POT

[CylonGod]

This came up at another board I am on and thought it would be a good question to ask here.

I voted yes becuase I belive we should be able to make are own choices. The government already makes too many of our decisions for us as it is.

[MarkusB]

I used to smoke alot when I was younger.... alot I mean a couple times a day. No need for that now adays. I'm too busy and need to be focused, 3 kids under 4 and a crazy job.. I don't like the burn out bit about THC. Plus it has 10 time the tar vrs Cigs. Although I must say I still find the smell quite intoxicating. ....ah to be 18 and living at home with a half assed job again.....

I agree. Gov't should regulate it. Although the quality would go straight to the shitter. Mind you that might not be such a bad thing... The stuff is soo frack'in strong now you have just a bit and you're gibbled. Crazy hydroponics.

It will never happen in the US. We Canucks have de-criminalized it a bit. It's still against the law, just how much you have on you has changed for how heavy the penalty. Ganja shows up under out food and drug act rather than the Narcotic act.

Bottom line.... its just another form of escapism. Kind of like watching the whole first season of BSG on the weekend

[CylonGod]

MarkusB said:

Bottom line.... its just another form of escapism. Kind of like watching the whole first season of BSG on the weekend

BSG is my kind of escapism! BTW I haven't touched weed in 10yrs.

[MarkusB]

yeah same here....maybe about 12.

[ReverendJ]

Drugs are bad!

Damn, I need a beer and a cig!

Like just about everyone else I've done it, and since I'll be going the grad school again, I'll most likely do it again.

Yeah, it's a narcotic, and it can make you do stupid things like driving while intoxicated, but you can do the same with alcohol and it's perfectly leagal, go figure. The real problem with pot being illegal is that it makes crimnals. If it wasn't illegal, then the drug cartels wouldn't have much to go on. There would be no market, other then tax fraud (if it were legal the gov't would tax the hell out of it) and DUI the problem of substance abuse would move from the legal to the social level. If people were allowed to make it for personal use also, that would really hurt the drug cartells, which I'm all for. We'd wouldn't have so many people in jail for selling, and that would help lower the over all crime level. People get out of jail after 15 year with no jobs skills, what can they do then? More crime. I could go on and on, but to sum it all up, our inane drug laws are doing more harm then good, and we could start to fix alot of problems if we just made it legal. It didn't work with alcohol in the 20's and 30's and it's not working now.

[CylonGod]

Anyone else have an opinion on the use and legalization of pot?

[Boz]

Holland have the right idea I think. By legalising pot in only certain areas, you are keeping users satisfied without fear of arrest, meanwhile keeping the criminal use of pot down to tolerable levels.

A fairly superficial argument i know, but i'm tired and this joint is making me sleepy.....

[caseOrange]

i do, if you've got the time. It should be legalized, or at the very least decriminalized. It was legal in the U.S. until 1937 when the "Marijuana Tax Act" was passed by Congress and signed by FDR, which placed a $1 tax on each ounce someone had in their possession (probably a few hundred-to-a thousand dollars in today's economy).

It wasn't criminalized because Americans were getting high from it, although that's the reason that was passed off to the public. It was criminalized because of its competitiveness as a fiber versus new synthetic materials that were being developed by DuPont, and versus timber industry giants such as Hearst Paper Mfg. Division and Kimberly Clark (USA), as paper-making material. Once a new technology was invented during the 1930's for manufacturing hemp faster, something needed to be done. Hence, the M.T.A.

One might argue that at the time, since hemp was the No. 2 crop in the country next to cotton, why not go after the cotton industry. Well, it would be nearly impossible to knock out the cotton industry; and it wasn't a threat to two major industries. But people were getting high off of hemp.

It was temporarily legalized during WWII for rope and, i believe, webbing for parachutes. Some ropes are still made from it, and after much legal wrangling there are now hemp clothes and other products that can be legally bought (however, not legally produced--a technical loophole that allows law enforcement to stop production).

Anyway, i hope i didn't insult anyone's knowledge of hemp history. All this info can be found in the book The Emperor Wears No Clothes by Jack Herer. i don't know if it's still in print, but it was first published in 1991. If there are copies available, i'm sure they can be found on NORML's website.
;D

[CylonGod]

No insults here caseOrange. I actually new about some but not all of that. ;D

BTW love the new avitar!

[ah-chie]

I voted no, because I think all smoking should be banned actually.

I think *if* it was legalized, it should be very heavily regulated (not in public places, not if you spread second hand smoke, not if you are driving, etc.) and heavily taxed just like regular cigarettes. I think though it is really just one more health risk habit that we are encouraging if we legalize and we really don't need any more of that (as it is smoking drives up the cost of health care tremendously).

Our city has just banned smoking in bars and restaurants and I have started going back into them as a result recently. That is a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned.

[MarkusB]

I fully agree with the smoking " bad for you lungs" bit for sure. My city went no smoking inside anywhere a year ago. I tell ya, I don't miss those mornings after hitting bong hard the night before and then the infamous Lung Butter that morning. Mind you back then I was a teenager and indistructable!

[Darth Marley]

ah-chie said:

I voted no, because I think all smoking should be banned actually.

I think *if* it was legalized, it should be very heavily regulated (not in public places, not if you spread second hand smoke, not if you are driving, etc.) and heavily taxed just like regular cigarettes. I think though it is really just one more health risk habit that we are encouraging if we legalize and we really don't need any more of that (as it is smoking drives up the cost of health care tremendously).

Our city has just banned smoking in bars and restaurants and I have started going back into them as a result recently. That is a step in the right direction as far as I am concerned.

Regulation? What a crock.

If a privately owned restaurant wants to allow smoking, then customers that don't like it will dine somewhere else.
Forcing the owner to cater to a crowd he does not wish to is dictatorial bullshit.

[caseOrange]

CylonGod said:

BTW love the new avitar!

Thanx, CylonGod! i thought it fit well with the title our illustrious admins had bestowed upon me.

ah-chie said:

I think *if* it was legalized, it should be very heavily regulated (not in public places, not if you spread second hand smoke, not if you are driving, etc.) and heavily taxed just like regular cigarettes.

i agree. Personal use only--any selling on the street carries the same penalty as now. Same rules that apply for alcohol: not on-the-job, not driving, no urinalysis for it, and no public intoxication or lighting up in public. Second-hand cigarette smoke is one thing--second-hand pot smoke is something entirely different.

[Boz]

caseOrange said:

Same rules that apply for alcohol: not on-the-job, not driving, no urinalysis for it, and no public intoxication or lighting up in public. Second-hand cigarette smoke is one thing--second-hand pot smoke is something entirely different.

Which is very similar to what they do in amsterdam. Restrict it to only certain places where it can be smoked in relative safety without inflicting it on people who don't want it.

[Jackezifez]

Green (or whatever) not such a big deal over here in merry old U to the K... Heck, I did last friday...

But remember what that guy on South Park said...

"Drugs are bad, M'kay?
So don't do drugs,
'cos if you do drugs, your bad.
'Cos drugs are bad, M'kay?"



Now, stealing cable/sky... that's worse...