Governor Vetoes Pot Decriminalization

Does the governor drink alcohol or use cocaine?

Does the governor drink alcohol or use cocaine?

Too funny. You're seriously running out of new material when you have to dig back to an old administration to find two dry sticks to rub together.

http://viconsortium.com/featured/governor-de-jongh-vetoes-marijuana-decriminalization-bill/

About 25 states have decriminalized it recently or flat out legalized it.

Maybe properly reading exactly why the Governor vetoed the legislation will be useful:

http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2014/10/14/dejongh-vetoes-marijuana-decriminalization-and-new-casino-license

I reject his veto logic. Colorado has driving and workplace bans complete with blood test and blood levels. Duh.
The real reason he vetoed the bill is because the bill's sponsor tried to have him recalled.
I would like the governor to address his drunk driving accident he had to the gate on his property that tax payer money built and the repairs to government vehicle. And I would like him to state under oath whether he has ever used cocaine and the last time he did that.
How is his son doing since that single car accident on a Sunday morning that resulted in no breathalyzer test? Membership has privileges. Daddy is governor, no DUI.
And now this hypocrite has vetoed the de criminalization of marijuana? Sure. It doesn't affect him and his family. They will never get arrested.
I don't even drink wine. I don't eat red meat or shellfish. No sugar. But I say live and let live.as long as uou don't drive when high, marijuana is no worse that rum which deJongh just signed a contract with Diageo and Cruzan to produce.

The senate can always over ride his veto.

The senate can always over ride his veto.

They can also properly review the reason for the veto and amend the proposed bill accordingly. If that's not too much trouble ...

The senate can always over ride his veto.

They can also properly review the reason for the veto and amend the proposed bill accordingly. If that's not too much trouble ...

It's about winning, not about doing the right thing.

The senate can always over ride his veto.

They can also properly review the reason for the veto and amend the proposed bill accordingly. If that's not too much trouble ...

Personally, I must agree with the veto. They should concentrate on decriminalization of medical marijuana first. The virgin islands is already a poster child for crime and corruption. Seems to me the way the bill was drafted by these bunch of morons in our legislature just leaves the virgin islands open to lawsuits. All because Nelson want to ride around with his baggie. Seriously?

The senate can always over ride his veto.

They can also properly review the reason for the veto and amend the proposed bill accordingly. If that's not too much trouble ...

Personally, I must agree with the veto. They should concentrate on decriminalization of medical marijuana first. The virgin islands is already a poster child for crime and corruption. Seems to me the way the bill was drafted by these bunch of morons in our legislature just leaves the virgin islands open to lawsuits. All because Nelson want to ride around with his baggie. Seriously?

Lawsuits about what? Over twenty other jurisdictions have found ways to decriminalize and legalize, why can't the VI? My bet is that this measure passes with amendments on the over ride. Like same sex marriage in the VI, its inevitable.

They need to clean it up before they allow it to go forward.

Good Grief! I can only imagine gov. workers coming to work stoned when so few, do little as it is.Hopefully, you won't have bus drivers and other essential personnel stoned on the job but somehow I doubt it.

No wonder our legislature presently drafts and pass the bills they do. What have they been toking on?

We should actually mandate that all the senators smoke a few bowls a day.

Just think - they would never be able to get a vote together to line their own pockets, they wouldn't understand bribery fully, corruption would go down... they'd just sit in chambers all day and laugh at Chucky [who would probably be one of those uber-talkative stoned people] [err, more-uber-talkative??] - "Barsh, DUDE, did you HEAR what she just said, no, REALLY, have you ever like really LISTENED to her, it's friggin hilarious..."

Alana, I also had to laugh at the concept of "you won't have bus drivers and other essential personnel stoned on the job" - I just always thought that most were.

Speaking of friggin hilarious, did anyone listen to Scullion on the gubernatorial debates last night on Ch12?

OMG she is waaaaay out there! At the end she said the Virgin Islands are supposed to mean fun and relaxation (or something like that) and earlier she proposed that workers could work a 3 or 4 day week so they could have time to do things including beautifying their property. What a joke!

Hey! Not a bad idea. Cut back on government employee sealer expenditures and beautify the islands. Let's face it there are lots of properties that are eye-sores due to lack of comprehensive zoning plans, udated building codes, pr
oportioned

People say they want change, and when somebody proposes changes, all of a sudden they're belittled.

She's not afraid to be different.

I think they'd be too stoned to care...

Lord, just what we need is a bunch of homeless pot heads like the ones who have been attracted to Colorado.

Lord, just what we need is a bunch of homeless pot heads like the ones who have been attracted to Colorado.

I agree. This is all very new and the smart thing to do is to wait and see how different states cope with the issues coming up before leaping onto a shaky bandwagon which the USVI is nowhere near equipped to handle.

Amen to that.

Sorry about all typos on last message but sent from my kindle and it sometimes changes the words and I didn't notice.

I think this is a very bad idea for VI.
Legalizing medical marijuana is one thing but they are going to open another can of worms here that we are ill-equipped to deal with, on top of the already blatant corruption that is enveloping us.

Pot has be around for decades, bought and sold on every street corner as if it were soda pop. Enterprising teenagers sell it to one another in every high school in North America today including the VI. I could walk out my door here and find whatever quantity I need within a moment or two. Back in the day, I had grown and sold it by the pound making tens of thousands of dollars over just a few years. Its no different then alcohol on many levels and actually much safer on some levels. If the government can't see the incredible value of decriminalization, legalization and commercialization through taxation, they are truly blind. Like prostitution, it won't go away. Just leave it as it is so private enterprise can continue to profit as they have for decades.

sunshine: I don't think it will go away. But I don't want to encourage it either. Colorado has a problem of poorly motivated young people coming to enjoy "freedom". I don't want a bunch (more) ne'er-do-wells overwhelming the system.

EE,

Once the majority of states wake up and decriminalize / legalize / tax / grow, there will be no need for those "poorly motivated young people" to migrate. Unlike Colorado, we certainly won't be on the forefront of the movement anymore, so that concern becomes less and less important.

tedc: The whole point is that there is no need whatsoever for the USVI to be "on the forefront". Whatever one's personal feelings about the use of marijuana, we have more than enough problems already without adding an as yet unproven and barely tested dimension to the mix. What's the rush? Let it all get sorted out on the state and federal level before leaping in with a half-baked plan which, in my opinion and in the present format, will cause more problems than providing any benefits.

Again, what's the rush?

OT,

I agree there are big holes in the current plan - but these were made as concessions to allow any sort of "first step" change to be made. The biggest hole? By not fixing the supply side, and potentially increasing the demand, this baby step may actually increase the problems we currently have regarding trafficking, as it's still illegal to distribute or manufacture.

Based on current crime stats, existence of gangs supported via trafficking and dealing income, and arrests of government officials in on the game, apparently we already have a big problem, that has never been addressed properly, and certainly not fixed.

If it takes a short period of decriminalization to get to the proper answer of allowing personal use growing, then 'manufacture' growing, and taxed, fully legal selling, then I'm all for it.

You'll obviously find me to be a crazy extremist, but now replace the word 'pot
with 'cocaine', 'heroin', or 'anything else'... the prohibition mentality obviously isn't working, as just like pot, I can walk out my door and find all these things, easily. Do I? No. Would I, if they were fully legal? No. Are there people who do now and will then - of course, and telling them it's illegal is not changing their behavior. I'll also continue to teach my children what is and isn't good for them, and would expect them to make as good decisions about not injecting heroin as they should about not smoking cigarettes. Whether legal or illegal, they will, some day, be presented with the opportunity to do both.

"I agree there are big holes in the current plan - but these were made as concessions to allow any sort of "first step" change to be made."

And from which horse's mouth did you deduce that? In my opinion, a proposed bill (particularly one of such magnitude) should be pretty fine tuned by the time it's gone through committee, been redrawn and honed with all available data having been carefully considered and before being presented as a final masterpiece.

I don't perceive you as any sort of a, "crazy extremist" - not by a very long chalk. You have a generalized opinion on the decriminalization of currently illegal drugs which is probably as strong as the opinion I have on the pharmaceutical industry in getting generations hooked on a cornucopia of prescribed drugs for a cornucopia of alleged disorders diagnosed by a cornucopia of duly licensed physicians, many of whom benefit handsomely from their association with said industry corporations.

We can't afford to have this sort of legislation railroaded through right now. Investigating our options is one thing - passing a bill such as that currently written is, in my opinion, ridiculously and dangerously premature and one for which we are most ill-prepared.