Story says they are U.S. civilians who volunteered to fight under Ukrainian command. Not U.S. soldiers. Many countries, including the U.S., allow foreigners to fight in their armed forces. The newsworthy aspect is that the U.S. military is providing medical benefits to Ukrainian military personnel.

I’m not sure it’s the problem you think it is.  Yes, you are seeing it accurately but I wonder if that’s because potheads flock to states that have legalized it.  If it were decriminalized on a federal level, legal everywhere, there’d be no reason for pot smokers to concentrate in just a few places.

As for it sapping the initiative out of people, etc., is that chicken or egg?  Does pot ruin people or do people who are lazy and screwed up to begin with more likely to use pot? 

I don’t dispute what you see. Back in the 70s I saw what became of “potheads”.  Most people who smoked it were no worse than occasional users, but some seemed to get addicted to it, and ended up smoking all day every day. Indeed it turned them into useless zombies.

Personally, right now I am not taking a stand on whether or not to legalize it. As a libertarian of course, ideologically I favor complete decriminalizing and no regulation whatsoever. But as a realist I know that’s not going to happen. The government would probably do something like legalize it and then put it under the FDA to regulate it so only the big drug companies can sell it or something like that, like narcotic painkillers.

And I do recognize that piecemeal “legalization” by state is bad because of just what you say. The druggies concentrate there and ruin the place for the normal locals.

I also believe that the worse the economy is, and the more left the country goes, the more “lazy potheads” you’ll get.  Because a bad economy causes mental depression and anxiety driving people to drugs, but more important, feeding these people enables them to be lazy. The potheads I knew back in the day had some sort of funding. Daddy was paying for their college or they were living on student loans. Let people get hungry enough to the point of facing starvation, even most of the mentally ill ones will figure out a way to get up off their ass and try to find work. 

Our country is too fucked up right now to risk a big move like legalizing pot on the federal level.  It might make lefties happy enough to go vote more.  Just like this was the wrong time for a big move like revoking RvW.  We simply can’t risk anything that will make it harder to kick the current administration the hell out.

So my stand for now is this:  Pot legalization is on the back burner.  We have far bigger fish to fry.  Our biggest problem right now is the Biden administration and the deep state tanking our economy, killing our fossil fuel industries, driving us off an economic cliff, driving us toward a nuclear confrontation with Russia, and allowing a literal invasion on the southern border.

GOP Congresscritters holding hearings have so far come up with zip.  Funny thing is even if they do, it isn't high crimes and misdemeanors committed during office, which is what impeachment is for.  None of this will stop them of course.

Refresh my memory. Didn’t Wisconsin do something involving the SC lately that permanently made them Dem?