Legalization by 2010?
polycounter lvl 10
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/144561/breaking%3A_marijuana_legalization_will_be_on_california%27s_2010_ballot/#more
Hard to believe it's so close.
Now, booze has always been my weapon of choice, but if this passes I'll be time traveling from the future with the good news.
Hard to believe it's so close.
Now, booze has always been my weapon of choice, but if this passes I'll be time traveling from the future with the good news.
Replies
Also vaporizers are better for your lungs.
If it goes through it needs to be nation/continent wide otherwise it's just going to turn California into a legal hub for "illegal" traffic.
I would be happy if they would lift the ban on growing hemp for industrial and commercial use. It can be used for so much its crazy not to grow it. But no lets slash our old growth instead or get Canada to do it to their land. Who needs forests...
Regardless what happens, it'll be fun to watch. Lets see if the one thing in the world stoners care about is enough to get them off their asses to go vote.
uh huh huhuhuhhuh huh
I dont want to suck down second hand pot smoke any more than second hand cigarette smoke...nothing like having a bucket full of tar thrown into my lungs just so the guy next to me can get high.
In Chicago you cant smoke in bars or restaurants and it's one of the best things the government has ever done, I actually want to go out when I'm visiting home, but down in most (if not all of) the dfw area I cant walk 5 feet into any restaurant or bar without a face full of cancer cloud, so I have a pretty hard time supporting anything that would increase that problem.
I'm sure they'll classify it as "smoking" since it is indeed smoking.
I've heard you can smoke those "e" cigarettes indoors though, wonder if those work with pot...
I think having this on the ballot will really bring this issue to the forefront of people's minds and provoke some good debate. Debate, that in a rational discussion, that legalization will win.
Cotton, for instance, would take a large hit in a few years.
As for cotton taking a hit. May the best product win, instead of artificially creating laws to favor one over the other lets see how the pendulum swings when someones not holding it.
At worst a bunch of cotton farmers switch crops? They don't even need to use the wacky variety to industrialize hemp. Talk about plugging a hole in the trade deficit. It's ok to use hemp you just can't cultivate it, so it gets imported to North America. What a waste, just grow it already.
True, but the boom in the Cheeto and Pizza Roll industries would be off the charts!
Signed. I'll totally behind it, but won't be holding my breath.
On a related note, we just got alcohol in my town. I've been bootlegging it for 2 years.
I have never seen ANYONE with a PLAN beyond making it legal.
It's all 'dude, let's make pot legal'....'hehe, alright dude'... *inhales*
I have watched the NatGeo documentary on Oaksterdam and have discussed it at length with friends, users and non.
Compelling and interesting ideas.. but leaves me feeling very iffy on the issue. A lot of good stuff but generally devolves into bemused giddyness... doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.
Who smokes it? Age limit of 18? 21?
Who grows it?
Where is it grown?
What will the legal baseline on THC be?
Who distributes it?
Where is it distributed?
Who controls it?
Taxes? How much?
Who advertises it?
Who sells it? How much can you buy? How often?
How much infrastructure needs to be put in place to handle the sales?
What are prices going to be like? And will they be decent enough for people to buy it legit in a store?
What will happen to homegrowers?
How will current dealers react?
How will the industry and the government deal with these counties, like here in east/central KY that are run on drug money,and I'm not talking about money from the sale of drugs, this is money used to 'combat' drugs? Entire yearly budgets are based around this money.
What new laws will need to be made? Underage smoking? Stoned at school? Publicly stoned? Work related issues? Enough people come stoned as is..
What will be my rights as a non-smoker concerning second hand contact?
This isn't tobacco or alcohol that has had hundreds of years of mainstream business attached and cultural integration... I'm wondering if people are really ready to set up an entire industry and keep it going and PROTECT their users.
Ready to combat the "WOO! POT'S LEGAL!" boom, aka 'Reefer Madness!', that will occur?
That scares me...
can you imagine the piggybacking that will happen to bills and laws with that mentality?
I currently know two people who are highly allergic to the stuff... walking through a cloud of smoke outside a store would be very bad for them. Personally I don't want near the stuff, I can barely breathe around cigarette smoke as is...
I know... total buzzkill right?
The government wants to regulate it and tax it.
Potheads around the world will end up paying 10x more to smoke it, because they thought it should be legal.
hmmmm. paying more or wondering if the cops will throw you in jail and then have to mark down on every job application that you're an ex-con... hmmmmmm
Its just so nice to go to a shop
Yes that incredibly long and illegal smuggling chain is just great for keeping the price low, right?
I don't doubt it won't be taxed to hell like liquor or tobacco but I seriously doubt that being a black-market, hard to acquire (compared to booze/cigs) substance makes it cheap.
On the contrary, it makes it as expensive as fuck to the whole country in dollars and lifes wasted in the war on drugs. Legalize refer and you take a lot of the power away from the drug thugs. Prohibition only makes thugs filthy rich, people will do what they want, legal or not.
Every crazy wanting to get rich off of pot would move to California and set up shop, semi-legally. You can export it to other states at higher black market prices and dodge the taxes. If the other states didn't have a black market there wouldn't be any incentive.
Look at LA with more pot clinics than there are Starbucks and you'll see where this is going.
Excellent post.
What is this going to do to the plot of Weeds?
- can't smoke it before you're 21 (I'd like cigarettes to be that way, too)
- can't drive or operate machinery while under the influence
I think it is a step in the right direction. They need to lead by example. If it goes well, other states will follow. Just like medical marijuana.
http://www.thefreshscent.com/wp-content/post_imgs/1206/medipot-states.jpg
Second hand smoke in tobacco has never been completely linked to cancer and they pretty much start chemical factories inside of cigarettes these days. Marijuana has never caused cancer in it's users, I think you'll be fine as a guy who walks by it in a well venthillated area.
Also, are people ready to set up an industry? Well there's some questions you have to ask yourself. Is there potential money to be made? If so they'll start building and regulating an industry.
[ame]
Actually I'm less concerned about cancer (around my dad smoking cigarettes for 20 some years) and more concerned about very selfish mundane secondary and tertiary effects...
...contact buzz if I have to be in an area with a fair number of pot smokers for an extended period of time, and what if it's laced with other things. I don't like having it around me and really don't care for dealing with people who are high.
...walking through a cloud of smoke and smelling of the stuff while having my (near constant) sleep deprivation/dry/bloodshot eyes mistaken for being high at job interviews (yeah, I get comments about them often enough to warrant this, Optive drops help though)
...cigarette smell is bad enough for me, disgusting to me to smell of smoke 15 minutes after I ha to walk behind someone on the sidewalk..
...having to deal with other people's shite for smoking...
and other silly stuff that only really concerns ME. It's your choice on if you smoke but how will your smoking impact my life? :poly124::poly121:
(I'm trying to keep thing lighthearted about the issue. I've never chastised anyone for drinking or smoking and only ever politely asked to not smoke in my apartment or car, so I'm just being an ass about things, cause sometimes I feel I come across that way.)
Who's going to run the industry? The smokers? Hehehehe... 'Oh yeah man.. we forgot to open the store today..' :poly124:
It's decriminalized up in Canada.
But there's been a pretty wide tolerance for the stuff years before that even happened (notably placed like Canabis Cafe in Vancouver, which very publicly allowed their patrons to come in and smoke up).
I understand there's likely a difference in social tolerance for the stuff compared to the states, but maybe simply decriminalizing it might be a compromise that should be looked at (it's still illegal to grow it, but nothing more than a fine and confiscation for posession of it).
not that i'd know, of course.
Bs. Sucking burned biomass down your lungs will eventually lead to all kinds of
evil if your unlucky. The big difference to cigarettes is that you get something
from it apart from a stinking mouth.
Yes, you get to thinking outside of the box that the "establishment" has set up to keep you contained within, which is really more the reason why it is "criminal" over any singular capital conspiracy.
These threads never end well.
to keep my mind low. It has its advantages and disadvantages so you could either legalize it or dont. Its just that looking at my neighbor country holland shows that it can work pretty well. Consuming has decreased there after legalization took place . I guess legalising it takes alot of the "im a badass lawbraker coolkid" momentum away.
Its "One who has been to the future."
TBH I have no idea why they put a ban on it, and not on cigarettes which is the actual poison. I mean if you measure the people dying from smoking weed to the people dying from smoking cigarettes, you will be surprized.
EDIT: I am personally against this all smoking part of life.
pardon me for replying to this post 2ice.
BINGO!!!!!!!!!
Would the standardization mean filters and professionally rolled pot cigarettes? Would this lead to drugs being added to make them more addictive? (hmm nicotine?)
I'm not a fan of any kind of smoking because I dont like breathing smoke. Regardless of the secondary effects (good or bad) smoke inhalation is not good for the body. Fighting for the "freedom" to smoke is a funny concept for me because I like to have the "freedom" to not be forced to breath it in myself.
There are already so many laws and ordinances that prohibit smoking in so many different areas, that I am confident that I will be able to go about my daily life without being bothered by marijuana smoke. As long as this remains the same, I personally have no problem with what other people inhale. It may even be possible for such a move to cut down on drug trafficking, if a domestic alternative is readily and cheaply available.
And of course, I fully endorse the growth and use of hemp for industrial purposes. It takes a hell of a lot less time to grow a hemp bush than it does a tree. And the United States is an agricultural giant. Not only could we supply ourselves with hemp paper products, but we could corner the entire world market.
Pot is almost completely harmless when compared to alcohol; one of the most destructive forces known to man.
Alcohol is one of the leading causes of violent crime, fatal car accidents, abuse (leading to long term mental/social problems) and suicide. You can die from alcohol poisoning. It's horrible for your organs and horrible for your weight, making it a massive cause of general health problems. It's very easy to get addicted and very difficult to stop which makes it's destructive power even more fearsome.
Contrast that to marijuana which you can not overdose on, is far less addictive, does not make you fat, does not make you violent, does not impair your judgement as severely, can be creatively stimulating, has TONS of extremely effective medicinal usages, and even in a recreational sense is much more cost effective.
Second-hand pot smoke is a miniscule price to pay to encourage people to drink less.
If it would be legalized, where would you be able to purchase it?
That is misinformation...:)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1111833/
He does not smoke for thrity days and then smokes heavily for thirty. The marijuana smoke has no negative effects on his breathing capacity, blowing his breath strength, and makes your more psychic.
Tar is not in pot...That is like saying tomatoes carry tar. Pot is grown, cut, hung, dried, smoked.
http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a/cigingredients.htm
"Now Imler shakes his head with dismay over what his law has wrought."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-03-07-pot-clinics_N.htm
"So many pot clinics have opened in L.A., they now outnumber Starbucks and McDonald's combined."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121433422
Unless other states follow suit at they will see huge booms in their black market traffic coming out of California, which they will turn around and blame California for, not an encouraging example.
People who traffic and sell illegally already, will have much more incentive to continue selling that way as long as the black market is easier and sells at higher prices. They'll be able to move their operations closer to their markets.
It will force neighboring states to legalize it only because the cost of enforcement will be less than the cost of regulation. Kind of a bastardy way to push people into accepting it. Instead of people saying "oh yea who cares" it will polarize people worse than the 08 elections and you'll have all kinds of culture clashes. Stalling reasonable debate on the issue on down the road another decade or two.
I personally think the US is not mature enough with its relationship with pot to embrace it as casually as alcohol. Most people still don't understand the benefits of hemp, even the non wacky kind.
So much mud has been slung at hemp and pot in the US its going to take a lot longer than the foreseeable future to overcome that. Its definitely not happening by 2010, not on a federal level.
When anyone talks about the bonuses of hemp they're a crazy lefty wanting to legalize pot and people just roll their eyes and don't listen.
"Go eat your brownies hippie"
"But we're talking about material for all kinds of things that grows in a season instead of a life time."
"you can't smoke a tree"
"You can't smoke hemp paper either... you know what forget it"
I think we need to continue to make it a low priority of law enforcement and when its not a flaming debate, then consider it. It should be pushed through with a whimper not saber rattling.