by Marla Singer at 5:40 PM on December 23, 2010


I also love how his example was "a few ounces of pot" and not "a joint" or "a couple grams"

Yeah, well, sure, a few ounces is, like, baby-head sized, or whatever, but he probably went with the ounces instead of, "joint," which is, like, black people jazz-man lingo or something, and he can't be heard using that sort of language. And, dude, "grams" is metric! What Real American is gonna be sayin that?
posted by Sys Rq at 5:41 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


Pat Robertson has found his mind.

Now, I'm hearing "Sweet Leaf" in my head. Maybe one of Pat's cronies will do a gospel quartet arrangement. Come to think of it, that would be an interesting avenue in tribute albums.
posted by jonmc at 5:41 PM on December 23, 2010


Looks like Pat found out what Moses did in the desert a long time ago. God speaks through the burning bush.
posted by kenaldo at 5:52 PM on December 23, 2010 [5 favorites]


Looks like Pat found out what Moses did in the desert a long time ago.

That explains where all the manna went.
posted by jonmc at 5:55 PM on December 23, 2010 [6 favorites]


zardoz posted:
There's no overarching federal guidelines for punishment.

They don't impose limitations on state sentences, but they do provide a handy program to enhance the punishment in addition to the sentence.

It's the Denial of Federal Benefits Program, which explicitly targets casual users. That's what's behind those stories of people getting their student loans taken away for low-level possession beefs.
posted by Hiding From Goro at 6:06 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


This isn't really all that surprising. Pat Robertson has always been at least 50 years behind everyone else.
posted by DU at 6:06 PM on December 23, 2010


One Toke Over The Line, as performed on the Lawrence Welk show.
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:16 PM on December 23, 2010 [5 favorites]




Such a stupid policy that even Pat Robertson noticed.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 6:26 PM on December 23, 2010


I like watching the cohost -- to whom this perspective is clearly shocking and unfamiliar -- pretend weakly that she has always believed as much, and that Pat Robertson is simply speaking the obvious truth: presumably because she's accustomed to nodding along with any damn thing he blathers forth.
posted by foursentences at 6:29 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


Melismata: "*snort"

No dude. It's weed. U R doin' it wrong.
posted by Splunge at 6:45 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


What would Jesus smoke?
posted by lometogo at 6:46 PM on December 23, 2010


I'm not completely sure, but I think I remember Philip K Dick stating that the logos was a mushroom. That the mystic Christians ate mushrooms and considered it the word. That was manna.

Please correct me if I am wrong.
posted by Splunge at 6:58 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Even an asshole, sociopath, broken clock is right twice a day.
posted by lumpenprole at 7:03 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


Ok, cool. Now all we have to do is wait for every major public figure to come out for legalization, several courts to rule it legal, and both houses of Congress to vote overwhelmingly for it, and at that point I'm sure Obama, after six months of careful study, will come out in favor of it.

And on that day, the headline on Huffington Post will read, "OBAMA LEGALIZES POT!"
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:05 PM on December 23, 2010 [8 favorites]


Don't do as I go do as I say.
posted by pianomover at 7:06 PM on December 23, 2010


Ain't it cool when someone you're not inclined to agree with comes around on an important issue? It just doesn't happen every day. Progress is progress, and I'm happy to applaud it. Good for you, Pat.
posted by millions at 7:09 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


When I watch the video, over and over, all I wonder is... how old is Pat now? Could he finally be hearing the footsteps? Could he finally be thinking, I better get my ducks in a row? I'm gonna give him the credit for actually believing in his God. Then I'm gonna think that he did a lot of things against what he thought his God might like. But his belief is that he can always make the deathbed confession and be right. But now, just maybe he's worried that he might just pop off soon. And if he's not done the right thing, maybe he get's slapped down to Hell.

So as a person that believes that he did most of his stuff for God, and maybe overstepped his "authority" by saying that he spoke to God. Maybe he wants to actually clarify a few things between him and the Big Guy?

Or is he just an old man who doesn't care if he keeps to the script? It's not like he's gonna go broke before he dies.

Is he just full of it and admitting that he doesn't give a fuck anymore? 'Cause he's rich and gonna die happy?
posted by Splunge at 7:15 PM on December 23, 2010


Is he just full of it and admitting that he doesn't give a fuck anymore? 'Cause he's rich and gonna die happy?

If he's what I think he is, he's an empty, hollowed-out mirror reflecting the most convincing views thrown his way. He's the head of a family of millions and he has as much agency as an ant in an ant farm; I wouldn't be surprised if some close family member or friend ends up losing their career or access rights to Pat after this particular incident.

I say this because there's no consistency in his logic. He goes from wanting Chavez's death to the legalization of marijuana, from 'gay marriage is child molestation' to espousing messages of love. It's as if he's a motley collection of fundamentally oppositional opinions, like a man whose agency has been taken from him so long ago that he can only cling to tattered and allusive interpretations thrown his way in regular conversation as if they were his own all along. He has no sense of himself anymore except for that big, bright glowing God that has subsumed him and left all other parts of him to rot and fester and degrade into nothing.

He's the sympathetic icon who went from young idealist to the realization that, at long last, the only way to be truly successful in showbiz is to give the people what they want, and the only way to do that is to say, and to believe, everything they want to hear. And years and years and years of this has left him a husk, a simulacrum, and whatever is keeping him in his seat, whoever it is that is continually reinforcing and tying him to his post at the 700 Club, not allowing him to rest, to find solitude in himself is the true monster lurking behind the scenes.
posted by dubusadus at 7:35 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


And what happened then?
Well, in Who-ville they say
That Pat Robertson's heart
pupils
Grew three sizes that day!

posted by rocket88 at 7:45 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


So, Pat's got glaucoma, huh?
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 7:46 PM on December 23, 2010


Alcohol is legal but marijuana is not????
Both are drugs and it's fairly obvious alcohol has done far more damage than marijuana ever has, but it's still legal because the governments can grab their taxes from it. We've all heard about the violent drunk who beats his wife; on the other hand, the pot smoker gets the munchies and then falls asleep. Legalize pot and tax it, too. It's a huge cash crop and all that tax money can go towards education and health care - because we know how much alcohol and cigarette smoking cost the health care system every year.
posted by fathead1958 at 7:55 PM on December 23, 2010


WWWND?*

_______
*What Would Willie Nelson Do?

posted by saulgoodman at 7:57 PM on December 23, 2010


A theoretical situation comes to mind. What if. What if while this very discussion was going on... What if, a stepson gifted me with the very herb under discussion?

What would one do?

Merry Chr
posted by Splunge at 8:12 PM on December 23, 2010


Even an asshole, sociopath, broken clock is right twice a day

It's a shitty way to tell time.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:23 PM on December 23, 2010 [3 favorites]


Alcohol is legal but marijuana is not????
Both are drugs and it's fairly obvious alcohol has done far more damage than marijuana ever has, but it's still legal because the governments can grab their taxes from it. We've all heard about the violent drunk who beats his wife; on the other hand, the pot smoker gets the munchies and then falls asleep. Legalize pot and tax it, too. It's a huge cash crop and all that tax money can go towards education and health care - because we know how much alcohol and cigarette smoking cost the health care system every year.


I applaud you for going back before you hit post and removing every instance of "maaan" from the ends of your sentences.
posted by Mayor Curley at 8:30 PM on December 23, 2010 [7 favorites]


Mayor Curley

It will be Christmas Eve here in twenty minutes, and you are harshing my fucking buzz, maaan.
posted by The Confessor at 8:37 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Jah bless us, every one.
posted by jtron at 8:58 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


In high school, in the Sixties, as pot use exponentially increased from a handful of kids to most of the school by the 1970 graduation day, we all assumed pot would be legal before too long because we'd be running things, and...

Well, we were running on mistaken assumptions. One, "we" are 58. It's still the old guys making the rules, by and large. Two, it was the Young Republican Club that took power, not the Vietnam Veterans against the War. I guess that should have been obvious, but we were stoned.

Somehow, though, the game is finally changing. The fact that Pat Fucking Robertson is in favor of legalization is certainly a cultural milestone, if nothing else.
posted by kozad at 8:59 PM on December 23, 2010


Angels 22 year old pitcher Anderhart would be alive today if the drunk driver had used marijuana instead of legal alcohol.
posted by tustinrick at 9:00 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Pot Robertson.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:42 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


10 Craziest Things Ever Said By Pat Robertson.

I'm not saying that this is #11. I am saying that his words should be meaningless to everyone at this point.
posted by andreaazure at 10:09 PM on December 23, 2010 [2 favorites]


Rat Pobertson! Dude!
posted by Splunge at 10:28 PM on December 23, 2010


VALIS. Fnord. Eris.
Kalisti Pat YAHWEH see?
Earth floating, sleep mow.
posted by Splunge at 10:33 PM on December 23, 2010 [4 favorites]


Pat Robertson supports marijuana decriminalization and I have to extend thanks to Joe Lieberman for his vital work in getting DADT repealed.

I... I don't even know how to understand the world any more.
posted by Tomorrowful at 10:46 PM on December 23, 2010 [5 favorites]


Praise Jesus?
posted by philip-random at 10:52 PM on December 23, 2010


Pat Robertson still sucks. Call me when he gets caught on video smoking a bong.
posted by IvoShandor at 11:02 PM on December 23, 2010 [1 favorite]


Alcohol is legal but marijuana is not????
Both are drugs and it's fairly obvious alcohol has done far more damage than marijuana ever has, but it's still legal because the governments can grab their taxes from it. We've all heard about the violent drunk who beats his wife; on the other hand, the pot smoker gets the munchies and then falls asleep. Legalize pot and tax it, too. It's a huge cash crop and all that tax money can go towards education and health care - because we know how much alcohol and cigarette smoking cost the health care system every year.


I hear this delightful two-sided strawman all the time, but I wonder what the numbers would look like if pot use was as prevalent as alcohol use.
posted by gjc at 6:04 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]


Not sure that Pat needs eyes any narrower than they already are.
posted by bwg at 6:30 AM on December 24, 2010 [2 favorites]


Well - well I applaud this call, and wish my Mom would hear this as a clarion call for legalization (or at least decrim). I'm guessing it won't change her mind. That said I feel there's an ulterior motive... He's got a whole string of 700 Club branded rehab clinics in the waiting. Get them outta jail, get that faith based initiative money and treat away while getting them to get all that drug money away from herb and into his "ministry's" pocket.

That's the only insidious thing I heard there, and that was at the beginning and in the end he did sound like a true believer in rehab.
posted by symbioid at 9:58 AM on December 24, 2010


Ugh. I mean true believer in decrim...
posted by symbioid at 9:58 AM on December 24, 2010


I hear this delightful two-sided strawman all the time, but I wonder what the numbers would look like if pot use was as prevalent as alcohol use.

The numbers would look different because the effect that THC has is different than alcohol. I'm too lazy right now to look up all the "accepted" science but, off the top, I suspect that it would back up the assertion that THC is less likely to make one aggressive, violent, careless, sloppy etc ... whereas it is more likely to make one introspective, paranoid, hungry etc ...

The key for me is that, used responsibly, both are very good for not just individual humans but human communities in general. For instance, we always hear about the negatives associated with alcohol ... but what about all the good will achieved by two men (or women) who, though they may have potentially divisive opinions about all manner of things, can enjoy a beer a together?

Legalize everything. Focus on the individuals who can't handle the freedom.
posted by philip-random at 10:38 AM on December 24, 2010 [1 favorite]


OK, Pat, I won't get you wrong. Except, wait a minute — what do you mean you're not "exactly" for the use of drugs? Are you sort of for the use of drugs? Or what?

I don't know about that, but next time I see him I'm going to offer to smoke him out.
posted by krinklyfig at 10:45 AM on December 24, 2010


I hear this delightful two-sided strawman all the time, but I wonder what the numbers would look like if pot use was as prevalent as alcohol use.

What specifically are the problems you think we would see from widespread pot use/abuse that are comparable to the health and social problems caused by alcohol abuse?

Or is this just some vague, "Don't legalize it because who knows what might happen!" warning?
posted by straight at 3:57 PM on December 24, 2010


What a surprise: Robertson pulled his act at the beginning of this year blaming the Hatian earthquake on a pact with the devil and now Hatians are hacking Voodoo priests to death with machetes and setting fire to them.
posted by XMLicious at 8:55 PM on December 24, 2010


...oops, I meant to mention, the primary focus of the story says the lynchings are motivated by rumors that the Voodoo priests are causing cholera to spread but a priest who was interviewed also mentioned how they're blamed for the earthquake by many.
posted by XMLicious at 8:59 PM on December 24, 2010


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