Your Honest Thoughts....

Its like banning guns to prevent murder.
It doesn't work.
If I'd rather have somone smoking pot drive than somone huffing cans of paint or bath salts(eating peoples faces) or other replacement for the high.

 

I'd rather have neither

 

It's not for me...never tried it.
I dont really have a problem with someone having a relaxing evening with a little smoke.
But, there are many that think its ok to do it all the time.

I have a coworker that used to do it...a LOT...
The only reason he voted the last time around was because he thought the new governor would legalize it.
This coworker is a good guy, fun to work with, but his brain is burnt!
He doesnt think its cool that his daughter (17) is smoking weed, but thinks it should be legal...for him...
Sorry but you cant have it both ways.

We use heavy equipment every day, I'm not about to let anyone on my job if they smoke...
My job is dangerous enough.
You wanna smoke? find a new job!

 

To me that is the way some rules should be. Both the worker and employer have a choice. Not some blanket mandate over everyone regardless. I know of jobs that do a pee test. Flunk that, and you are out of there. But not thrown in jail, or fined into bankruptcy. I wouldn't want to work with anyone who is high on anything, including ETOH. But in their own home, I just don't care.
Some can work and function on some weed that is for medical use, not to get high as explained very well in #19. Prohibition is no way to handle this.

 

I just wish that the hippy dopers would get off their pun intended high horses about how safe it is and recreational use does no harm. BS! I have listened to recreational users hack and cough and voices get more and more gravelly. Lets look at your lungs. But what really irks me is the fact they want to relax and unwind and make up reasons for medical permission. Mean while people that could truly benefit because they have cancer, epilepsy, chronic pain ect. are left by the wayside because the worthless selfish bongheads want to chill. If they weren't so self centered they would quit giving a legitimate drug with potential to alleviate so much pain and suffering a bad rap. I am also in support of not only medical marijuana but also hemp production. I will end my soapbox sermon with, it is almost always greed and selfishness that detract from something that could be good and keeps those who would benefit the most from something from having any of it.

 

On the topic of hemp, we had a hemp production operation start up locally a couple of years ago. This year, they planted a number of fields along the trans-Canada highway close to their facility. It is hilarious when you pass by watching the stoners from Ottawa wondering around in the fields thinking they found "Nirvana". I gave serious thought to opening a "candy bar stand" close to the shoulder of the road.....................

 

Those who do it, will continue to do it. Those who do not, will not start to just because it is legal.

 

The thing is, the THC can be bred out of the final mix. Lots of growers here actually try to minimize or eliminate THC content and maximize the CDC content.
These folks are really refining the growth and production. But it's dependent on their end result goals.
Be pretty funny to see a bunch of folks in a weed-patch, smoking away saying :"Dude, I'm so stoned!", then finding out it has no THC.

 

I don't think I want anyone high and driving.

 

You are not supposed to drive while under prescription drugs that can impair you. It's equivalent to a DUI or driving while impaired. At least it is in NY.

 

Right?! I know it sounds like I'm defending the pot stuff. I'm not, the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. But I do see it's benefits, when the growers can identify and cross-breed certain strains to minimize one aspect, and accentuate another.

As far as driving while stoned goes, not much difference to me than an out-of-state'r in the fast lane doing 55mph in a 65mph. Seriously.
Phone and texter's are the worst by far.

 

Larry, you want to run for President? I like the way you think.

 

Legalize it and tax the crap out of it like we do tobacco and alcohol. People are going to do it even if it's illegal so we might as well get some nice new roads and bridges out of it. Criminalize behaviors that endanger other people just like we do now with alcohol (drunk driving, no booze and heavy machinery, etc).

More broadly, we lost the drug war decades ago. We need to accept that the way America handles its drug problem is making the problem worse, not better. The only thing we've succeeded at is making the cartels very, very rich. Many other countries have had much better success at reducing the harm done to their citizens from drugs by treating drug addiction as a social health problem rather than a crime problem. Treatment of the addiction is proven to be more effective and cheaper than trying to fight the illegal drug trade. If someone gets high on bath salts and eats someone's face, we throw them in jail for the face eating as I'm fairly sure that easily qualifies as battery :lol: However, if someone is caught in a traffic stop with 5 tabs of LSD, it's time to send them to an addiction treatment program rather than throwing them in jail.

And this is coming from someone who doesn't do drugs and won't put up with people who do drugs. I think drugs, including alcohol and tobacco, are an incredibly stupid thing to do to yourself but I recognize it's your body and you can do whatever you want to it as long as you don't make it someone else's problem.

 

Agree...I have seen way to many smart people burnt out on pot...

 

I haven't smoked any in a very long time, but I say Legalize It.
I just can't see throwing people in jail making them pay fines, go to classes, and all that for a little bit of weed.
Tax dollars feeding and clothing them while in jail

 

I should not chime in because I have never drank, did drugs or smoked cigarettes. However I am also glad I never have.

I had one guy heckle me about it, and he was spending a lot of money on the stuff. His wife would literally try to get into accidents for the pills she could glean off her pain, and he was so broke he would run out of hot water for his oil fired hot water heater. One day I just said "Don, do you realize all your problems would just go away if you stopped smoking dope?" He looked at me funny and said, "I never thought of it before, but you are right. But I won't stop."

When I was a kid they had an ad on TV showing kids saying what they wanted to be when they grew up; a fire fighter, a police officer, a teacher...then it showed a kid running and a cop grabbing him and it said, "but no one ever said they wanted to be a junky." Today that ad could not be run for it would be considered labeling, but man am I glad it was around in the 1980's! I thought of that and when prompted to, bowed out and never did drugs. Everyone has choices; me I did not do some stuff and instead have a house that is paid for, cars that are paid for, tractors and bulldozers that are paid for and retired at age 42. Life is about choices...

As for Don, his wife was running out of time and pills and needed to re-up her pain problem or she would be forced to go off worker's comp. So she piled on the brakes in front of a milk truck so that she would intentionally get hurt. She did, but no pain resulted, her and her daughter were killed instantly.

 

Few would argue that drugs are harmless, but their use should not result in life in a cage.

 

If we didn't criminalize possession and use, two things would have been massively different in this story:
1) It would be easier to get treatment and abuse. Stop-smoking and stop-smoking programs are better funded, better accepted, and more easily accessible than drug rehab programs in large part because we don't criminalize people who smoke tobacco or drink alcohol.
2) Without being an illegal substance, recreational drugs would cost a fraction of what they do now. The only thing the War on Drugs has been successful at is forcing the price of drugs sky high so that the immense profit can support the cartels, the distribution networks, and the vast criminal enterprises that lead to the epidemic of violence we have now. The lower prices, in this case, would mean it was more possible for someone to afford basic repairs to the house while still working on kicking their addiction. Compare the price of a cigarette to the price of pot, meth, or cocaine.