Dom Giordano's Take On City's Decriminalization Of Pot
By Dom Giordano
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- On Thursday, Philadelphia City Council continued a great Philadelphia tradition.
They said we don't care about your stinking state laws that say possession of marijuana is illegal. They said we don't like the law and choose to allow people to smoke with the possibility of a small fine if caught.
This move is positioned as a smart move by the city that is so much more enlightened than the rubes in the rest of the state.
Of course, this is the same city that begs for or demands money from the suburbs or the rest of the state in order to fund its schools and huge welfare system.
It's a city that forces police to ignore current law in some twisted talk of police discretion.
Of course, Councilman Jim Kenney is the architect of this new vision of Philadelphia. On the same day that he celebrated his victory of getting the rest of his colleagues to dismiss state law, he called for Eric Holder to look for hate crimes in the case of two gay men who were allegedly attacked last Friday in downtown Philadelphia.
State law doesn't give gays a protected status so Kenney wants the feds to provide it.
You've probably noticed that I haven't attacked this law as the start of some widespread breakdown in the city or pathway to harder drugs. But it doesn't help.
When all the recent scientific evidence points to health issues related to marijuana smoking, Dr. Kenney promises a free lunch.
Finally, this isn't about stopping young people from having a lifetime criminal record for small amounts of pot. It's an incremental attempt to legalize it.
