is THIS an example of cognitive dissonance?

Es­ti­mated reading time is 1 minute.

AN­OTHER AMAZING HEAD­LINE from The Seattle Times (Au­gust 6, 2013, page B4): “Pot con­sul­tant ad­vises, warns City Council.” And what do we find? Cog­ni­tive dissonance?

“Mark Kleiman, a UCLA pro­fessor and head of BOTEC Analysis, told council mem­bers on Monday that IN­CREASED law en­force­ment against il­legal dealers could be helpful to the state’s new legal recre­ational mar­i­juana system—even if that en­force­ment leads to short-term racial dis­par­i­ties in pros­e­cuting cases.”

Mr. Kleiman also dis­cussed the pos­sible waste of ware­house space that would be ded­i­cated to mar­i­juana cul­ti­va­tion in the city of Seattle.

“Kleiman spoke more, though, about rea­sons for the city and state to step up law en­force­ment against il­legal dealers in order to gain market share and tax rev­enues for the legal system.”

All of the em­phasis above (caps and ital­i­ciza­tion) is mine. Con­clu­sions about what this means—I have a re­ally BIG problem with the term “short-term” being used in ad­dressing “racial dis­par­i­ties” that have ex­isted for gen­er­a­tions of black Americans—are yours.

But read the whole piece and do a little research—even if there ain’t a whole lot on BOTEC on the internet . . .

Postscriptually

The article—not the headline—was by Bob Young. He wrote: “The state’s top pot con­sul­tant of­fered two main bits of ad­vice to the Seattle City Council, which is poised to create reg­u­la­tions for legal pot busi­nesses that may allow 50,000-square-foot growing op­er­a­tions in the city’s in­dus­trial areas.

Mark Kleiman, a UCLA pro­fessor and head of BOTEC Analysis, told council mem­bers on Monday that in­creased law en­force­ment against il­legal dealers could be helpful to the state’s new legal recreational-marijuana system—even if that en­force­ment leads to short-term racial dis­par­i­ties in pros­e­cuting cases.

And, Kleiman said, he’s con­cerned the city’s zoning plan for legal pot could leave empty build­ings in man­u­fac­turing areas be­cause it’s un­likely Seattle would ever be­come a long-term growing haven.”

Hah . . .

 


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