Marijuana laws- O/T

[novakjr]

I think the pharmaceutical companies have their hand in the pot(no pun intended) this time... Working in the trades, I've know plenty of people who use it as a natural painkiller to get through the day. It's gotta be better than keeping yourself hopped up on pills. I don't do either, but I'm not one to judge, I just kept my distance for potential safety reasons.. But that's a whole other discussion..

Back to the task at hand now. Full legalization could potentially lead to more people self-medicating(this can be good or bad depending on your viewpoint, I just see it as they're doing it anyway). I think that could potentially have a positive effect on the health-care system, if people aren't going to the doctors just to get prescriptions for pain-pills as often.

[steve B]

Quite a lot of ground to cover. I'd thought about individual replies, but it would just be a mess.

I find it incredibly odd that it's being pushed towards legality at a time when
Smokes can be sued for secondhand smoke by someone in the apartment next door.
Cities will ban Pate(Boston), using oil with trans fats in the deep frier(Boston), soft drinks larger than 20 oz?(NYC), donating canned food to homeless shelters(NYC), Bottled WATER(Concord Ma) Among other things.
Seriously, we're banning soda, but pot is just fine?!

The overall attitude here surprises me. Nearly everyone is very down on McGwire, Canseco, Sosa, and a bunch of others for taking stuff that was
A)probably Illegal although some of it could have been bought at GNC.
B)Not specifically against the rules - Baseball had rules about illegal substances, but NONE against performance enhancing substances at the time.
But Pot? Which is
A) Illegal
B) Banned by all sports under WADA
Should be legalized and is more than ok to smoke even if it isn't yet legal


As far as it not being any worse than alcohol or tobacco.
It's worse, if only because it has the worst features of each.
Dulls the senses AND messes with the lungs.
What do people die of most in fires? Smoke inhalation.
What's the primary form of using pot? Smoke inhalation.
Nuff ced on that.
(had to slide some bit of baseball refernce in somehow)

While I was in High school and from what I've heard the available stuff wasn't anywhere near as good as what's around now, there was a crash involving a van and kids the next town over. All high, 12 in the van something like 8 killed.
Last year a guy was rescued after he fell into the tracks on the red line. On his way home from hempfest. He was pulled out just before the train came.
Even the drunks know better than to stagger close to the edge.

I don't know of anyone jailed for some tiny amount. Maybe that's just a Mass thing, but it's usually allowed to slide with a ticket or plea bargained. The guys who go to Jail are usually the ones being d**** about getting caught. Just like everything else, if you're respectful and not lying or evasive it usually goes ok.
As of last year small ammounts aren't dealt with at all here.

To be sure, there are some advantages to making it legal. Being able to tax it is one thing, making it traceable is another. Now there's no telling who's actually making the money, the only thing likely is that whoever that is isn't all that nice.
Even the domestic growers cause problems that might not go away with legalization. I'm not sure if it's online, but the Holmes on homes episode where they rehabbed a growhouse that had been rented was astounding. Tapped off the underground main electrical feed, built tunnels to vent the house to somewhere to hide the odor plus a massive ammount of mold from the humidity. And that's in Canada.

Prohibition didn't create organized crime. It was exploited very profitably by organized crime, which was already around.
Prohibition may have sort of created NASCAR........I'm ok with that, others may not be.

And just to lighten up a bit. While I've never smoked friends did. (I was the guy who stayed straight so they wouldn't get lost in the woods or drown in the pool)
And even I think that the band that covered Peter Toshs "I smoke two joints" made the pace way too fast.

Steve B

[t210]

I think marijuana should be legalized. There are about 90 or so dispensaries within a 65 mile radius of where I live. For California it's a new faucet of income. The cities generally charge a 2-3% sub tax along with the current sales tax for the businesses that are in the marijuana dispensary industry. Marijuana will always be here. Consumed and sold. So some people figured why not tax it and generate some revenue for the states.

It's safer to buy it in a store than have to go to some street corner and possibly get robbed. Or lose your life. Get the criminals out of the picture.

Some people use it for ailments, recreational use or just simply want to relax. Like you would with a beer or a glass of wine.

Obama, Bush, Clinton and Reagan's wife have used marijuana just to name a few. So what does that mean? That Marijuana users can even become president of this great nation. Thank goodness I don't have to start naming congressman, senators or governers because I would be here all day.

Eric P.