Marijuana laws- O/T

[Section103]

Originally Posted by Jcfowler6

If it's legal it should be packaged with a baseball card.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The terrible thing is that I would probably fall for that marketing gimmick.

[Fred]

I don't care if they leagalize it. The only thing I want are laws on the books, prior to the legalization of pot, that make driving under the influence something that's going to require a lot of dough (or jail time), especially if there is bodily injury caused due to an accident by someone under the influence. The last thing I want is some high idiot to cause an accident that costs lives. I realize that people drive high now, but I figure if you place some really strict laws into affect prior to legalizing pot then you cover your bases.

Go ahead, go smoke away, just make sure you do it safely. Also, it's not something I'd like to see in public. The last thing we need to do is expose really young kids to second hand smoke.

If the government can make a lot of money on this and reduce crime (as they think it will) then why not....?

[rhettyeakley]

Originally Posted by Fred

I don't care if they leagalize it. The only thing I want are laws on the books, prior to the legalization of pot, that make driving under the influence something that's going to require a lot of dough (or jail time), especially if there is bodily injury caused due to an accident by someone under the influence. The last thing I want is some high idiot to cause an accident that costs lives. I realize that people drive high now, but I figure if you place some really strict laws into affect prior to legalizing pot then you cover your bases.

Go ahead, go smoke away, just make sure you do it safely. Also, it's not something I'd like to see in public. The last thing we need to do is expose really young kids to second hand smoke.

If the government can make a lot of money on this and reduce crime (as they think it will) then why not....?

The "driving under the influence" aspect of marijuana is probably my biggest concern as well as I could honestly care less what people are doing in their own homes. The major problem with the situation it is that there is no quick/cheap/easy way to tell "how intoxicated" someone is, maybe they can come up with a test that doesn't require blood/urine and subsequent laboratory analysis but it isn't out there right now (at least not to my knowledge).

[rainier2004]

The are laws in all 50 states that make it illegal to use marijuana and drive. Within the last year the Supreme court in Michigan dismissed a medical marijuana case as he tested positive, legally with his card, but passed all field sobriety tests.
An officer can legally refrain you from operating your vehicle if they have probable cause to think you are unfit to drive, such as sleep deprivation or an acute medical condition. Basically, the same laws that are in place for alcohol pertain to marijuana use...this is exactly what permits it from infringing on others.

[tschock]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

The "driving under the influence" aspect of marijuana is probably my biggest concern as well as I could honestly care less what people are doing in their own homes. The major problem with the situation it is that there is no quick/cheap/easy way to tell "how intoxicated" someone is, maybe they can come up with a test that doesn't require blood/urine and subsequent laboratory analysis but it isn't out there right now (at least not to my knowledge).

It's call personal responsibility. And people should be held accountable for it. THAT, in my opinion, is the major problem with drunk driving laws now. It's not driving under the influence prior to the being caught, it is what is NOT being done after people are caught. How many accidents/deaths were cause by those with previous convictions?

Drunk driving laws are capricious anyway (a whole other discussion), but we have a "we have to do something" mentality, so let's set an semi-arbitrary limit as a compromise, which is what we do now. My personal view is that if we are REALLY going to be concerned with reduced capacity, then why aren't driving tests mandatory every 2, 3, 5 (pick a number) years? And in some states, why no driving test at all except to get your first license as a teenager?

"I realize that people drive high now, but I figure if you place some really strict laws into affect prior to legalizing pot then you cover your bases."

This is wishful thinking, and we already see how well that works, don't we (see drunk driving above). It also doesn't take into consideration the effect of strict laws either (can't remember the name of the theory off hand). For example, if you make robbing a bank punishable by death, the idea that this will reduce bank robberies doesn't account for the other end of the equation. That it just makes injuring/killing someone during a bank robber less of a disincentive to injure/kill someone.

Yes, some bank robbers wouldn't kill/hurt people anyway. But it gets back to personal responsibility for what someone actually DID. This also ties into making crimes of what people think, and not what they do (also, another discussion).

It is very questionable how much drunk driving LAWS themselves have actually reduce drunk driving. Similar to smoking, society has made driving under the influence unacceptable.

Unless we are keeping people actually RESPONSIBLE for their actions, the laws aren't going to be as effective as the could or should be.

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by rhettyeakley

The "driving under the influence" aspect of marijuana is probably my biggest concern...

And it should be a huge concern. But there are literally millions of other aspects to look at too. Do you want to be the resident next door to the chemical company that just accidentally released a plume of toxic fumes because some process operator decided he wanted to get high 30 minutes before his shift and opened the wrong valve? Do you want to be a passenger on that cruise ship or jet airplane whose captain just lit one up before taking the wheel? Do you want to be standing anywhere around that high rise crane suspending a huge piece of equipment and he drops it because the lift operator decided he wanted to spark one up on his lunch break?

[barrysloate]

Legalizing marijuana isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone expects a perfect result by legalizing it. Sure, somebody somewhere is going to have an accident by driving stoned, but it can't be any more dangerous than all the people who text and drive. I'm much more afraid of texters than stoners.

But there are so many positives that can come from legalization. Patients who may receive tremendous relief from pain will be able to easily buy some. The prisons are filled with thousands of young men who were convicted and received multiyear sentences for possession, and whose lives were ruined, and that will thankfully come to an end. And there are huge criminal cartels who supply pot to Americans that will soon be rendered useless if they can start growing their own.

Legalization may not be perfect, but the positives so outweigh the negatives that it seems pointless for it to remain illegal. And as John Lennon once sang: "smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot." I always wondered what he meant by that.

[chernieto]

Originally Posted by barrysloate

Legalizing marijuana isn't perfect, but I don't think anyone expects a perfect result by legalizing it. Sure, somebody somewhere is going to have an accident by driving stoned, but it can't be any more dangerous than all the people who text and drive. I'm much more afraid of texters than stoners.

But there are so many positives that can come from legalization. Patients who may receive tremendous relief from pain will be able to easily buy some. The prisons are filled with thousands of young men who were convicted and received multiyear sentences for possession, and whose lives were ruined, and that will thankfully come to an end. And there are huge criminal cartels who supply pot to Americans that will soon be rendered useless if they can start growing their own.

Legalization may not be perfect, but the positives so outweigh the negatives that it seems pointless for it to remain illegal. And as John Lennon once sang: "smoke pot, smoke pot, everybody smoke pot." I always wondered what he meant by that.

+1 !!!

[tschock]

Originally Posted by vintagetoppsguy

And it should be a huge concern. But there are literally millions of other aspects to look at too. Do you want to be the resident next door to the chemical company that just accidentally released a plume of toxic fumes because some process operator decided he wanted to get high 30 minutes before his shift and opened the wrong valve? Do you want to be a passenger on that cruise ship or jet airplane whose captain just lit one up before taking the wheel? Do you want to be standing anywhere around that high rise crane suspending a huge piece of equipment and he drops it because the lift operator decided he wanted to spark one up on his lunch break?

What does legality have to do with qualification? It's illegal to pilot a ship while drunk, yet drinking is legal. It's illegal to pilot a plane within a certain time period of your last drink, yet drinking is legal. And people still break those laws as well.

Is your implication with this is that if it became LEGAL to smoke weed, it would be legal to do all of the what you mentioned while high??? Or are you concerned that people will break the laws of being high while flying/piloting/operating machinery/etc, since of course, they don't break the laws when using alcohol??? That argument is just illogical, if not downright silly.

[Texxxx]

If the homeless are packing there bag and going to Colorado because of the pot then I'm all for there legalization. Maybe all the homeless in my town will leave and go to Colorado also.