| Photo: Big Island Video News |
| Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle: “Compassion centers” are an “insult,” because they are really “pot stores” |
During a recent speech before the Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle took a hardline stance against the recent legislative effort to legalize and establish medical marijuana dispensaries for the state’s patients.
Governor Lingle pointed to the situation in California, where she claimed marijuana dispensaries now “outnumber both McDonalds and Starbucks,” reports Baron Sekiya at Big Island Video News.
The hard-hearted governor said the term “compassion centers” given to these dispensaries is an “insult,” because in reality, she says, they are simply “pot stores.”
Lingle also claims that today’s marijuana, which she says is 26 percent THC, is far more potent than the herb which was around “when we were in college,” which she claimed ran 2 to 3 percent THC.
The governor’s idiotic remarks were, of course, quickly rebutted in the comments section on the page at Big Island Video News.
“Complete propaganda,” says one commenter. “Everything this woman stated is either deliberately misleading or has been proven false by true experts.”
“Get a clue, already, Lingle,” says another. “Stop using those tired outright lies as propaganda to spread fear among the populace. The Starbucks myth was proven to be false long ago, and the argument that ‘today’s pot is far stronger’ is both false and misleading.”
“It’s Lingle who’s the one ‘insulting’ us,” says yet another commenter. “No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, diminution of rights and liberties, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer; only an end to prohibition can do that.”
“The 1930s called and they want their prohibition back,” comments another. “Apparently, it didn’t work then, either.”
“Gov. Lingle’s willful and unbecoming ignorance about marijuana is majestic in its all-encompassing magnitude,” your Editor was moved to add. “This may be the single stupidest woman in Hawaii, when it comes to cannabis knowledge.”
The Hawaii Legislature is considering allowing medical marijuana dispensaries. The bill would levy at $30 per ounce tax on medical cannabis, and would raise an estimated $50 million per year for the state, which, like many others, is suffering a budget crisis.
Also being considered by the Legislature are bills which would eliminate criminal penalties for marijuana possession, and up the limits for plants and marijuana which medical patients are allowed to possess.
For video footage of Gov. Lingle’s inane and clueless remarks, click here.