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Former DPOC Chair and Santa Ana ganjapreneur Frank Barbaro with his good bud. (Photoillustration of a not at all stoned Barbaro adapted. not kidding, from OC Register’s “The Buzz.” (It has long been the philosophy of this blog than whenever one can substitute the head of former OCGOP Chair and Congressional candidate Scott Baugh with a gigantic bud of cannabis, one probably should.)
Former DPOC Chair Frank Barbaro died of pancreatic cancer this past week. Barbaro was, among other things such as successful lawyer and big donor, among the first legal cannabis entrepreneurs in Santa Ana — but that is a story for a different time. (De mortibus nisi bonum. His “bud” there, from the collar down, is former RPOC (back when it was “OCGOP”) Chair Scott Baugh, who doesn’t actually look like that.) I choose to remember Barbaro today as a strong and consistent proponent of legalization — so much so that he brought in then-Libertarian Party Vice Presidential candidate Judge Jim Gray as a guest speaker to DPOC one day to promote the “Regulate Marijuana Like Wine” measure, which was just a few years ahead of its time). Judge Gray gave a very good speech on the topic — and so far as I recall nobody in DPOC said “boo” about it, so to speak.
Barbaro’s death so close to 4/20 — and while I don’t know, I expect that he made the most of both the curative and palliative properties of cannabis, and I hope that the latter worked well for him — offers a good occasion to ask the question: how do we all think that cannabis legalization (in its various forms across states) is shaping up? Any pleasant (or unpleasant) surprises? And pleasant or unpleasant confirmations of what you expected?
This is your holiday Weekend Open Thread. Do that thing you do.
*Watch Narcos, Narcos Mexico, Pablo Escobar, El Chapo and Murder Mountain on Netflix
We knew Frank…..RIP….Go easy bro!.
Homegrown and US-grown legal cannabis undermines those bad actors. Prohibition made them richer.
(And I am going easy!)
*Dr. D., surely you jest. Watch Murder Mountain…undoubtedly you haven’t seen it or you wouldn’t be shouting at the ceiling. Homegrown weed? With $150K buy in for licensing. Competing with Professional Cartels…..right here in Humboldt County? Yeah…you just keep thinking that! Big Pharma is right there as we told they would be before it went legal. The same goes for Oregon, Washington and Colorado….for starters.
Yes, Ron, homegrown weed. People can do that now, you know, and it’s sufficient for personal consumption (and perhaps giving away to friends.)
No, I haven’t seen this documentary — though its title doesn’t raise a lot of hopes as to its being reliable and not sensationistic — but it would still raise the question of whether its worse than it was before. People are going to use cannabis regardless — that’s pretty well established — so to the extent that it is an evil we simply have a choice between how to make it less evil. Do you think that your documentary addresses that issue squarely?
*Yeah, it even encourage an isolated call to the State Senator representing the area. Burned out cars, Price of License Buy-ins, Russian Gang activity….and more…..watch it Dr. D. and then you can write your own comments regarding Recreational MJ. Murder Mountain on Netflix is not a docu-drama…..it is history and reality. When did you last drive the Avenue of the Giants and go Myers Flats way? Garberville? Highway One north of Mendacino?
If you’re interested, check out this new podcast (from a sharp-seeming libertarian guy I’ve never heard of) about Friend of the Blog Gina Clayton-Tarvin:
https://yogispodcastnetwork.com/lr18-gina-clayton-tarvin-and-life-as-an-elected-official/
Gina Clayton Tarvin lies. Easy to fact check her. She’s a loser
Frank Barbaro was a good honest man who championed all good causes throughout his life. Yes, one of those was marijuana legalization and the world finally came around to Frank Barbaro’s way of thinking not too long before he passed. Marijuana legalization was just 1 of many issues Frank Barbaro was on the right side of long before it became popular.