New Bill to decrim pot in the US

[brekk]

I've said it before (in like every drug thread) and I'll say it again.

Almost all the negatives associated to drugs are the result of their legality. Weed is especially true of this. The only truth in it being a gateway drug is getting involved with weed (meeting drug dealers) gets you into close contact to people that have access to much harder drugs.

Forcing something onto the black market doesn't stop it. It doesn't even raise prices. But it does make it hard to keep an eye on, and impossible to regulate.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by kegkilla

in the eyes of the average American, its close enough.

The average american doesn't give a shit about weed unless it is being smoked infront of them.

[kegkilla]

Originally Posted by GrobbeeTrull2.0

Atlantic City. Cocaine. Wat?

Last Saturday. 18 year old girls fresh out of high school. Cocaine. Wat?

[Eomer]

The big obstacle standing in the way of Canada legalizing (like 80% of the population wants) is the US drug policy. We bring up the bills to decrim/legalize and the US has a hissy fit and threatens border closures.

Believe it or not, the UN is also rabidly anti-drug. I don't know the mechanics of how it works, if that's primarily due to US influence or not, but the UN was also having a hissy fit a few years back when Canada tabled legislation to decriminalize pot. The UN has much the same scheduling/categorization for pot as the US.

Drugs being illegal puts funds and power in the hands of unsavory individuals, by legalizing we take their power away and put it into the hands of legitimate business men and women plus taxes There is a bajillion reasons to legalize, I don't think there is any argument that doesn't fall flat on it's face about keeping it criminalized.

It really is crazy. Pot is worth more to British Columbia than forestry and agriculture combined according to some estimates (or maybe it was forestry and mining, I don't remember, damn pot). Fucking combined! What other industry do they have other than tourism and mining? That's huge, huge money. 7 to 10 billion a year.

Originally Posted by kegkilla

i'd rather it stay illegal. legalizing weed would be too much of a moral victory for the dumbfuck potheads who go around pretending "pot has no negative side effects!" while they work their minimum wage job and continue to get nowhere in life.

This coming from the guy fretting about hair follicle tests because he has a coke habit. Glorious logic there, jackass. Whether or not pot has negative side effects, and it most assuredly does and no rational person would dispute that, is not alone a compelling reason to keep it illegal in the face of so many reasons for legalizing it. Especially considering how relatively minor this side effects are.

[brekk]

Originally Posted by Eomer

It really is crazy. Pot is worth more to British Columbia than forestry and agriculture combined according to some estimates (or maybe it was forestry and mining, I don't remember, damn pot). Fucking combined! What other industry do they have other than tourism and mining? That's huge, huge money. 7 to 10 billion a year.

In the book, Reefer Madness, (focusses on black markets of porn, immigrant labor, and weed in the US) it mentions weed being the largest cash crop in the US. More so than corn. (this may have changed with ethanol from corn production) Many US farmers grow some marijuana within their fields to boost profits. A single acre of pot plants mixed in amongst a few thousand of normal crops could earn more then them, and require less care to grow. The book also cited black markets in the US being worth roughly 10% of our GDP, or over 1 trillion dollars.

These guys are obviously aiming wayyy too high (lawl) with what their pushing for in that bill. 1/2 an oz would be plenty for almost any stoner. Its still a step in the right direction to see a few congressman supporting a bill like this together. I think things like this help with the negative stigma of pot. You're not seeing National Organizations and congressman trying to pass laws legalizing Meth.

[Hatorade]

besides someone has to work those min wage jobs. The world is built on those that clean the toilets.

[kegkilla]

Originally Posted by Eomer

This coming from the guy fretting about hair follicle tests because he has a coke habit. Glorious logic there, jackass. Whether or not pot has negative side effects, and it most assuredly does and no rational person would dispute that, is not alone a compelling reason to keep it illegal in the face of so many reasons for legalizing it. Especially considering how relatively minor this side effects are.

you high or something? what logic? doing some blow sporadically doesn't imply that i think it should be legal, it damn well shouldn't. nor does it mean that i have a "habit" but feel free to draw your own conclusions.

i don't really consider the side effects of weed "minor." i've seen quite a few people become dependent on weed and become shadows or themselves. yes, weed, not pills, cocaine, meth, whatever.

[Aetos]

I dont think that all drugs should be legalized but weed should become legalized. Its pretty silly to have laws such as you can only have this much.

In the event that it becomes decriminalized, it can become a open market im all for capitalism!

i dont smoke weed, but i would love to grow my own strand some day and take it to the cannibus cup

[Havelock]

I wouldn't write this legislation off just yet. There's a lot of ambivalence about the criminalization of marijuana. Several states have decriminalize it - including Mississippi, which is not exactly a bastion of hippietude. Decriminalization has a lot of appeal for small government/federalism types as well as drug enthusiasts, and pot use is so prevalent that I'd guess a large majority of Americans know pot users and do not think they ought to go to jail for what they do.

This could be a good first step toward a saner national drug policy.

[Simas]

Weed is not addictive. You can only become addicted to weed in the same way you can become addicted to gambling, porn and WOW.

[Cybsled]

in the eyes of the average conservative, its close enough.

fixed

Anyways, the guy is right. The taxpayers spend a SHITLOAD of money on people caught smoking a joint. Yet we have no issues with bars, where people intend to consume booze, which a person usually has to drive to, then drive BACK from. More people die from alcohol related accidents then pot.

[Lowk]

Originally Posted by Simas

Weed is not addictive. You can only become addicted to weed in the same way you can become addicted to gambling, porn and WOW.

As much as i hate to disagree with you because i very much have your side on the issue..

Weed has a much higher potential to be addictive than the three things you listed because, when you ingest any chemical for a long enough time period, you can become addicted to it. Though it is very comparable to the 3 things you listed, weed can be "potentially" chemically addictive with enough long term use. Before this gets taken out of context, it is in no way shape or form comparable to alcohol,coffee,cigs,crack,heroin....

[Eomer]

^I'd wager that problem gambling is far more damaging to society as a whole than problem pot smoking.

More people die from alcohol related accidents then pot.

lol, how many people die from pot related accidents? Is there even a statistic? I mean yeah I'm sure someone will pull out the old "well 22% of all drivers killed in accidents had pot in their system", but that doesn't mean a damn thing whether they were impaired or not. The ratio of damage to society from pot vs alcohol is probably literally 1 to 10,000. Despite the common sense thought "well, it's smoke so it'll give you cancer", it's actually far from clear whether or not pot actually does give you cancer. It's been suggested and shown that cannabinoids actually prohibit cancerous cell growth, while nicotine encourages it.

[Simas]

Im not doctor but isnt something chemically addictive or it is not?

I know many people who smoked every day in college for multiple years and quit for jobs w/o any problems.

[Eomer]

Im not doctor but isnt something chemically addictive or it is not?

I'm not an expert on pharmacology, but yeah that's my impression as well. Things like heroin, cocaine and so on cause pretty large physiological changes in the brains of the people who use it. That isn't the case with things like pot, gambling and so on. Yes the dopamine system is involved in those addictions, but not nearly to the extent in truly addictive drugs.

That said, anything can be addictive to some people. Personally, I actually think I have a mild addiction to the pot, so I've stopped buying it cause it's a fantastic waste of time, which is something I have little enough of as it stands. But I'm not sucking dick to get some, my friends at Pemberton joking aside (I paid for it with money, assholes).